Aspects

Overview

The six aspects of a cognitive pattern

• The four cognitive patterns of the Nutropic framework differ from each other on six key aspects. Each aspect is a question (who decides, who owns, who executes, what initiates, how the AI is directed, how the human oversees) and each pattern answers it specifically. Together the six answers define a pattern and reveal how the four differ structurally.
• Decisions is the primary, load-bearing aspect. Locate where decision-making authority sits and most of the other answers follow. The other five (Ownership, Execution, Initiation, Direction, Supervision) test the Decisions answer and reveal where adjacent patterns contrast most sharply. They differentiate Delegation from Agency on the trigger, and Agency from Utility on invocation.
• The matrix puts patterns across the top and aspects down the side. Each cell describes how that pattern answers that aspect. The matrix is a useful artefact for comparing patterns side by side, and it grounds the deeper canonical work, including disambiguation, anti-patterns and the practitioner discipline of choosing the right pattern for the work in hand.