supersession-is-reversible
IN premise
`supersede()` adds the new node's ID to the old node's outlist rather than deleting the old node; retracting the new belief automatically restores the old one through normal propagation
Summary
When one claim replaces another, the original isn't destroyed — it's just shadowed. The replacement is recorded as a dependency, so if the newer claim is ever withdrawn, the older one comes back on its own without any manual intervention.
Dependents
These beliefs depend on this one:
- all-defeat-mechanisms-are-reversible — Every outlist-based defeat operation (challenge, kill-switch, supersession) is inherently reversible because outlist semantics flip truth values without deleting nodes
- outlist-is-universal-defeat-mechanism — The outlist primitive is the sole defeat mechanism underlying all non-monotonic features: challenges, agent kill-switches, supersession, and direct defeasible reasoning
- supersession-is-reversible-and-view-consistent — Supersession is both mechanically reversible (implemented via outlist, so retracting the superseder restores the original node's truth value) and view-consistent (superseded nodes are excluded from gated belief lists even if they retain active blockers), making it a first-class lifecycle operation rather than just a truth-value toggle.
Details
| Source | entries/2026/04/23/topic-outlist-semantics.md |