1.11 What this chapter does not assume

Initial sketch acquisition does not eliminate the observability problem. A teacher may omit crucial knowledge, demonstrations may underdetermine the theory, and the learner’s perceptual vocabulary may be unable to express the relevant distinction. Nor does feedback guarantee truth: teachers can be mistaken, inconsistent, or strategically unhelpful.

The chapter therefore does not posit a privileged channel through which the correct ontology simply enters the machine. It makes the channels explicit, records their provenance, and preserves uncertainty. The result is a provisional theory that can be criticized by later experience.

This makes the initialization problem explicit without assuming it away. The next chapter begins from that provisional, source-bearing package and its current realization. It asks what it would mean for a learner to improve the realization, revise another component of the package, or extend its theory presentation—and how to distinguish each achievement from mere output novelty.

. Can an apprentice acquire a compact task sketch from a small number of demonstrations and corrections, use it to explain and recombine expert behavior, and then recognize when a new situation requires accommodation rather than further imitation?