Replication Path Separation
Asking whether support comes from independent paths or repeated restatements
Replication path separation is the practice of asking whether apparent agreement among sources reflects independent evidence or repeated restatements of the same underlying claim. Majority agreement is not strong evidence if all agreeing sources trace back to a single origin.
This is a key defense against Encyclopedia Meltdown, where AI-generated content can cite itself through intermediaries, creating the illusion of consensus from circular amplification. Path separation asks: "How many truly independent paths lead to this conclusion?"
In a Dialectical Graph, path separation is enabled by
explicit provenance and cites edges. The system can trace
claim support back to original sources and detect when apparent
replication is actually repetition.