Data as a Coherence Web (v3.0)

Zenodo DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18335822 -This preprint proposes “Data as a Coherence Web,” a systems framework that reframes data not merely as storage, computation, or representation, but as a coherence substrate: a relational web that stabilizes continuity across observers, institutions, and time. The model describes how modern societies increasingly operate through cognitively rendered reality layers—filters that compress high-dimensional complexity into actionable forms—and argues that control of these filters becomes a direct instrument of governance. The paper introduces key risk concepts including Data Smog, Reality Drift, and Contestability Horizons, and proposes Filter Integrity Protocols as an applied blueprint for preserving transparency, accountability, and resilience as data infrastructure scales. The framework formalizes a Coherence Expansion Paradox, in which data volume can grow indefinitely while coherence collapses without proportional growth in contestability and integrity mechanisms. The goal is to provide a measurable foundation for integrity-first decision systems across economic, technical, and institutional domains.