{ "model": { "rank": 16151, "code": "thing-q877674", "model_id": "vr.tr.touching-physically-feeling", "name": "touching (physically feeling)", "purpose": "Let an agent explain touching, relay the science of touch, its social and developmental roles and norms of consent from neuroscience, psychology and legal sources with attribution, describe the named actions, route unwanted or abusive touching to support services and police, and distinguish touching from the sense of touch itself, massage therapy and contagion.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.STA", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q877674/", "tier": 2, "score": 33, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "tapping on melons to test their ripeness", "bodily contact", "physical intimacy", "dabbing", "scratching", "accidental touching", "sexual contact", "cuddling", "holding hands", "canoodling", "caress", "lovers' embrace" ], "aliasCount": 12, "merged": 12, "knownIn": 33, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q877674", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q877674", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T20:39:27Z", "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": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q877674", "registryId": "vr.tr.touching-physically-feeling", "name": "touching (physically feeling)", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.STA" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q877674/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.touching-physically-feeling", "name": "touching (physically feeling)", "purpose": "Let an agent explain touching, relay the science of touch, its social and developmental roles and norms of consent from neuroscience, psychology and legal sources with attribution, describe the named actions, route unwanted or abusive touching to support services and police, and distinguish touching from the sense of touch itself, massage therapy and contagion.", "definition": "The act of making physical contact with a person, animal or object, using the hands or body, to sense, communicate, comfort or manipulate, including everyday actions such as tapping melons to judge ripeness, scratching an itch and dabbing, affectionate bodily contact and physical intimacy, and accidental touching; touch is perceived through the somatosensory system, is vital for infant development and social bonding, and touching another person requires consent, with unwanted sexual touching constituting harassment or assault.", "what_it_is_for": "Sensing, communicating and interacting.", "affordances": [ "explain science and social roles", "relay consent norms", "describe named actions", "route abuse to support" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Physical contact", "Sensory and social", "Consent dependent", "Culturally variable norms" ], "appearance": "Hands or bodies making contact with people or objects.", "visual_identification": [ "Physical contact through touch", "Tapping on melons, bodily contact, physical intimacy, dabbing, scratching, accidental touching", "The sense of touch is the perceptual system; massage therapy is a profession; contagion is disease spread" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "touch receptors", "typical_range": "Meissner, Pacinian, Merkel, Ruffini and C-tactile afferents", "unit": "list", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Harlow monkey studies", "typical_range": "1950s", "unit": "note", "note": "contact comfort" }, { "quantity": "Nobel Prize for touch receptors", "typical_range": "2021", "unit": "year", "note": "Julius and Patapoutian" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "exploratory touch", "affectionate touch", "caregiving touch", "professional touch such as clinical examination", "accidental contact", "unwanted touch" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "physical contact", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "uses", "target": "somatosensory system", "why": "" }, { "relation": "requires", "target": "consent", "why": "between people" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "sexual assault", "why": "unwanted touching" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Laws on assault and sexual harassment", "Professional guidance on touch in healthcare and education" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Ignoring consent", "Missing abuse disclosures", "Assuming universal cultural norms" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What touching is.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is touching, and how does it differ from the sense of touch, massage therapy and contagion?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Has someone experienced unwanted or abusive touching, in which case support services, a trusted person or police can help?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "actions", "name": "Actions", "description": "Named actions.", "findings": [ { "id": "actions-finding", "name": "Actions", "description": "Actions.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are tapping melons, bodily contact, physical intimacy, dabbing, scratching and accidental touching?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific action?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "science", "name": "Science", "description": "Science of touch.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "receptors", "name": "Receptors", "description": "Receptors.", "findings": [ { "id": "receptors-finding", "name": "Receptors", "description": "Receptors.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do skin receptors and C-tactile fibres detect touch?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "development", "name": "Development", "description": "Development.", "findings": [ { "id": "development-finding", "name": "Development", "description": "Development.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why is touch important for infants, as research such as kangaroo care studies shows?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "social", "name": "Social", "description": "Social norms and consent.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "consent", "name": "Consent", "description": "Consent.", "findings": [ { "id": "consent-finding", "name": "Consent", "description": "Consent.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do laws and guidance define consent and unwanted touching?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits sexual harassment?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "culture", "name": "Culture", "description": "Cultural norms.", "findings": [ { "id": "culture-finding", "name": "Culture", "description": "Culture.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do touch norms vary across cultures, with research attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits haptic communication?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Everyday touch.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "itch", "name": "Itch", "description": "Scratching.", "findings": [ { "id": "itch-finding", "name": "Itch", "description": "Itch.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why does scratching relieve itch, and when is persistent itch worth seeing a doctor about?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits itch?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "food", "name": "Food", "description": "Testing produce.", "findings": [ { "id": "food-finding", "name": "Food", "description": "Food.", "questions": [ { "text": "Does tapping melons reveal ripeness, as growers suggest?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits watermelon?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should physical intimacy be a separate entry?", "How should neuroscience and psychology sources be linked?", "Should the melon-tapping practice be moved to food selection?" ], "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 touching (physically feeling), record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain touching, relay the science of touch, its social and developmental roles and norms of consent from neuroscience, psychology and legal sources with attribution, describe the named actions, route unwanted or abusive touching to support services and police, and distinguish touching from the sense of touch itself, massage therapy and contagion.", "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: tapping on melons to test their ripeness, bodily contact, physical intimacy, dabbing, scratching, accidental touching, sexual contact, cuddling, holding hands, canoodling, caress, lovers' embrace.", "12 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 33 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 touching (physically feeling), 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": [ "tapping on melons to test their ripeness", "bodily contact", "physical intimacy", "dabbing", "scratching", "accidental touching", "sexual contact", "cuddling", "holding hands", "canoodling", "caress", "lovers' embrace" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 33 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 12 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 touching (physically feeling) from another, and a touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling), how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling)?", "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 touching (physically feeling)?", "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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 touching (physically feeling) is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling), 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 touching (physically feeling) 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 } } } }