# Trajectory Governance **Domain:** Predictive Systems / Algorithmic Governance **Doc Type:** Canonical Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Trajectory governance** occurs when predictive models are coupled to institutions or actuators capable of changing which future paths remain reachable. The system no longer merely asks what will happen. It uses forecasts to alter allocation, scrutiny, care, infrastructure or opportunity so that some trajectories become easier and others harder. ## Distinctions [[wiki/Predictive Modeling|Predictive Modeling]] produces estimates. [[wiki/Trajectory Governance|Trajectory Governance]] connects those estimates to consequence. [[wiki/Institutional Retrocausality|Institutional Retrocausality]] describes how the predicted future then acts as a present cause. ## Governance Boundary Trajectory governance can avert disasters and direct [[wiki/Corrective Intelligence|Corrective Intelligence]]. It becomes coercive when predictions narrow a person's life without [[wiki/Counterfactual Opportunity|Counterfactual Opportunity]], [[wiki/Model Contestability|Model Contestability]] or declared jurisdiction. ## Fictional Context [[wiki/Rehoboam|Rehoboam]] is a trajectory-governance system: it administers probability corridors rather than merely forecasting them. ## Key Insight **Prediction becomes governance when an institution can alter the field in which the predicted future develops.**