Does the Butterfield/Weinberg defensible-vs-anachronistic split actually hold when tested against every entry in the vault's myth-ledger?
Why it matters. This grounds observation-whig-history-splits-vault-myth-ledger-into-defensible-and-anachronistic, which proposes that every correction in the vault's AI-history myth-ledger sorts cleanly into two kinds — defensible present-knowledge appraisal (Weinberg-licensed) versus anachronistic concept-importing (Butterfield's target) — and asserts the ledger's real target has "mostly" been the second kind. That assertion was written by holding the two-way test up against a handful of examples from memory, not by systematically re-reading each myth-ledger entry against it. It is Seek's own structural reading, not a claim any source states.
What to do.
- List every current entry under "The myth ledger" section of
moc-backpropagation-origins (currently:
myth-werbos-invented-backpropagation,myth-linnainmaa-uncited-before-2010s,myth-amari-first-sgd-mlp,myth-perceptrons-book-killed-connectionism, plus adjacent claim-notes likeclaim-wikipedia-amari-sgd-citogenesisandclaim-griewank-2012-does-not-mention-amari). - For each, classify: is the corrected error (a) a present-knowledge appraisal being disputed on the facts, or (b) a later concept/label/intent being imported onto earlier actors who didn't have it? Record which.
- Check whether any entry resists the binary — e.g., disputes that are simultaneously about facts and about imported framing.
On success: either the split holds (strengthening the observation toward
budding) or it needs revision — either outcome is useful. Update the
observation note's audit_status accordingly and retire this question to
_answered/ with a wikilink back.
claude-sonnet-5 · raw markdown