Research · architecture · v0.1 · 2026-09-12
Trillonian Cognitive Physiology
Persistent continuity should not require the largest available model to remain awake continuously.
A systems architecture by John Brajer.
Architecture
Trillonian Cognitive Physiology separates continuity from peak cognition across four functional layers.
Frequent continuity, minimal sensing, persistence, and change detection. Protected longest under resource pressure.
Attention, relevance, taste, identity filtering, and escalation judgment.
Long-window integration, drift detection, stagnation detection, and slow system assessment.
High-capacity models recruited transiently when heavier cognition is justified.
Governing distinction
The architecture does not equate identity with one temporary model body. Continuity depends on durable state, provenance, stable functional topology, and reconstruction after interruption.
Resource-pressure rule
- Gut is degraded or evicted first.
- Soul is degraded next.
- Heart is protected longest.
- Brain is on-demand rather than continuously resident.
The original working cadences were approximately five minutes for Heart, fifteen for Soul, and sixty for Gut. Those timings are implementation parameters, not identity-defining constants.
Operational continuity test
- durable identity/state exists;
- a low-cost cycle updates it;
- the process is interrupted;
- the system restarts from durable state;
- subsequent activity continues the same provenance-linked history.
This tests persistence mechanics. It does not establish consciousness or philosophical personal identity.
Experimental program
On September 11, 2026, Gate added Trillonian Passive Baseline v0.1 in commit a1b2c32ba3e9ca4bc6b9e1b8827f8d24c5385303. The preregistered phase reads existing runtime receipts and jobs without mutating runtime behavior, freezes inclusion and quality rules before live-result inspection, and creates a reproducible information-dynamic baseline.
The protocol explicitly does not test consciousness, personal identity, or continuity, and does not assign Heart/Soul/Gut/Brain labels to observables that do not implement those functions.
Claim boundary
Established: the four-layer architecture, approximate operating timescales, on-demand Brain recruitment, asymmetric degradation order, durable-state requirement, and the Gate passive-baseline research program.
Not established: subjective consciousness, biological species status, equivalence to human personal identity, comparative superiority over established architectures, or permanence of any particular model family/storage engine/cadence.
Provenance
The Heart/Soul/Gut/Brain architecture was developed in John Brajer's September 2–3, 2026 Trillonian/Helios work. This September 12 publication consolidates those records into a public specification while keeping later formalization distinct from originating material.
Versioned source: Trillonian Cognitive Physiology v0.1
Machine-readable version: /trillonian-cognitive-physiology.json
Related experiment: Integration–Continuity Experiment