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CLAIM-455: For one bounded observer, a transformation of a representation can make one task's distinction legible and another's illegible at once, so legibility regimes are ordered only relative to a task, and a regime that improves one perspective's competence can disable another's

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Properties8
StatusActive
Rolethesis
Warrantdemonstrated
Tagsinformation-theory, epistemology, self-governance
Linedistributed-agency, formal-apparatus
GroundsCASE-154 — One representation, two tasks, one bounded observer: with X₁, X₂ independent fair bits and an observer that reads one coordinate and cannot compute XOR, the raw pair U = (X₁, X₂) gives error 50% on Q_A = X₁ ⊕ X₂ and 0% on Q_B = X₁, and the compressed V = X₁ ⊕ X₂ gives 0% and 50%; a legibility regime can enable one perspective's distinction while disabling another's, with no task-independent sense in which it is better
ComplementsCLAIM-199 — Blackwell's order bounds what a rendering makes possible for any receiver, and a given receiver's access is usable information relative to the rules it can apply, which a garbling can raise for that receiver but never above what the source makes possible
UsesTERM-064 — legibility, of a distinction to an observer for a task: whether the observer, with the rules, categories and resources it actually has, can recover the distinction from what it is given and bring it to bear on the task; a relation among a representation, an observer's rule class, its resources and a task, bounded above by what the source makes possible for an ideal receiver, and directed, since what is legible to a governing institution and what of its governing is legible to others are different relations

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The claim

CASE-154’s construction: X₁, X₂ independent fair bits, and an observer that reads one coordinate and cannot compute XOR. The raw pair U = (X₁, X₂) gives error 50% on Q_A = X₁ ⊕ X₂ and 0% on Q_B = X₁; the compressed V = X₁ ⊕ X₂ gives 0% and 50%. Passing from U to V makes Q_A legible and Q_B illegible for the same observer, so neither representation is better for that observer apart from the task. CASE-154: “a learned legibility regime can be competence-enhancing for one perspective and disabling for another, with no task-independent sense in which it is better or worse.”

It completes CLAIM-199. That claim holds that a garbling can raise a given receiver’s usable information, but never above what the source makes possible; V is a garbling of U, and it raises the observer’s usable information on Q_A. What CLAIM-199 does not say is that the same garbling lowers it on Q_B. Legibility (TERM-064) is relative to an observer and a task, and the construction shows the task argument cannot be dropped even with the observer fixed.

What it does not say

  • Which task should win. Choosing a regime is choosing whose distinction counts, a normative question the construction does not touch (CLAIM-348).
  • That the observer could not learn XOR. The observer is bounded by stipulation; a richer observer orders U above V by Blackwell’s order.
  • Anything about real institutions. CASE-154’s examples (reporting that forecasts output better and registers grievances worse) are illustrations, not findings.

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