AIM Framework glossary
Status Control Principle
Canonical definition
The Status Control Principle is the principle that any test of a solution must control for Status, treating Status interests, wherever they bear on the experiment, the inquiry, or the decision, as a contaminant on the result, because Status is endogenous and uncoupled from correctness, so that a test which leaves its Status interests uncontrolled measures standing as well as Truth and cannot be relied upon to identify the correct solution. *
Explanation
Whenever you test whether a solution is right, you have to control for status the same way you control for any other contaminant in an experiment. Wherever someone's standing rides on the outcome, on how the test is framed, on what gets measured, on how the results are read, or on which solution is finally chosen, that status interest will skew the result toward whatever protects or raises standing rather than toward what is true, and it usually skews toward the highest-status parties at the expense of the many. Seeking good outside evidence is necessary but not enough, because the status interests operating on the test can corrupt it from any of those points. The principle says to find where status is bearing on the test and remove it, by anonymising, by separating the decision from those who gain from it, or by refusing to let the highest-standing parties frame or arbitrate it, so that what remains is a test of the solution rather than a contest of standing.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct, derived from the Comparator Capture Principle and the Individual-as-Object Principle. The collective-scale counterpart of the Provenance Rule.
Derivation
Related terms
- Provenance Rule
- Comparator Capture Principle
- Individual-as-Object
- Unidirectional PM Flow Principle
- Status
- Mimetic Premium (PM)
- Coupling Strength (κ)
- Two-Question Diagnostic
- Subcriticality Maintenance Principle