Intergenerational Orientation Reconstruction (IOR) is proposed as a transdisciplinary research field dedicated to reconstructing and modelling human orientation centres across generations under historically structured conditions. This working paper (Field Definition Draft v0.2) establishes IOR as a foundational framework that shifts the focus of memory studies away from narrative preservation and towards decision-state architecture. Rather than treating memory as episodic storage or biographical content, IOR conceptualises memory as a dynamic orientation-forming architecture governing long-run patterns of judgement, ownership, coherence and recoverability. The paper introduces three central moves: 1. Reframing Memory as Orientation Architecture Memory is understood as a generative system shaping directional continuity across time, not merely as a repository of past events. 2. Defining the Orientation Centre Across Generations The core object of study is the dynamic configuration of decision-weighting, ownership allocation, coherence stability and recovery capacity within agents under contextual pressure. 3. Operationalising Reconstruction via the Memory Constructor Protocol (MCP) MCP shifts interview methodology from narrative recall to decision-state extraction, focusing on how individuals determined certainty, assumed responsibility, stabilised direction and recovered after failure. IOR explicitly distinguishes between factual reconstruction and orientation plausibility modelling. It does not claim total historical reconstruction. Instead, it operates under structured evidence constraints, requiring transparent marking of verifiable evidence, cross-validated testimony, reasonable inference and narrative supplementation. Within the broader StateFlow / Tri-Generative Governance Architecture (TGGA), IOR occupies the historical–empirical layer, grounding abstract orientation models in historically situated lives. It is not reducible to StateFlow, but uses dynamic state modelling and drift-based orientation theory as experimental substrates. The long-term objective of IOR is not memorialisation, but the development of a scalable framework for intergenerational orientation continuity in AI-mediated societies. In an era dominated by data infrastructures and algorithmic compression, IOR seeks to ensure that human decision architectures, recovery mechanisms and experiential wisdom remain structurally extractable rather than technologically erased. This document serves as a formal field definition and conceptual anchor for subsequent empirical and methodological publications.
Sincere Ann Ma (Sun,) studied this question.