Proof of data
SENEX is built on one research thesis: the value of data is its proven impact on a computation at the moment the data is used. Over time, the project expects value to move from money toward the new knowledge a network generates and the unique thinking of the people connected to it.
Every statement on this page is a hypothesis. Each one is assigned to the milestone whose exit gate tests it, and each is treated as possibly wrong until that gate passes. Negative results will be reported as results.
Why value at the moment of use
Data is usually priced before anyone knows whether it helps: by volume, by access, or by who holds it. Proof of data takes the opposite approach. It measures what a piece of governed data actually contributed to a specific answer or task, and credits that contribution back along the path it travelled. Data that is never used earns nothing; data that changes an outcome is recognized when it does.
Hypotheses and how they are tested
| Hypothesis | What it claims | Tested in |
|---|---|---|
| Recursive governed access | One owner's agent can ask another's, which can ask others, with every hop governed by that data owner. Recursion stops safely through a shrinking budget, loop prevention, deadlines, no-forward boundaries, and cancellation. | M1 |
| Use once, forget, keep the path | Computation goes to the data by default. Raw data that must travel is used once and then forgotten, and forgetting is either attested or labelled as unattested. The path is kept as a commitment, not as a copy. | M1 |
| Value at use | Contribution can be measured per answer, credited back along the path, and limited to independent demand, so that self-dealing earns nothing. Participants must rate the resulting credit as fair. | M1 |
| Poisoned data is caught | Corroboration by independent owners, credit clawback, and adversarial testing can catch data that is false or manipulative. | M1 |
| Precision grows with participation | The system becomes more useful as more people take part, and credit flows between owners who do not know each other. | M3 |
| Knowledge over money | Over the long term, generated knowledge and human insight become the main measure of value. | Long-range direction, not a dependency of any milestone |
M1 builds these mechanisms with a contribution-points record that carries no monetary value. See the Roadmap for each milestone's exit gates.
What exists today
Proof of Data and Proof of Computation records, re-execution by independent wallets, and local finality exist as working foundations on one machine. Attribution uses fixed weights and grouping of duplicate sources; measuring each source's impact by recomputing without it is not yet running. Governed sharing between owners exists, but task inputs are still sent to the assigned peer rather than computed where the data lives. See Current status.
What this thesis does not claim
The thesis makes no capability, economic, privacy, medical, or intelligence claim. It does not claim that data owners will earn income, that the network is decentralized, or that GENOME exists. Those questions are answered only by the evidence each milestone produces.
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