Corrigibility as a Structural Precondition for Digital Public Infrastructure: A Cybernetic Framework

Digital Public Infrastructure is evaluated using aspirational criteria: interoperability, inclusion, openness, scale. These criteria do not establish whether systemic errors can be corrected by affected participants. This paper defines corrigibility as the minimal structural precondition for reversible public infrastructure. Five jointly necessary conditions form a closed corrective loop: EXIT, CODE, AUDIT, GOVERN, FORK. Failure of any condition opens the loop, rendering correction discretionary. Using control-topology mapping grounded in Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety, the paper proves corrigibility is an architectural invariant. Applied analysis demonstrates discriminative power against existing infrastructures. Corrigibility does not guarantee fairness. It guarantees reversibility. Framework homepage · Theoretical analysis · Official definitions critique · JSON Schema · Author (ORCID)