Genesis Seal

Genesis Seal

What it is

A cryptographic binding of the repo state to the genesis contract. Any change to the manuscript, baselines, or contract invalidates the seal.

How it works

The seal (tools/genesis_seal.py) computes a SHA-256 hash over:

1. The genesis contract text (from paper/disclaimer_legal_privacy.tex §A.3)
2. The manuscript line count + table count + environment balance
3. The baseline results JSON hash
4. The git HEAD commit hash

Verify

python tools/genesis_seal.py --verify

Regenerate (after intentional changes)

python tools/genesis_seal.py
git add .genesis_seal.json
git commit -m "Update genesis seal"

CI

The seal is verified automatically:

• On every push (.github/workflows/link-check.yml)
• Weekly via scheduled DNS link check (Mondays 6am)
• If the seal mismatches, CI regenerates it with a warning (graceful)

The honesty loop

Genesis contract → declares what must never be sacrificed Seal → binds the state to the contract CI → verifies the seal automatically DNS check → verifies external links are alive

This makes the research artifacts auditable — a property we consider necessary for open-source ML research that operates outside traditional institutional review structures.