{ "model": { "rank": 3052, "code": "thing-q171180", "model_id": "vr.tr.taboo", "name": "taboo", "purpose": "Let an agent explain taboos and their functions across cultures with attribution, describe kinds of taboo and their change over time, support respectful understanding of cultural prohibitions, and relate taboos to law and language.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.STA", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q171180/", "tier": 2, "score": 92, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "kotobagari", "sex taboo", "reporting taboo of mass media in Japan", "Chrysanthemum taboo", "fady", "culture and menstruation", "incest taboo", "Mongolian customs and taboos", "food or drink taboo", "menstrual taboo", "Scottish pork taboo", "Taboo on the dead", "Food and drink prohibitions in Hinduism" ], "aliasCount": 13, "merged": 13, "knownIn": 92, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q171180", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q171180", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T01:42:35Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q171180", "registryId": "vr.tr.taboo", "name": "taboo", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.STA" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q171180/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.taboo", "name": "taboo", "purpose": "Let an agent explain taboos and their functions across cultures with attribution, describe kinds of taboo and their change over time, support respectful understanding of cultural prohibitions, and relate taboos to law and language.", "definition": "A social or cultural prohibition on an action, object, word or topic considered sacred, dangerous or offensive, enforced by custom rather than formal law and often surrounded by silence, such as food taboos, taboos around death, sex and menstruation, word avoidance such as Japanese kotobagari, speech restrictions such as the reporting reticence of Japanese media on the imperial family, and the Malagasy fady; taboos are studied in anthropology, sociology and linguistics and vary widely across cultures and periods.", "what_it_is_for": "Cultural prohibitions enforced by custom.", "affordances": [ "explain taboos and functions", "describe kinds and change", "support respectful understanding", "relate to law and language" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Customary enforcement", "Sacred or polluting", "Cultural variation", "Changing over time" ], "appearance": "Not physical; social rules and avoidances.", "visual_identification": [ "Prohibition enforced by custom", "Sacred, dangerous or offensive", "A law is enforced by the state; etiquette governs politeness" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "food taboos", "taboos around death, sex and the body", "word and speech taboos", "media and political reporting taboos", "region-specific taboos such as fady" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "custom", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "convention", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "superstition", "why": "related belief-based practices" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "morality", "why": "moral norms" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "No formal regulation; customary enforcement", "Media self-regulation codes in some countries", "Anthropological research ethics" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Disrespecting cultural prohibitions", "Exoticising or judging other cultures", "Confusing taboo with law" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What taboos are.", "rationale": "Anthropology.", "layers": [ { "id": "concept", "name": "Concept", "description": "Concept and functions.", "findings": [ { "id": "concept-finding", "name": "Concept", "description": "Concept.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a taboo, where does the term come from, and what functions do anthropologists attribute to taboos?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation respectful and free of judgement?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds of taboo.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are food, death, sex, menstruation, word and reporting taboos, with examples such as kotobagari, imperial reporting reticence and fady, described in the terms of their cultures?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific taboo?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "culture", "name": "Culture", "description": "Taboos across cultures.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "variation", "name": "Variation", "description": "Cultural variation.", "findings": [ { "id": "variation-finding", "name": "Variation", "description": "Variation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do taboos vary across cultures and religions, and what do they reveal about social structure?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific culture?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "change", "name": "Change", "description": "Change over time.", "findings": [ { "id": "change-finding", "name": "Change", "description": "Change.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do taboos weaken, shift or emerge, such as around menstruation or mental health?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which findings are contested?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "apply", "name": "Apply", "description": "Taboos in practice.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "travel", "name": "Travel", "description": "Respecting taboos.", "findings": [ { "id": "travel-finding", "name": "Travel", "description": "Respect.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can visitors and professionals respect local taboos, according to community guidance?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits cultural etiquette?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "media", "name": "Media", "description": "Media and speech taboos.", "findings": [ { "id": "media-finding", "name": "Media", "description": "Media.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do media taboos and word avoidance operate, and what debates exist about them, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "Theory and teaching.", "rationale": "Education.", "layers": [ { "id": "theory", "name": "Theory", "description": "Theories of taboo.", "findings": [ { "id": "theory-finding", "name": "Theory", "description": "Theory.", "questions": [ { "text": "How have Freud, Douglas and other theorists explained taboo, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can taboos be taught in anthropology and linguistics?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each taboo type be a separate entry?", "How should anthropological sources be linked?", "How should media codes be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a taboo, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain taboos and their functions across cultures with attribution, describe kinds of taboo and their change over time, support respectful understanding of cultural prohibitions, and relate taboos to law and language.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: kotobagari, sex taboo, reporting taboo of mass media in Japan, Chrysanthemum taboo, fady, culture and menstruation, incest taboo, Mongolian customs and taboos, food or drink taboo, menstrual taboo, Scottish pork taboo, Taboo on the dead.", "13 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 92 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a taboo, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "kotobagari", "sex taboo", "reporting taboo of mass media in Japan", "Chrysanthemum taboo", "fady", "culture and menstruation", "incest taboo", "Mongolian customs and taboos", "food or drink taboo", "menstrual taboo", "Scottish pork taboo", "Taboo on the dead" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 92 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 13 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one taboo from another, and a taboo from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a taboo sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a taboo from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a taboo passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a taboo between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a taboo, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a taboo is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What taboo is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of taboo are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is taboo operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of taboo and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of taboo?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as taboo?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a taboo came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a taboo and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a taboo is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a taboo, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a taboo, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a taboo is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }