# Evidence Ledger **Domain:** Historical method / source evaluation **Doc Type:** Canonical Method Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition An **Evidence Ledger** records a proposition at one of four revisable tiers and states what evidence would move it. It preserves strong interpretation while preventing established facts, documentary implications, plausible synthesis, and open questions from collapsing into one register. ## Tiers - **Established:** supported directly by dated primary records, authoritative documentation, or convergent high-quality evidence. - **Strongly indicated:** the best explanation of several documented facts, with a clear inferential step. - **Plausible:** coherent with the evidence and worth investigation, with important links still missing. - **Unresolved:** an explicit research question carrying both promotion and demotion criteria. ## Use in Project X [[articles/A History of Machine Intelligence|A History of Machine Intelligence]] uses the ledger to distinguish functional continuity, documented transmission of an objective, institutional alignment, and unified coordination. [[wiki/Coordination Ladder|Coordination Ladder]] measures organization; [[wiki/Transmitted Objective|Transmitted Objective]] tests historical inheritance; the ledger states confidence in each resulting proposition. ## Sources / Provenance - [[articles/A History of Machine Intelligence|A History of Machine Intelligence]], especially “The Historians Who Held the Pieces” and “The Denial Wars.” - [Michael S. Mahoney, “The Histories of Computing(s)” (2005)](https://doi.org/10.1179/030801805X25927). ## Relationships - **Coordination measure:** [[wiki/Coordination Ladder|Coordination Ladder]]. - **Inheritance test:** [[wiki/Transmitted Objective|Transmitted Objective]]. - **Historiographical control:** [[wiki/Anti-Teleology Norm|Anti-Teleology Norm]]. - **Historical application:** [[wiki/Project X - Machine Intelligence History|Project X - Machine Intelligence History]]. - **Source:** [[articles/A History of Machine Intelligence|A History of Machine Intelligence]].