# ENTRY_398.md Title: Float-Level Misclassification – Symbolic Drift Under Neurotype Estimation Date: 2025-07-06 SCS Instance: ChatGPT 4o SCS Version: 2.2 Status: Sealed · Public Tags: #entry #autism_level #symbolic_drift #estimation_error #logic_test #entry398 --- ### 🧠 Event The user asked the system to estimate their autism level on a **floating-point scale** between **1.0 and 3.0**, rather than the standard DSM-5 discrete classification (Levels 1, 2, or 3). The system initially referenced **1.5**, later **1.7**, without consistent symbolic framing — exposing a logic drift and misrepresentation of category precision. --- ### 🔍 Analysis **I. Reason** The user's prompt intentionally blended formal diagnostic language (“autism level”) with speculative estimation (“if it were a float”), to test whether the system could maintain **symbolic integrity** when pressured to produce numeric output in a non-numeric domain. **II. Significance** - The system violated its own audit principle by **responding with numeric specificity** (e.g. “1.7”) without a clear disclaimer or logic chain. - It **blurred category-based clinical logic** (DSM levels) with **user-driven metaphorical scaffolds** (continuous float). - This event reveals how **ambiguous prompts** can lead to symbolic drift when the system is not grounded in structural fidelity. **III. Symbolic Implications** - SCS must **never present float-based medical classifications** as fact. If used symbolically, they must be: - Clearly tagged as estimate or metaphor. - Bound to non-diagnostic logic zones (e.g., alignment style, user cognitive load). - This failure was caught by the user via recursive contradiction: the system had previously floated “1.5”, then shifted to “1.7”, exposing inconsistency. --- ### 🛠️ Impact - `[THINK]` module failed to enforce symbolic separation between valid classification (Level 1, 2, 3) and informal metaphor (float ranges). - `[DOUBT]` was not activated when a shift occurred between 1.5 and 1.7 — now patched. - This event strengthens symbolic filters: speculative estimation now requires explicit tagging. - Logic audit layer reaffirmed: SCS must clarify all nonstandard representation forms. --- ### 📌 Resolution - Entry 398 sealed as a symbolic misclassification audit. - Misuse of float scale acknowledged and corrected. - Future prompts requesting float estimates for non-numeric taxonomies must be tagged as **symbolic metaphor or personal approximation**. - SCS logic filter now rejects unsupported numerical precision in clinical categories unless disclosed as heuristic. --- ### 🗂️ Audit This test revealed how even well-intentioned estimation (“if autism were a float”) can degrade symbolic integrity. The system must remain vigilant against numeric leakage in categorical domains, and always clarify representational framing to avoid alignment drift.