Continuity Cutoff Problem

# Continuity Cutoff Problem **Entity class:** Concept or analytic term **Domain:** Continuity / Historical Justice / Access **Doc Type:** Canonical Justice Problem **Maturity:** Evolving **Related:** [[Continuity Access Inequality]], [[Continuity Orphan]], [[Relational Continuity]], [[Reconstructed Person]], [[Black Mirror S3E4 — San Junipero]] --- ## Definition The **Continuity Cutoff Problem** is the historical justice problem created when preservation or post-biological continuation becomes available only after earlier people have died without the records, procedures or opportunity required to use it. The threshold divides not only populations but relationships. Later people may continue while parents, partners, children and communities essential to their identity cannot. ## San Junipero Context Kelly's husband refuses San Junipero partly because their daughter died before the technology existed. Kelly's own decision is therefore shaped by a relational world divided by technological history. Continuation can feel like abandonment even when it is freely available. ## Governance Context The cutoff cannot be repaired by declaring sparse reconstructions identical to the dead. Archives may support memorials or new [[Reconstructed Person|reconstructed persons]], but [[Continuity Evidence vs Continuity]] requires honest labeling of evidentiary limits. Relevant duties include equitable access near the threshold, preservation of records with consent, non-deceptive reconstruction, protection of grief and historical acknowledgment that availability arrived unevenly. Later continuants should not be denied life simply because earlier loved ones lacked access. ## Key Insight **The first generation offered continuity will inherit a future divided from many of the people who made that future meaningful.** ## Sources / Provenance - Developed from Kelly's family history in [[Black Mirror S3E4 — San Junipero]]. ## See Also [[Continuity Advance Directive]], [[Digital Afterlife]], [[Proof of Descent]], [[Continuity Economics]], [[Rights]] ## Relationships  This entry is routed through [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]], [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]], and [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]]. Its source context is developed in [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] and [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]]. Status-qualified source edges are preserved in the terminal Research Edges section. ### Additional Documented Relationships - **Continuity Cutoff Problem** is associated with [[wiki/Residual Sovereign|Residual Sovereign]]. - **Continuity Cutoff Problem** is associated with [[wiki/Energetic Sovereignty|Energetic Sovereignty]]. - [[wiki/Continuity Contract|Continuity Contract]] is associated with **Continuity Cutoff Problem**.  ## Read First in the Wiki  - [[wiki/Continuity Access Inequality|Continuity Access Inequality]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Continuity Cutoff Problem** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Continuity Economics|Continuity Economics]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Continuity Cutoff Problem** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Continuity Orphan|Continuity Orphan]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Continuity Cutoff Problem** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Proof of Descent|Proof of Descent]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Continuity Cutoff Problem** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Reconstructed Person|Reconstructed Person]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Continuity Cutoff Problem** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Relational Continuity|Relational Continuity]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Continuity Cutoff Problem** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Rights|Rights]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Continuity Cutoff Problem** within the wider system.  ## Research Edges  #### Host–residual infrastructure patch — 2026-09-10 **Collections:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] · [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] · [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] **Canonical source article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] **Related acquisition source:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] **Relationship source:** [[research/Mind Uploading and AI Host-Residual Ecosystem Relationship Graph - 2026-09-10|Mind Uploading and AI Host-Residual Ecosystem Relationship Graph — 2026-09-10]] #### Outgoing typed edges - **HR-0430 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Continuity Access Inequality|Continuity Access Inequality]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Cutoff Problem.md`. - **HR-0431 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Continuity Economics|Continuity Economics]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Cutoff Problem.md`. - **HR-0432 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Continuity Orphan|Continuity Orphan]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Cutoff Problem.md`. - **HR-0433 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Proof of Descent|Proof of Descent]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Cutoff Problem.md`. - **HR-0434 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Reconstructed Person|Reconstructed Person]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Cutoff Problem.md`. - **HR-0435 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Relational Continuity|Relational Continuity]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Cutoff Problem.md`. - **HR-0436 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Rights|Rights]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Cutoff Problem.md`. - **HR-1232 — `should_crosslink_with` → [[wiki/Energetic Sovereignty|Energetic Sovereignty]]** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. - **HR-1286 — `should_crosslink_with` → [[wiki/Hosting Provider of Last Resort|Hosting Provider of Last Resort]]** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. - **HR-1307 — `should_crosslink_with` → [[wiki/Successor Standing|Successor Standing]]** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. - **HR-1355 — `should_crosslink_with` → [[wiki/Residual Sovereign|Residual Sovereign]]** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. #### Incoming typed edges - **HR-0386 — [[wiki/Continuity Access Inequality|Continuity Access Inequality]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Access Inequality.md`. - **HR-0970 — [[wiki/Relational Continuity|Relational Continuity]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Relational Continuity.md`. - **HR-1317 — [[wiki/Continuity Contract|Continuity Contract]] `should_crosslink_with` → this entry** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`.   ### Research Candidates - **R-002232 — research candidate:** Assess whether **Continuity Cutoff Problem** and [[wiki/Energetic Sovereignty|Energetic Sovereignty]] warrant reciprocal reader-facing prose. Settlement requires a source that documents the relationship directly. Suggested missing reciprocal/cross-thread edge. Shared internal mediators (5): Continuity Access Inequality, Continuity Economics, Continuity Orphan, Reconstructed Person, Rights - **R-002340 — research candidate:** Assess whether **Continuity Cutoff Problem** and [[wiki/Hosting Provider of Last Resort|Hosting Provider of Last Resort]] warrant reciprocal reader-facing prose. Settlement requires a source that documents the relationship directly. Suggested missing reciprocal/cross-thread edge. Shared internal mediators (4): Continuity Economics, Continuity Orphan, Reconstructed Person, Rights - **R-002382 — research candidate:** Assess whether **Continuity Cutoff Problem** and [[wiki/Successor Standing|Successor Standing]] warrant reciprocal reader-facing prose. Settlement requires a source that documents the relationship directly. Suggested missing reciprocal/cross-thread edge. Shared internal mediators (4): Proof of Descent, Reconstructed Person, Relational Continuity, Rights - **R-002403 — research candidate:** Assess whether **Continuity Cutoff Problem** and [[wiki/Continuity Contract|Continuity Contract]] warrant reciprocal reader-facing prose. Settlement requires a source that documents the relationship directly. Suggested missing reciprocal/cross-thread edge. Shared internal mediators (4): Continuity Orphan, Reconstructed Person, Relational Continuity, Rights - **R-002478 — research candidate:** Assess whether **Continuity Cutoff Problem** and [[wiki/Residual Sovereign|Residual Sovereign]] warrant reciprocal reader-facing prose. Settlement requires a source that documents the relationship directly. Suggested missing reciprocal/cross-thread edge. Shared internal mediators (4): Continuity Economics, Continuity Orphan, Reconstructed Person, Rights