Signals: conviction, not truth

A claim tells you what has been asserted. A signal tells you that a participant was willing to place economic weight behind a position related to that claim or term.

This distinction is central to Intuition. Creating “Atlas — audited by → Secure Labs” makes the relationship available in the graph. Signaling around it expresses conviction, interest, or support through the protocol's economic mechanisms. An opposing position makes disagreement legible too.

What signal can communicate

Signal may help applications discover:

• which identifiers a community has coordinated around;
• which claims attract meaningful support or opposition;
• how positions change over time;
• where participants have more than a costless reaction at stake.

Because signal has economic consequences, it can be more informative than an unlimited like. It can also reward early discovery and curation of knowledge that later becomes useful.

What signal cannot prove

Economic weight is not a truth oracle. A heavily signaled claim can be wrong. A valuable claim can receive little signal. Participants differ in wealth, information, incentives, and willingness to take risk. Coordinated groups can amplify a position, and thin markets can make small actions appear more meaningful than they are.

Applications should describe signal precisely: “supported by this amount,” “opposition increased,” or “these accounts hold positions.” Labels such as “verified,” “true,” or “safe” require additional evidence and policy.

Opposition is information

A binary score often hides disagreement. Distinct positions can reveal that a claim is contested rather than merely unpopular. The distribution, provenance, and timing of support and opposition may be more useful than a single net number.

For example, ten broad endorsements and one detailed objection from a relevant auditor are not adequately summarized by “90% positive.” The objection's domain relevance and evidence could matter more to a security-focused reader.

Signal is always interpreted

Every product chooses what signal to display, how to normalize it, and whose positions matter for a given context. A developer directory may emphasize signals from maintainers; an investment product may use a different policy. The protocol makes positions inspectable, while applications remain accountable for the conclusions they draw.

Why might a low-signal claim still be highly credible?Reveal answer

It may be new, specialized, unprofitable to signal on, or supported by strong external evidence. Signal measures protocol participation and economic position, not the complete quality of all available evidence.

Official references

• Signals
• Intuition economics