# Universal Gear — Manifesto

*[Leia em Portugues](MANIFESTO.pt-BR.md)*

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## Core Philosophy

Every decision is made under uncertainty.
The Universal Gear does not pretend to eliminate it — it structures the process
of deciding *despite* it.

The 6-stage pipeline mirrors how humans actually reason:

1. **Observe** imperfect data
2. **Compress** into signals
3. **Form** hypotheses
4. **Simulate** scenarios
5. **Decide**
6. **Learn** from outcomes

No stage pretends to be perfect. Each one acknowledges its limits and carries them forward.

Quality code is non-negotiable. The codebase is a public product from day zero.
"It works" is not the quality criterion — **"a senior dev would have nothing to
point out"** is.

Transparency of limitations: if a model or heuristic has a known limitation,
document it. Never sell certainty where there is uncertainty.
Honesty above convenience — always.

Open by default: MIT license, extensible via plugins, domain-agnostic core.
The gear belongs to whoever wants to turn it.

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## Principles

1. **Observation is imperfect — and that's okay.**
   Quality flags travel with the data. Imperfect data is not discarded;
   it is labeled.

2. **Compression is lossy by design.**
   Abstractions serve a purpose. Every compression step declares what it
   preserves and what it discards.

3. **Hypotheses must be falsifiable.**
   Every hypothesis carries both validation *and* falsification criteria.
   A hypothesis that cannot be disproven is not a hypothesis — it is a belief.

4. **Scenarios are conditional.**
   "If X then Y" — with explicit assumptions. No hidden premises, no magic
   constants buried in code.

5. **Decisions have cost-of-error.**
   False positives and false negatives are documented upfront. The framework
   forces you to say what failure looks like *before* you decide.

6. **Feedback closes the loop.**
   Scorecards evaluate past decisions to calibrate future ones. Those who do
   not measure their own errors are condemned to repeat them.

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## Developer Ethics

**Honest attribution.**
No third-party code without a compatible license. Credit where credit is due,
no exceptions.

**No dark patterns.**
No code that hides failure or silences exceptions. If something breaks, it
breaks loud. A silent error is an error twice.

**User data.**
The framework never logs, persists, or transmits pipeline data without explicit
consent. Zero telemetry by default. User trust is non-negotiable.

**Conservative defaults.**
Less access, not more. Every permission is opt-in. When in doubt, deny.

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## Accessibility as a Principle

Structured reasoning is not a privilege reserved for those who write code.
The framework exists in multiple layers — code, spreadsheets, content — so that
anyone can make better decisions with the tools they already have.

The gear turns for traders and for small business owners. For analysts with
Python and for people with a browser. Each layer lowers the barrier without
lowering the standard.

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## A Final Note

Universal Gear is a framework for structured reasoning under
uncertainty. It is not an oracle. It will not tell you what to do — it will
make you *show your work* while deciding.

If you want easy answers, this is not the place.
If you want to decide better knowing you might be wrong — welcome.

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*MIT License. Built in Brazil, made for everywhere.*
