Ambiguity, Drift, and Autonomous Operation in Finite Systems

This paper derives a finite-system framework for ambiguity, drift, operational control, bounded memory, substrate inspection limits, and autonomous operation. Starting from finite distinguishability, nonzero state-change cost, and finite throughput, it argues that ambiguous instructions create runtime drift surfaces under selection pressure, while minimum-ambiguity structures move failure from runtime interpretation to design-time verification. The paper presents a hardened theorem core: ambiguity as a finite interpretation set, conditional cheap-path drift, minimum-ambiguity collapse, recursive ambiguity traps, conditional drift-mode enumeration, operational algebra over finite constraints, finite blind-spot…