Dave's working model of meaning: his statements, proposed interpretations and open questions. It is not a universal definition.
proposed · Dave's direction in "Meaning, Story & the Living Model" (25 Sep 2026), synthesis by ChatGPT, recorded by Claude Code; open to correction.
What is a purpose vector?Dave's working model · proposed synthesis, open to correction
The situated, attributed significance of something to someone, in a relationship and context, at a time. A proposed reading is not someone's meaning until they state or accept it, and accepting a reading does not make it true or grant permission.
Governing inquiry · fixed first
This question orients the model. Reading activity cannot displace it.
The remaining questions follow the selected ordering mode.
Layer 1 · Meaning
The front face: the current name, whose reading it is, what kind of statement it is, what remains uncertain, and one useful question. "Proposed by yawn.bot for Dave" and "Dave's accepted reading" are different labels, and neither is the person.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before story by the source order.
Layer 2 · Story
An attributed account of how the significance formed. A generated retelling stays visibly separate from the person's own words, and a compelling story is not evidence that events happened as told.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before model by the source order.
Layer 3 · Model
The claims, dimensions, relationships, assumptions and alternatives behind it. Medium, referent, kind of statement, relationship, dimension and evidence status stay separate, and a tension belongs to a named relationship with its basis, never to the person.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before history by the source order.
Layer 4 · History
What was expressed, proposed, accepted, corrected, chosen and observed, in order. A correction supersedes a reading without erasing it; a chosen move stays in history even when it needs review.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before why by the source order.
Across the layers
"Why" held several questions with different standards: what it means to me (Meaning), how I came to see it (Story), what supports it (Basis), why it is shown now (Ranking basis), what actually caused something (Causal account), and why an action may occur (Permission).
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before expresses by the source order.
Ranking purpose · concern-scoped ranking proposed, not built
Songs, scenes, experiences, practices and unmade concepts can each express a meaning. The thing ranked is an item's contribution to this meaning, for this person, here, never its worth. A contrasting item can matter because it marks the boundary.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before next by the source order.
Ranking purpose · existing next-best-move function
A different question from what expresses the meaning best. Feasibility, cost, risk, reversibility and authority matter here, and choosing a move never authorizes it.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before names by the source order.
Across the layers
Yes. A name is a current handle. Rename keeps identity, sources and history and adds an address; refining, relocating, splitting, merging and reinterpreting are different operations and are never implied by a new title.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Placed before boundary by the source order.
Proof
A more persuasive story that is no easier to inspect or correct; endless gaps without useful orientation; agreeing just to dismiss the interface; or a correction acknowledged in conversation but missing from the next working state.
Authored order
No numerical score determines this position in the current mode.
Last question in the current order.
