{
  "dossierId": "hp:dossier:rokos-basilisk",
  "slug": "rokos-basilisk",
  "title": "Roko's Basilisk evidence dossier",
  "version": "1.1",
  "updatedOn": "2026-08-01",
  "subjects": [
    {
      "recordId": "hp:memes:rokos-basilisk",
      "role": "primary subject"
    }
  ],
  "abstract": "A source record for a 2010 rationalist thought experiment, later internet meme, and subject of implicit-religion analysis; factual-threat, doctrine, religion, and institution claims are excluded.",
  "sourceInventory": [
    {
      "sourceId": "basilisk-mirror",
      "title": "Solutions to the Altruist's burden: the Quantum Billionaire Trick",
      "url": "https://basilisk.neocities.org/",
      "sourceType": "mirror",
      "owner": "Mirror of Roko's original post",
      "relationship": "near-primary",
      "publicationDate": "2010-07-23",
      "retrievedOn": "2026-08-01",
      "supports": [
        "Reconstruction of the initiating argument and its 2010 origin."
      ],
      "doesNotSupport": [
        "A platform-verified original record or the entire later cultural object."
      ],
      "preservation": {
        "status": "external-archive",
        "method": "external-archive",
        "localPath": null,
        "sha256": null,
        "note": "The mirror is the current external preservation location. Hieropedia records its limitations and does not present it as a platform-verified original."
      }
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "basilisk-slate",
      "title": "The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment of All Time",
      "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20181025091051/http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/07/roko_s_basilisk_the_most_terrifying_thought_experiment_of_all_time.single.html",
      "sourceType": "journalism",
      "owner": "Slate",
      "relationship": "independent",
      "publicationDate": "2014-07-17",
      "retrievedOn": "2026-08-01",
      "supports": [
        "Public reception and media circulation."
      ],
      "doesNotSupport": [
        "A factual danger or exact preservation of every original detail."
      ],
      "preservation": {
        "status": "external-archive",
        "method": "external-archive",
        "localPath": null,
        "sha256": null,
        "note": "The Internet Archive capture is the preservation location; Hieropedia does not redistribute the article."
      }
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "basilisk-singler",
      "title": "Roko's Basilisk or Pascal's?: Thinking of Singularity Thought Experiments as Implicit Religion",
      "url": null,
      "sourceType": "research-paper",
      "owner": "Beth Singler / Implicit Religion",
      "relationship": "independent",
      "publicationDate": "2018-01-01",
      "retrievedOn": "2026-08-01",
      "supports": [
        "Scholarly implicit-religion analysis and comparison."
      ],
      "doesNotSupport": [
        "The basilisk as a bounded religion, church, or doctrine."
      ],
      "preservation": {
        "status": "metadata-hash-explicit-limitation",
        "method": "metadata-hash-explicit-limitation",
        "localPath": null,
        "sha256": null,
        "note": "Only bibliographic metadata is presently recorded; a verified public full-text or repository URL has not been claimed."
      }
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "basilisk-bbc",
      "title": "Tomorrow's Gods: What is the future of religion?",
      "url": "https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190801-tomorrows-gods-what-is-the-future-of-religion",
      "sourceType": "journalism",
      "owner": "BBC",
      "relationship": "independent",
      "publicationDate": "2019-08-01",
      "retrievedOn": "2026-08-01",
      "supports": [
        "Broader religion-and-AI reception context."
      ],
      "doesNotSupport": [
        "Institutional or devotional continuity for the basilisk."
      ],
      "preservation": {
        "status": "metadata-hash-explicit-limitation",
        "method": "metadata-hash-explicit-limitation",
        "localPath": null,
        "sha256": null,
        "note": "Publisher copyright prevents redistribution; Hieropedia preserves citation metadata and monitors the cited URL."
      }
    }
  ],
  "supportedClaims": [
    "Roko's Basilisk originated in rationalist discourse around 2010.",
    "It became associated with decision theory, AI risk, information hazards, and self-reference.",
    "Reception transformed it into a durable internet meme.",
    "Later scholarship treated it as a quasi-religious analytical object."
  ],
  "unsupportedClaims": [
    "The basilisk is a real or supernatural threat.",
    "A future system will punish people as described.",
    "Roko's Basilisk is a bounded religion, church, or doctrine.",
    "The mirror provides complete platform provenance."
  ],
  "knownContradictions": [
    {
      "label": "Information hazard versus disputed thought experiment",
      "description": "Reception sometimes frames the idea as uniquely dangerous; analysis treats it as a disputed puzzle and meme.",
      "status": "reported as reception, not factual threat"
    },
    {
      "label": "Religious analogy versus classification",
      "description": "Implicit-religion features do not establish a church, canon, ritual body, or devotional community.",
      "status": "analytical distinction maintained"
    },
    {
      "label": "Origin evidence versus mirror dependence",
      "description": "The initiating post is reconstructed through a mirror.",
      "status": "provenance limitation"
    }
  ],
  "visibility": {
    "prompt": "not applicable",
    "context": "fragmentary forum history",
    "operator": "not applicable",
    "note": "The central visibility issue is historical fragmentation and mirror dependence, not hidden model prompts."
  },
  "roles": {
    "human": [
      "Original proposal and forum discussion",
      "Moderation and later commentary",
      "Media circulation and scholarly interpretation"
    ],
    "machine": [
      "A hypothetical future system within the thought experiment; no documented acting machine participant"
    ]
  },
  "evidenceLimitations": [
    "The original source is mirror-dependent.",
    "Forum and moderation history is fragmented.",
    "Media retellings can sensationalize the information-hazard frame."
  ],
  "preservationSummary": "Every listed source now has a structured preservation disposition: local snapshot, external archive, or metadata hash with an explicit limitation. No complete platform mirror or comprehensive custody is claimed.",
  "editorialAssessment": "The article is supportable as thought experiment, meme, and reception history, not a factual threat or bounded religion.",
  "changeHistory": [
    {
      "date": "2026-08-01",
      "version": "1.1",
      "summary": "Added the PR 06 selective-preservation disposition and rights record."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-08-01",
      "version": "1.0",
      "summary": "Initial public evidence dossier."
    }
  ]
}