State Lineage - Bryant McGill

# State Lineage **Entity class:** Concept or analytic term **Domain:** Continuity / Identity / Provenance **Doc Type:** Canonical Concept Node **Maturity:** Evolving ## Definition **State lineage is the ordered, branching history of authorized and observed states through which an executable or identity-bearing system develops.** It records snapshots, transitions, migrations, restorations, merges and forks as related but non-identical events. ## Required Structure Each state should identify its parent state or states, integrity evidence, transformation method, authority, execution environment, time basis and known omissions. A restoration creates a new lineage event even when it reuses earlier state. A merge has multiple parents. A fork creates multiple descendants whose later histories must not be silently recombined. State lineage belongs inside the [[wiki/Digital Thread|Digital Thread]] and is governed by [[wiki/Continuity Provenance|Continuity Provenance]]. It helps identify the [[wiki/Personal Authoritative State|Personal Authoritative State]] eligible for restoration without declaring every authorized state to be the same conscious subject. Election lineage runs alongside state lineage. Each transition should identify the operative [[wiki/Continuity Election|Continuity Election]] version, but the two histories must not be collapsed: a new directive need not create a new person-state, and a restored or forked state does not automatically revive the directive that was current at its checkpoint time. ## Identity Boundary Lineage establishes causal relation, not numerical identity. A later process may be a restoration, descendant, replacement, replica or continuant. That classification requires additional evidence about causal continuity, identity-bearing invariants, runtime interruption and the subject's own history. ## Key Insight **A state can be legitimately descended from another state without being identical to the subject who occupied it.** ## See Also [[wiki/Lineage|Lineage]], [[wiki/Forked Continuity|Forked Continuity]], [[wiki/Restoration Integrity|Restoration Integrity]], [[wiki/Continuity Evidence vs Continuity|Continuity Evidence vs Continuity]] ## 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/2026 Annual Report on Brain-Computer Interfaces|2026 Annual Report on Brain-Computer Interfaces]], [[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 - [[wiki/Continuity Stack|Continuity Stack]] is associated with **State Lineage**. - [[wiki/Continuity Constitutionalism|Continuity Constitutionalism]] is associated with **State Lineage**. - **State Lineage** is associated with [[wiki/Successor Standing|Successor Standing]].  ## Read First in the Wiki  - [[wiki/Continuity Provenance|Continuity Provenance]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Digital Identity Succession|Digital Identity Succession]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Digital Thread|Digital Thread]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Durable Identity|Durable Identity]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Migration Right|Migration Right]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Personal Authoritative State|Personal Authoritative State]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Restoration Disclosure|Restoration Disclosure]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Continuity Election|Continuity Election]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **State Lineage** 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-1073 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Continuity Election|Continuity Election]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `State Lineage.md`. - **HR-1074 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Continuity Provenance|Continuity Provenance]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `State Lineage.md`. - **HR-1075 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Digital Thread|Digital Thread]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `State Lineage.md`. - **HR-1076 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Personal Authoritative State|Personal Authoritative State]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `State Lineage.md`. - **HR-1312 — `should_crosslink_with` → [[wiki/Successor Standing|Successor Standing]]** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. #### Incoming typed edges - **HR-0495 — [[wiki/Continuity Provenance|Continuity Provenance]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Continuity Provenance.md`. - **HR-0590 — [[wiki/Digital Identity Succession|Digital Identity Succession]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Digital Identity Succession.md`. - **HR-0594 — [[wiki/Digital Thread|Digital Thread]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Digital Thread.md`. - **HR-0621 — [[wiki/Durable Identity|Durable Identity]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Durable Identity.md`. - **HR-0783 — [[wiki/Migration Right|Migration Right]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Migration Right.md`. - **HR-0891 — [[wiki/Personal Authoritative State|Personal Authoritative State]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Personal Authoritative State.md`. - **HR-0993 — [[wiki/Restoration Disclosure|Restoration Disclosure]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Restoration Disclosure.md`. - **HR-1206 — [[wiki/Continuity Constitutionalism|Continuity Constitutionalism]] `should_crosslink_with` → this entry** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. - **HR-1365 — [[wiki/Continuity Stack|Continuity Stack]] `should_crosslink_with` → this entry** — **RESEARCH CANDIDATE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`.   ### Research Candidates - **R-002181 — research candidate:** Assess whether **State Lineage** and [[wiki/Continuity Constitutionalism|Continuity Constitutionalism]] warrant reciprocal reader-facing prose. Settlement requires a source that documents the relationship directly. Suggested missing reciprocal/cross-thread edge. Shared internal mediators (6): Continuity Election, Continuity Provenance, Digital Thread, Durable Identity, Migration Right, Personal Authoritative State - **R-002392 — research candidate:** Assess whether **State Lineage** 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): Continuity Election, Digital Thread, Durable Identity, Migration Right - **R-002499 — research candidate:** Assess whether **State Lineage** and [[wiki/Continuity Stack|Continuity Stack]] warrant reciprocal reader-facing prose. Settlement requires a source that documents the relationship directly. Suggested missing reciprocal/cross-thread edge. Shared internal mediators (4): Digital Thread, Durable Identity, Migration Right, Personal Authoritative State