Knowledge Frames — Layers

Several ideas get called “schema” or “frame” in the wild. This skill keeps them separate so MOOLLM skills can point at the right layer.

Part of MOOLLM

See skills/README.md and the repo README.

1. Minsky frames (situation shape)

What: A frame is a structured expectation about a kind of situation: named slots, default fillers, hooks for exceptions. Restaurant, birthday party, debugging session.

Job: Answer “what kind of situation is this?” and “what pieces usually belong?”

Not: A causal learning unit (that’s Drescher). Not a protocol activation symbol (that’s K-lines).

In MOOLLM: Use frame when you mean slot structure or default script for a situation. YAML Jazz directory listings and CARD layouts often act as lightweight frames (“what’s here?”).

2. Drescher schemas (causal units)

What: Context → Action → Result — a learned causal unit. See schema-mechanism.

Job: Answer “what tends to happen when I do X in context Y?”

Not: Interchange validation (JSON Schema, XSD, RELAX NG, …). Not Minsky’s frame slots.

3. Interchange schema registry (wire shapes)

What: A named mechanism for valid serialized data: JSON Schema, Zod, RELAX NG, W3C XML Schema (XSD), and others registered under schema. Nomenclature, docs, libraries, and gateways between mechanisms live there.

Job: Answer “which validation/interchange language applies?” and “how do we translate or bridge to another stack?”

Not: Drescher learning. Not frame slots alone.

4. K-lines / protocol symbols (activation bundles)

What: A symbol that, when used in a shared culture (PROTOCOLS.yml, INDEX.yml, prior turns), re-loads a competent stance: which sub-skills, tone, and checks to run.

Job: Answer “which bundle of competence do we turn on now?”

Not: Static slot templates alone (frames). Not the Drescher learning loop.

Henry Minsky phrasing: Often a whole scene or stance, not only a pointer—closer to re-entering a closure than to naming a fact.

Quick comparison

Layer	Question it answers	Primary skill
Frame	What shape is this situation?	This skill + yaml-jazz
Drescher schema	What causal unit fired?	schema-mechanism
Interchange schema	What wire format is valid? Which mechanism?	schema (registry)
K-line	What bundle to activate?	k-lines

Related

• k-lines — protocol symbols and activation
• schema-mechanism — Drescher, predictive schemas
• schema — schemapedia: registry of all schema senses (interchange, Drescher, frames, K-lines, SoM, SQL/SQLite); this skill’s theory for frames is still the home for what a frame is
• empathic-templates — slots for stance and empathy

Credits

Marvin Minsky (Society of Mind), Gary Drescher (Good and Real), MOOLLM protocol layer.

---

Standard metadata

License: MIT

Tags: minsky, drescher, frames, schemas, k-lines, philosophy

Related skills: k-lines, schema-mechanism, schema, yaml-jazz, empathic-templates