AIM Framework glossary
Optimal Coupling Strength
Canonical definition
Optimal Coupling Strength is the domain-specific value of Coupling Strength that maximises net welfare, defined as the benefits of coupling (social learning, coordination, cultural transmission) minus the costs (certainty-without-Truth convergence, Source Opacity amplification, Confabulation Cascade acceleration); necessarily positive (because zero coupling eliminates the social learning that makes Positive Mimesis possible) and necessarily below Critical Coupling Strength (because above the critical threshold, costs dominate without bound).
Explanation
Optimal Coupling Strength is the Goldilocks value: enough coupling for people to learn from each other and coordinate effectively, but not so much that Beliefs lock in regardless of Truth. The key AIM insight is that this optimum is domain-specific. In domains where reality imposes fast corrections (short Decoherence Time), higher Coupling Strength is tolerable because errors are caught quickly. In domains where reality-testing is slow or absent (long Decoherence Time), even moderate Coupling Strength can push the system past the critical threshold. The practical implication is that institutional design must calibrate Coupling Strength by domain rather than applying uniform information policies.
Epistemic status
Parameter.
Derivation
Also in the entry
Notation Statement. Denoted κ in formal equations, derivations, operational-definition blocks, appendices, figure and table headings, and the definitions database. Written in full as “Optimal Coupling Strength” in running prose. On first prose appearance in any given document the English term may be followed by a parenthetical gloss of the form “Optimal Coupling Strength (κ)”; a second parenthetical gloss of the same form is permitted at the first prose occurrence of the term in the main body after the formal definitions section, as a courtesy to readers who skip front-matter. All subsequent prose occurrences within that document use the English term only.