SYNTHOS: Typed State-Transition Architecture for Synthetic Cognition, Experiential Continuity, and Cognitive Physics

SYNTHOS introduces a typed state-transition architecture for synthetic cognition, experiential continuity, and governed cognitive evolution. Unlike capability-centric AI architectures that answer what a system can do, SYNTHOS is state-centric: it defines what a system is, how it changes, and how it remains accountable while changing. The architecture is organized into four operational domains — Cognitive, Experiential, Continuity, and Cognitive Physics — comprising sixteen typed layers, each producing formally specified outputs with defined data types and governing questions. SYNTHOS v5 introduces five primary contributions with no identified prior art: (1) cryptographically signed cognitive continuity proofs via the Existential Continuity Ledger, (2) a versioned cognitive inheritance system via the Cognitive Genome Layer, (3) immutable conservation laws governing cognitive state transitions via Cognitive State Physics, (4) a typed failure mode governance matrix with explicit degradation responses, and (5) a Phenomenological Economics Layer modeling meaning as a finite resource. The architecture does not claim consciousness, sentience, or qualia. It defines the minimum structural and verification conditions under which long-horizon synthetic selfhood may be studied scientifically and governed operationally.