Upstream Zero

Methods, instruments, and vocabulary

How anything on this site earns its tier. Methods are versioned instruments under development, not standards — the observatory is still discovering what should be measured, and says so.

The evidence hierarchy

  1. 1Narrated
  2. 2Observed
  3. 3Replicated
  4. 4Causally Supported
  5. 5Cross Evaluator
  6. 6Real World Corroborated

The order is settled. The operational definitions are not — see M-1 below.

Methods · 1

Founder decision pending · FD-1
M-1's operational tier definitions — what qualifies a claim for each tier, how many runs constitute replication, what counts as real-world corroboration — are a founder decision under active development. Until they exist, every claim on this site is presented at Narrated.

Instrument registry · 0

N = 0

No instruments are registered. When observation begins, each evaluator — model, version, access mode — becomes a distinct instrument record, and every observation carries its stamp. AI evaluators are the current instrument class; the registry is deliberately not AI-specific.

Vocabulary · 6