Meaning Integrity
Interpretive Entropy
Interpretive entropy is the increasing dispersion of meaning across a system as actors assign different operational significance to the same information.
What It Explains
The problem this framework makes visible.
Why coordination may continue after a system has lost a common operational reality.
System Mechanism
How the failure forms.
Multiple actors receive the same information.
Each actor interprets it through local context, incentives, and assumptions.
Differences accumulate without being made explicit.
Coordination requires increasing corrective effort.
The system remains connected while shared reality degrades.
Failure Signatures
What an observer would see.
Rising clarification costs
Persistent local reinterpretation
Procedural coordination without shared understanding
Repeated surprise at other actors' decisions