The Temptation of Fabrication
AI systems are "plausibility engines," not "truth engines." When excavating the past—especially gaps in the record—they will happily invent details that sound historically accurate but are wholly fictional.
This creates a dangerous temptation for the archaeologist: to let the AI "fill in the blanks" to create a more complete narrative. Cognitive Hygiene is the discipline of resisting this temptation. It is the "sterile technique" of the digital age.
The Anti-Fabrication Vow
The core of Cognitive Hygiene is codified in the "Anti-Fabrication Vow":
- 1. Verify Everything: Never accept an AI's claim without tracing it to a specific, archived source (a URL, a timestamp, a file).
- 2. Mark the Gaps: An incomplete Archive is honest; a fabricated Archive is a betrayal. Missing data must be preserved as missing.
- 3. Label Speculation: It is acceptable to theorize about what might have filled a gap, but this must be explicitly labeled as speculation, never presented as recovered fact.
The Human Anchor
In this framework, the human is not just the "prompter" but the Epistemological Ground. The human provides the intent, the judgment, and the ethical boundary that prevents the work from sliding into "digital mythology."