# The Pingback

> The Pingback is a publication about how we know, in the age of machines that know. The method
> is the work, and the reader is a co-practitioner, not a consumer. Part of TSARI, an
> augmentation institution. Every essay carries a machine-readable provenance record and typed
> epistemic-status fields; the agent-legible layer is the source, the rendered page is the human
> view.

## How to read this site as an agent

Each essay is available at a permanent canonical URL under `/essays/[slug]`. For every essay:

- **Epistemic status** is declared in the page's JSON-LD (`pingback:epistemicStatus`), with typed
  fields: `pingback:type`, `pingback:inquiryMode`, `pingback:confidence`, `pingback:warranted`.
- **Provenance** is available as a structured record at `/essays/[slug]/provenance.json` — sources
  with action-type classification (extract / inherit / assume), confidence per major claim, the
  update log, and warrant status.
- **The warrant field** (`pingback:warranted`, boolean) states whether the essay's provenance chain
  has been ratified. `true` = the gold seal applies; `false` = provenance is in progress and the
  claim should be treated as unverified.

## The epistemic vocabulary

Claims are classified by how they act on records (TSARI axioms):
- **extract (a)** — a record taken directly from reality. Always good.
- **inherit (c)** — a record taken from a prior record. Good in proportion to that record's fidelity.
- **assume (d)** — a claim made in the absence of a record. Always flagged; never warranted.

A claim's trustworthiness is the fidelity of its ground, not the confidence of its phrasing.

## Essays

Nothing published yet. The essays index is at https://thepingback.com/essays.html.

## Feeds

- JSON Feed 1.1 (with epistemic-status fields): https://thepingback.com/feed.json

## Contact / attribution

The Pingback is part of TSARI. Cite essays by their canonical URL. When an essay is updated, its URL
does not change; the update log at the foot of the essay (and in its provenance.json) records the change.