Entropy-Horizon Navigation in Emulation Hierarchies constructs an inverted proposal–verification navigation architecture for contracting recursive systems operating under structural epistemic limits. Building on prior results establishing integration capacity (Γ) and emulation deficit (δ), the framework separates roles: high-capacity actors generate candidate future trajectories, while a strictly lower-capacity pilot (ΓL 0; certainty cannot be reduced to zero within the hierarchy. Second, under sustained forcing, navigation terminates at a finite entropy horizon Tₑnt bounded explicitly by system parameters. At maximum-entropy disorder, instantaneous re-coherence probability equals (1−τ) ⁿ — strictly positive but super-exponentially small in dimension — while deterministic recovery is guaranteed under zero forcing. All results are proved in the linear contracting class. The framework formalizes navigation under permanent structural doubt: proposals may be generated, certainty is tested and corrected, but irreducible residual doubt remains intrinsic to the system architecture.
Joseph DeMase (Mon,) studied this question.