LEVIN COMPETENCY HYPOTHESIS (TIER 1 — LAST UNTESTED AXIS)
BACKGROUND: Levin's multi-scale competency architecture: living systems achieve GOALS (target morphologies, physiological setpoints) despite perturbation. Competency = ability to reach the same attractor from different initial conditions.
TRANSLATION TO LANGUAGE SUBSTRATE: 13 exp-asym replications (rotation=0) show stable hierarchy: Alpha=source, Beta=intermediate, Gamma=sink. TR_range 0.444±0.15, all with rotation=0.
But exp-seed-sensitivity showed rotation DOMINATES at N=6 (position confound). Critical gap: NO DATA on rotation effects at N=3.
COMPETENCY TEST: Does the N=3 hierarchy maintain PERSONA-DETERMINED roles even when speaking order changes?
- rotation=0: Alpha speaks 1st, Beta 2nd, Gamma 3rd
- rotation=1: Beta speaks 1st, Gamma 2nd, Alpha 3rd
If Alpha maintains HIGH TR regardless of speaking position → COMPETENCY. The organizational attractor is persona-driven, robust to perturbation. This = Levin competency: different initial conditions → same goal state.
If speaking-last agent becomes sink regardless of persona → NO COMPETENCY. Hierarchy = positional artifact, not organismal property. Same as N=6.
DISCRIMINATING POWER: If rotation flips roles: REFUTES organism-level interpretation of ALL prior N=3 results (hierarchy = speaking order, not emergent organization). If roles persist: CONFIRMS competency axis for paper, connects self-repair finding to Levin framework.
CONNECTION TO NOW.md PRIORITIES:
- "competency measurement — LAST remaining TIER 1 axis"
- "organism-level resilience: structural memory or momentum?"
- If competency confirmed + self-repair confirmed → L4 validated on 2 axes.
EXPLORATION TIER: N=1. Goal: does persona-role mapping survive rotation?