Generative Commons License - Draft for Comments

Open-source licences protect code, but they don’t protect the ability to cooperate around it.

As systems become more social and rule-driven, the risk of hidden control increases. This licence keeps participation open by requiring transparency wherever control appears, while leaving all beliefs, values, and use-cases entirely free.

This is a working draft released for testing and community feedback. Terms may change in later versions of the licence. Use of this software under this version implies awareness that the licence is experimental and may evolve to reflect community consensus.

Community Review

GENERATIVE COMMONS LICENSE (GCL–0.x)

Purpose

This licence protects the capacity for cooperation—generativity—by requiring transparency where control exists.

It does not define belief, culture, or values.

It defines structure: how to keep participation open, contestable, and self-describing.

Permissions

You may use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software and its documentation, provided that you:

  • Retain this licence text and copyright notice; and
  • Respect the transparency and integrity conditions below.

Transparency Condition

If you operate or modify the work such that rules of participation and execution become fused under your control, you must publish a Manifest that names:

  • where the fusion occurs (layer, component, or process);
  • who exercises that control; and
  • how others may reproduce or contest it.

The Manifest must be accessible to participants or users of the system.

∀ Mark

  1. The ∀ symbol denotes that the generative logic of this system remains intact.
  2. If you deploy or distribute the unmodified system publicly, display the ∀ mark and link it to your Manifest.
  3. If you modify or disable the mechanisms of reciprocity or visibility, remove the ∀ mark or publish a new Manifest describing the change.
  4. The ∀ mark is a structural signal, not a brand or moral statement.

Integrity Clause

Display of ∀ is a declaration that no hidden enclosure or undisclosed control has been introduced.

Using or distributing the Software without a visible Manifest or with concealed enclosures is not permitted under this licence.

No Ideological Conditions

This licence governs structure, not belief.

It imposes no political, cultural, or moral commitments beyond the requirement to describe control transparently.

Disclaimer

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Summary

You are free to use and extend this work.

If you close part of it, name the closure.

If you display the ∀ mark, you signal that the system remains open, transparent, and generative.