AVOL™ — Declared Evaluation Context
This document defines the structure, constraints, and boundary conditions of a Declared Evaluation Context within AVOL.
Contents
- Definition
- What a Declared Evaluation Context is not
- Purpose and rationale
- Canonicality within context
- Structure and constraints
- Allowed contextual parameters
- Prohibited behaviors within context
- Separation from decisioning
- Relationship to AVOL-Base
- Coexistence of multiple contexts
- Governance and enforcement
- Boundary statement
Definition
A Declared Evaluation Context is an explicit, rule-bound specification that defines which externally governed parameters are in force when AVOL instantiates a value representation.
A Declared Evaluation Context:
- Is supplied explicitly at evaluation time
- Is never inferred, derived, or assumed by the system under any condition
- Is deterministic, inspectable, and finite
- References externally defined rules or entitlements, not user preferences or intent
A Declared Evaluation Context does not alter AVOL’s ontology, conversion logic, or aggregation rules. It constrains which rule-bound facts are considered operative for a given evaluation.
What a Declared Evaluation Context is not
When multiple Declared Evaluation Contexts are valid, selection among them is external to AVOL. AVOL shall not infer, prioritize, reconcile, or select among contexts, nor combine or adjudicate outputs across contexts.
A Declared Evaluation Context is not:
- Personalization
- Preference expression
- Intent signaling
- Outcome optimization
- Ranking logic
- Recommendation logic
- Adaptive weighting
- Probabilistic or predictive modeling within the canonical (AVOL-Base) value representation
Context declaration does not express normative importance or evaluative judgment. It declares only which externally governed conditions apply.
Purpose and rationale
Declared Evaluation Context exists to allow AVOL to represent value as it exists under explicitly specified conditions, without inference or steering by the system.
Many transactional value components are contingent on rule-governed states. If those states are not explicitly declared, a system would be required to assume, guess, or infer which rules apply. AVOL does not perform such inference.
Declared Evaluation Context eliminates that ambiguity by requiring all contingent conditions to be explicitly supplied.
Absence of a Declared Evaluation Context is not an error condition. In such cases, AVOL evaluates the option under AVOL-Base, the context-free canonical instantiation.
Canonicality within context
AVOL guarantees canonical outputs within a Declared Evaluation Context.
Canonicality rule:
Identical inputs + identical declared evaluation context → identical outputs
Canonicality is preserved per context, not across contexts.
Different declared contexts may yield different outputs without violating canonicality, provided that:
- Each context is explicitly declared
- Each context is rule-bound and deterministic
- No context mutates AVOL’s ontology or computation rules
There is no implicit or default context beyond AVOL-Base.
Structure and constraints
A valid Declared Evaluation Context must satisfy all of the following:
- Explicitness
- All contextual parameters are declared prior to evaluation
- No parameter may be optional, inferred, or implied
- Rule-boundedness
- Each parameter references externally defined, inspectable rules
- Rules originate outside AVOL
- Determinism
- Given the same declared context, results are invariant
- No stochastic or adaptive behavior is permitted
- Immutability during evaluation
- The declared context is fixed for the duration of an evaluation
- Context cannot be modified mid-computation
Allowed contextual parameters
Declared Evaluation Context may include parameters that reference externally governed entitlements or conditions, such as:
- Loyalty program tier
- Payment instrument type
- Contractual eligibility flags
- Jurisdictional rule applicability
- Program enrollment status
- Any other externally defined, rule-governed entitlement or condition
These parameters reference what rules apply, not what the user prefers. They do not encode subjective value or intent and do not alter AVOL’s conversion logic.
Prohibited behaviors within context
Within a Declared Evaluation Context, AVOL must not:
- Infer user intent or preference
- Learn or adapt weights over time
- Rank or order options
- Recommend or label outcomes as “best”
- Optimize toward any outcome
- Incorporate likelihood, probability, forecasting, or expected-value assumptions
- Resolve ambiguity through heuristics
Non-canonical analyses or decision systems may operate on AVOL outputs, provided that the canonical value representation remains intact and distinguishable.
Separation from decisioning
Declared Evaluation Context does not perform decisioning. It does not:
- Compare options
- Determine superiority or preference
- Influence ordering or visibility
- Produce choice guidance
Any interpretation, comparison, ranking, or recommendation occurs strictly downstream of AVOL.
Relationship to AVOL-Base
AVOL-Base is the context-free instantiation of AVOL.
- AVOL-Base applies when no Declared Evaluation Context is supplied
- It represents value under baseline, non-contingent rules
- It is canonical, deterministic, and inspectable
Declared Evaluation Contexts are additive instantiations, not mutations.
Coexistence of multiple contexts
Multiple Declared Evaluation Contexts may be applied to the same option, provided that:
- Each context is independently declared
- Each context is evaluated separately
- Outputs are not combined, weighted, or collapsed within AVOL
AVOL does not reconcile or adjudicate between contexts.
Governance and enforcement
Declared Evaluation Context is a first-class, governed construct within AVOL. Any context that is inferred, adaptive, preference-encoding, or that alters AVOL’s ontology or computation rules is non-compliant with AVOL’s canonical posture.
Boundary statement
Declared Evaluation Context allows AVOL to support contextualized value evaluation without becoming a personalization, ranking, or decision system.
AVOL’s responsibility ends at representation. Context does not extend that responsibility.