Research Preview v0.3
The conservative technical framing for SymLan / SymVoc.
Positioning
SymLan is a simulation-backed language framework for registering symbolic vocabularies from attractor systems. Its current reference path is software simulation. Physical oscillator substrates remain active research targets.
The language separates values that are declared in source from values that are pending during a run and resolved only after measurement and validation.
Claims Ladder
| Claim | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SymLan can express declared, pending, and resolved values. | Demonstrated | Language-design claim. |
| SymLan can describe attractor-backed vocabulary registration. | Demonstrated | Present in syntax and examples. |
| A reference simulator can generate candidate attractor basins and compact identifiers. | Simulated | Requires clean public reproducibility package. |
| Readout operators such as PiAPlus can be evaluated by collision, entropy, replay, and provenance. | Simulated | Validation framework is central. |
| SymVoc can serve as a portable file or registry format for resolved vocabularies. | Hypothesized | Format and tooling remain early. |
| Physical oscillator substrates can reproduce the reference behavior. | Hypothesized | Not claimed as solved. |
| A Tower-style registry can coordinate vocabularies across labs, agents, or models. | Roadmap | Governance and adoption remain open. |
What This Document Does Not Claim
- Physical oscillator hardware currently runs SymLan.
- A physical substrate has reproduced the full reference behavior.
- SymLan replaces existing programming languages or transformer models.
- The Tower registry is deployed.
- The readout method has been independently replicated by outside labs.
- Symbolic grounding is solved.
Core Design
The source declares the conditions. The run resolves the vocabulary. The resolved vocabulary must then survive validation. If it does not, the program fails.
This structure is intended for workflows where labels, clusters, attractors, embeddings, or codebooks are unavailable until after a run.
Open Problems
- Independent replication of the readout method.
- Simulation-to-physical parity.
- Vocabulary stability under seed, threshold, noise, and capacity changes.
- Scaling beyond small examples.
- Registry governance and provenance.
Current Reading Path
Start with this page and the Claims Ledger. The Interactive Reader currently displays an earlier draft and should be read with that context.