Principlev1
Design external systems to survive the death of the tools
Design external systems to survive the death of the tools that currently access them by storing knowledge in durable, open, human-readable formats with explicit connections.
Why This Is a Principle
This is a principle derived from Extended Cognition Thesis (distributed cognition), Abstraction Necessarily Discards Information (abstraction discards information), and No Direct Access to Reality (mediated access to reality). It prescribes a design approach rather than stating a foundational truth. The principle follows from the axioms: if cognition is distributed across artifacts (Extended Cognition Thesis), and all representations involve abstraction (Abstraction Necessarily Discards Information), then to preserve cognitive systems across tool changes, use formats that minimize lock-in and maximize portability.