The Aurora Hierarchy
The Aurora Hierarchy defines how epistemic principles, governance authority, methodology, enforcement, and research artifacts are layered and constrained within the Aurora ecosystem.
Overview
Each layer in the Aurora Hierarchy has a distinct responsibility and authority. Higher layers constrain lower layers; lower layers may not override higher ones.
This separation prevents governance drift, epistemic ambiguity, and enforcement collapse.
The Six Layers
Layer 0 — Epistemic Foundation
Neurotransparency Doctrine and Specification define why cognitive provenance is required and what must be traceable in AI–human research.
Layer 1 — Institutional Governance
The Aurora Research Initiative (ARI) establishes authority, scope, and binding rules.
Layer 2 — Methodology
Aurora Workflow Orchestration (AWO) defines how compliant research is conducted.
Layer 3 — Enforcement
CRI-CORE enforces governance and methodology mechanically.
Layer 4 — Case Studies
Applied research demonstrating the hierarchy in practice (e.g., Waveframe v4.0).
Layer 5 — Tooling & Infrastructure
Supporting tools, pipelines, and interfaces that enable reproducible execution.
Why the Hierarchy Matters
Without strict layering, research systems collapse into ad hoc practices where enforcement, methodology, and epistemics blur together.
The Aurora Hierarchy ensures that every claim can be traced back to explicit epistemic and institutional commitments.