This paper introduces a structural distinction in computational systems: the difference between inherited structure and datum-anchored evaluation. Standard computational approaches operate within predefined mathematical and structural frameworks, refining and optimising what already exists. In contrast, the Paton System is anchored to a neutral reference condition (LCD), from which structure is not assumed but evaluated. The framework functions as a pre-operational filter applied prior to model selection, optimisation, or computation. Its role is not to generate outputs, but to determine whether a system’s assumed structure is admissible before it is used. Quantum computing is examined as a case example. While it utilises non-fixed states, it operates within an already admissible framework and therefore represents expansion within structure rather than validation of structure itself. The paper positions the Paton System as a general structural filter applicable across domains, addressing a prior condition to computation: whether structure itself should be accepted before application.
Andrew John Paton (Sun,) studied this question.