Cognitive Asset Continuity - Lineage, Lifecycle, and Capability Provenance
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Cognitive assets increasingly undergo transformation across expressions, versions, derivations, applications, and reuse. Their current expression may therefore be insufficient to describe the asset as it develops over time. This Foundational Note introduces Cognitive Asset Continuity (CAC) as a conceptual layer within the broader Cognitive Property Theory (CPT) framework. Cognitive Asset Continuity refers to the identifiable continuity of a cognitive asset across changes in its expression, derivation, version, application, and reuse, where relevant relationships among those states remain traceable. The central proposition is: A cognitive asset may retain an identifiable continuity across changes in expression, derivation, version, application, and reuse, provided that relevant relationships among those states remain traceable. CAC builds upon Cognitive Provenance, but is not synonymous with it. Cognitive Provenance addresses the traceable history of an asset; Cognitive Asset Continuity addresses whether an asset can remain identifiable across that history despite change. Within this framework, Cognitive Lineage describes derivational relationships among asset states, Cognitive Asset Lifecycle describes their temporal progression, and Capability Provenance describes how repeated reuse, integration, and institutionalization of cognitive assets may contribute to organizational capability. CAC does not assert that successive states are identical, legally equivalent, or functionally interchangeable. It instead introduces identifiable continuity as a minimum conceptual condition for understanding cognitive assets that persist through transformation. This Note establishes the minimum claim of Cognitive Asset Continuity and identifies its relationship to provenance, lineage, lifecycle, reuse, integration, and capability formation. It does not propose a complete ontology, legal doctrine, measurement system, or software architecture.
Authors: Xu, Lucas Xiaochun, Cao, Kiera Yu
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213625289