blackroad-os-docs/docs/papers/agent-architecture/contradiction-handling.md

Contradiction Handling in BlackRoad OS

Agents operate in a trinary logic space (true, false, unknown) where contradictions are treated as signals rather than silent errors. BlackRoad OS treats conflicts as first-class events that demand routing, journaling, and potentially escalation to orchestrators or human operators.

What is a Contradiction?

A contradiction occurs when two or more beliefs, observations, or recommended actions cannot simultaneously hold. Examples include conflicting risk assessments across agents or incompatible compliance flags in finance workflows.

Escalation Mechanism

1. Detection: Agents flag contradictions when belief vectors clash or when policy checks diverge.
2. Event emission: A contradiction event is emitted to the orchestrator or higher-level mediator.
3. Reconciliation: The orchestrator aggregates evidence, applies policy (e.g., majority vote, priority weighting, or regulatory override), and proposes a resolution.
4. Outcome recording: Both accepted and rejected branches are recorded for transparency and future replay.

Integration with PS-SHA∞

Contradiction resolution steps are journaled as PS-SHA∞ entries:

• Record the competing claims and confidence scores.
• Capture the chosen resolution rule and rationale.
• Link branches through previousHash values so discarded paths remain inspectable.

TODOs

• Define standardized contradiction event payloads for ingestion by blackroad-os-operator.
• Prototype escalation thresholds in /experiments/contradiction-sim to tune sensitivity.