16.2 Executable semantics

The simulator defines state variables, mechanisms, interventions, and observables. The theory need not reproduce its implementation, but it must make claims whose consequences can be queried against it.

The public interface should support factual replay, local interventions, compound procedures, and held-out regimes. A proposed theory is represented as a sketch with explicit abstraction maps from simulator states to scientific objects. OPTIC skills implement these maps or interventions; RELIC policies choose their use. CLIC maintains alternative mechanism families rather than forcing every residual into one registered explanation.