add README: representation stack (metrics, optimization, and system misalignment)

README.md

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-license: cc-by-4.0
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+---
+license: cc-by-4.0
+tags:
+- ai
+- machine-learning
+- llm
+- evaluation
+- systems
+- model-evaluation
+- metrics
+- optimization
+- system-design
+- decision-making
+- data-modeling
+- representation-stack
+- semantic-fidelity
+- alignment-failure
+- system-drift
+- optimization-trap
+- reality-drift
+pretty_name: 'The Representation Stack: How Measurement and Optimization Create Misalignment'
+---
+The Representation Stack: How Measurement and Optimization Create Misalignment
+
+**A model of how reality becomes measurable, optimized, and interpreted—and where misalignment emerges.**
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+This dataset contains a foundational paper introducing the **Representation Stack**, a model describing how modern systems transform reality into measurable, optimized, and interpretable forms.
+
+Most systems do not operate directly on reality. They operate on representations:
+
+- measurements
+- metrics
+- models
+- summaries
+
+As information moves through these layers, it is compressed and transformed. Each step increases distance from the underlying reality.
+
+The result is a common condition:
+
+**systems appear to improve while becoming misaligned with what they are meant to represent.**
+
+---
+
+## Core Idea
+
+The Representation Stack describes how reality is transformed into actionable system inputs:
+
+**Reality → Measurement → Metrics → Optimization → Representation → Narrative**
+
+At each stage:
+
+- complexity is reduced
+- context is lost
+- interpretation increases
+
+What systems optimize is not reality, but the representation of reality.
+
+---
+
+## The Stack Layers
+
+### Layer 0 — Reality
+
+Continuous, high-dimensional, and only partially observable.
+
+### Layer 1 — Measurement
+
+Data is captured through observation and recording.
+
+### Layer 2 — Metrics
+
+Measurements are aggregated into indicators such as scores or KPIs.
+
+### Layer 3 — Optimization
+
+Systems adjust behavior to improve metrics.
+
+### Layer 4 — Representation
+
+Outputs are structured into dashboards, reports, or interfaces.
+
+### Layer 5 — Narrative
+
+Meaning is constructed through explanation and interpretation.
+
+---
+
+## Where Misalignment Emerges
+
+Each layer introduces compression. Over time, this creates cumulative error:
+
+- context is stripped during measurement
+- metrics simplify complex conditions
+- optimization targets proxies
+- representations appear complete but are partial
+- narratives impose coherence on limited data
+
+Misalignment is not a single failure. It is an accumulation across layers.
+
+---
+
+## Why This Matters
+
+The Representation Stack explains why:
+
+- metrics improve while outcomes degrade
+- systems produce plausible but incorrect outputs
+- decisions appear justified but feel wrong
+- organizations optimize the wrong targets
+
+This pattern appears across:
+
+- AI systems
+- product development
+- healthcare
+- education
+- media
+
+---
+
+## Structural Consequence
+
+As systems scale:
+
+- optimization increasingly targets representations
+- feedback from reality weakens
+- systems become internally coherent but externally misaligned
+
+**The system optimizes the map, not the territory.**
+
+---
+
+## Context
+
+Part of the broader Reality Drift Framework (2023–2026), this work establishes semantic fidelity as a structural concern in AI alignment, evaluation, and system design.
+
+Rather than optimizing for outputs alone, this framework focuses on whether systems remain meaningfully connected to the realities they are meant to represent.
+
+---
+
+## File
+
+- `representation-stack-overview-reality-drift-framework-2023-2026-a-jacobs.pdf`
+
+---
+
+## Citation
+
+A. Jacobs, *The Representation Stack*, Reality Drift Framework, 2026.
+
+---
+
+## License
+
+CC-BY-4.0
+
+---
+
+## Core framework and sources
+
+- [Substack (articles)](https://therealitydrift.substack.com/)
+- [GitHub (full library)](https://github.com/therealitydrift/reality-drift-library)
+- [DOI (research paper)](https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6150706)
+- [Glossary & Definition