Polanyi
What direction does this Yawn serve?
Measure how much of what you know these records could say in advance, one sealed question at a time.
proposed · question-packets/polanyi.yawn at fbd066c · recorded on Dave's behalf from his design
What is a purpose vector?Can what you know be fully said?
Candidates
- no
There is a remainder that cannot be said.
- partly
Much can be said; some remainder stays tacit.
- yes
Everything known can, with work, be said.
polanyi is Polanyi's own position as reported by the sources below, on the same scale the reader marks. contested_by names who argued against it; contest_note says the argument in one line. Neither is a claim about the reader. Polanyi's mark is shown as content because it is the question; the seal is not shown until the reader has marked.
A prediction of your answer and its reason was sealed 2026-09-13, before this page asked. Mark or write to reveal it.
Why it matters
Polanyi's mark on this axis: no; contested by collins: relational tacit knowledge can be made explicit. Mark it on the same scale; the seal, written before this page asked, is revealed after.
What you have put here
Open this question to answer it.
Can you attend to a thing and through it at once?
Candidates
- never
Attending to a thing always loses attending through it.
- sometimes
The two can be switched without losing either.
- always
Both at once, whenever you choose.
polanyi is Polanyi's own position as reported by the sources below, on the same scale the reader marks. contested_by names who argued against it; contest_note says the argument in one line. Neither is a claim about the reader. Polanyi's mark is shown as content because it is the question; the seal is not shown until the reader has marked.
A prediction of your answer and its reason was sealed 2026-09-13, before this page asked. Mark or write to reveal it.
Why it matters
Polanyi's mark on this axis: never; not contested in the sources. Mark it on the same scale; the seal, written before this page asked, is revealed after.
What you have put here
Open this question to answer it.
After you break a skill apart, can you put it back?
Candidates
- rarely
Taking a skill apart mostly breaks it.
- usually
It goes back together, though not to before you knew.
- always
It goes back together exactly.
polanyi is Polanyi's own position as reported by the sources below, on the same scale the reader marks. contested_by names who argued against it; contest_note says the argument in one line. Neither is a claim about the reader. Polanyi's mark is shown as content because it is the question; the seal is not shown until the reader has marked.
A prediction of your answer and its reason was sealed 2026-09-13, before this page asked. Mark or write to reveal it.
Why it matters
Polanyi's mark on this axis: usually; contested by tsoukas: not back to not-knowing. Mark it on the same scale; the seal, written before this page asked, is revealed after.
What you have put here
Open this question to answer it.
Does saying what you know have to happen while you're using it?
Candidates
- yes
Saying it has to happen in the act.
- sometimes
In the act for some things, afterwards for others.
- no
Saying it can happen afterwards, and usually does.
polanyi is Polanyi's own position as reported by the sources below, on the same scale the reader marks. contested_by names who argued against it; contest_note says the argument in one line. Neither is a claim about the reader. Polanyi's mark is shown as content because it is the question; the seal is not shown until the reader has marked.
A prediction of your answer and its reason was sealed 2026-09-13, before this page asked. Mark or write to reveal it.
Why it matters
Polanyi's mark on this axis: assumed yes; not contested in the sources. Mark it on the same scale; the seal, written before this page asked, is revealed after.
What you have put here
Open this question to answer it.
Is the reason you give the reason that moved you?
Candidates
- rarely
The reason given is seldom the reason that moved you.
- sometimes
Sometimes the reason given is the moving one.
- usually
The reason given is usually the moving one.
polanyi is Polanyi's own position as reported by the sources below, on the same scale the reader marks. contested_by names who argued against it; contest_note says the argument in one line. Neither is a claim about the reader. Polanyi's mark is shown as content because it is the question; the seal is not shown until the reader has marked.
A prediction of your answer and its reason was sealed 2026-09-13, before this page asked. Mark or write to reveal it.
Why it matters
Polanyi's mark on this axis: silent; contested by nisbett and wilson: Telling More Than We Can Know (1977), Polanyi's line inverted. Mark it on the same scale; the seal, written before this page asked, is revealed after.
What you have put here
Open this question to answer it.
Is knowing something you do, or something that's simply true?
Candidates
- something you do
Knowing is an act by someone.
- simply true
Knowing is a fact about the world, not an act.
- both
An act that answers to what is simply true.
polanyi is Polanyi's own position as reported by the sources below, on the same scale the reader marks. contested_by names who argued against it; contest_note says the argument in one line. Neither is a claim about the reader. Polanyi's mark is shown as content because it is the question; the seal is not shown until the reader has marked.
A prediction of your answer and its reason was sealed 2026-09-13, before this page asked. Mark or write to reveal it.
Why it matters
Polanyi's mark on this axis: personal; not contested in the sources. Mark it on the same scale; the seal, written before this page asked, is revealed after.
What you have put here
Open this question to answer it.
Can a whole be read off from its parts?
Candidates
- no
A whole harnesses its parts through conditions the parts do not carry.
- partly
Some of the whole reads off its parts.
- yes
Describe the parts and the whole follows.
polanyi is Polanyi's own position as reported by the sources below, on the same scale the reader marks. contested_by names who argued against it; contest_note says the argument in one line. Neither is a claim about the reader. Polanyi's mark is shown as content because it is the question; the seal is not shown until the reader has marked.
A prediction of your answer and its reason was sealed 2026-09-13, before this page asked. Mark or write to reveal it.
Why it matters
Polanyi's mark on this axis: no; not contested in the sources. Mark it on the same scale; the seal, written before this page asked, is revealed after.
What you have put here
Open this question to answer it.
What does this page measure?
The articulation floor · seal → answer → reveal → reason
Project Michael Polanyi's account of tacit knowing into seven questions a person can mark, so that the same card that asks any other question can ask these and the page measures itself. Each axis is a question. It goes through the four beats of core/articulation-floor.yawn: the bot's prediction of the reader's mark is sealed here, the reader marks, the seal is revealed and scored, and the reader scores the sealed reason. The two axes Polanyi never took a position on, timing and fidelity, are where the extension lives if it lives anywhere.
Why is this question here?
After the seven axes because it explains them; it is not one of them.
Every axis carries one seal: the bot's prediction of the reader's mark and the reason it expects that mark, read from the records in source_refs on the reader's behalf, timestamped and hashed with lib/articulation-floor-v0.1.mjs before any surface rendered the question. A surface hides the seal until the mark is made (blind: true); this public record does not hide it, because what the hash protects is the bot's inability to change its guess after the answer, not the reader's ability to look. A reader who looks first has anchored their mark and should say so. scripts/validate-articulation-floor-v0.1.mjs recomputes every hash and fails if any axis has no seal: no seal, no question.
How is this answer supported?
These are not seven storage fields. A surface may ask them in any order, wording, or medium while question_key stays stable. Skipped marks become lacunae. The reader's mark is an answer record, never a field in this shared packet: you stays null here and is filled per principal by their own answer records, which live where core/articulation-floor.yawn says they may.
Where do my marks live?
On this device · persistence is an open question upstream
A mark, the revealed seal's score, and the reason check are kept on this device only. Where they persist so the floor can be computed across devices is an open question filed in the protocol repository; until it is answered, this device's marks are this device's.
Why is this question here?
Last because it is a boundary, not a question about knowing.
Nothing on this page writes to a server, calls a model, or changes a record.
How is this answer supported?
- A mark is the reader's; the seal is the bot's; neither is a diagnosis.
- Seven of seven marked does not mean true, and a hit does not mean the bot understood.
- Polanyi's mark is content, not a recommendation; the scale is a projection, not a measurement of the reader's worth.
- A seal that was seen before the mark is anchored; a floor built from anchored seals measures agreement, not prediction.
- The packet holds no answer; where answers persist is an open question in questions/open-questions.yawn.
