Temporal Dynamics: Diversity Decay and CRPS Permanence
CORPUS is being built in the open. Some of what you read here is live, some is still design intent — expect it to evolve.
In the early phases of corpus assembly, the diversity premium is highest: every contribution is more likely to fill a gap. As the library grows, achieving high originality scores becomes progressively harder. Early contributors therefore accumulate more CRPS relative to later ones — a structural reward for trusting the system before its value is proven.
This creates a tension the protocol must address openly. Early accumulation of participation rights is necessary to incentivize the contributors who take the greatest risk. But left unchecked, it reproduces the dynamic that concentrates value at the top of existing platforms. CORPUS resolves this through a separation of the two currencies.
Why the diversity bonus decays
A contribution's diversity bonus is assessed relationally — against the existing library at the moment of ingest. But the library evolves. A track that filled a significant gap in 2026 may occupy well-represented territory by 2031. Its quality has not diminished; its function within the current system has shifted.
To reflect this, CORPUS introduces a gradual temporal recalibration of the diversity component.
The decay mechanism
- Protection period. For the first five years after ingest, the diversity bonus remains unchanged.
- Asymptotic decay. After this period, it decays asymptotically toward a permanent floor of 30% of its original value — never reaching zero.
- Curve. Decay is exponential. After roughly ten years, ~70% of the original bonus is retained; after twenty, ~37%.
- Governance. The precise parameters — protection period, decay rate, and floor — are governed by the scoring jury and constitutional track and can be adjusted in response to corpus dynamics.
Only the diversity component is subject to decay. The quantity and quality components of the score do not.
Why CRPS do not decay
CRPS, once issued, are permanent. They represent the historical fact of having built the system — a fact that does not change regardless of how the corpus evolves. A contributor who was the first to bring Tuvan throat singing into the library performed a structural function that shaped the models trained in that era. That function does not expire.
One currency dynamic, one permanent
Royalties reflect a contributor's evolving role in the current system. CRPS reflect the lasting fact of having built it. One is dynamic. The other is permanent. Together, they ensure that early contributors are rewarded for their risk without permanently capturing a disproportionate share of ongoing revenue.
Next chapter: Rights and Security.