HOURS EOH Framework¶
HOURS is a mathematical framework for a currency system — Entropy Obligation Hours (EOH) → Time-Equivalent Hours (TEH) — that remains internally coherent, auditable, and fiscally solvent across the full civilizational transition from subsistence to post-scarcity.
"An economy is the organized effort of a civilization to resist entropy — in its people, in its infrastructure, in its ecosystems, and in its knowledge."
What This Is¶
A civilization can be described by a single observable: ε (epsilon) — the fraction of entropy obligations fulfilled by machines rather than human bodies.
| ε | State | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | Subsistence | All entropy resistance is human labor. TEH barely circulates. |
| 0.40 | Calibration reference | The point results are checked against — a validation anchor, not a design target. |
| 0.90 | High automation | Floor prices fall toward material costs. Care dominates the remaining human work. |
| 0.99 | Effective post-scarcity | Machines carry most of the obligation; the human share is small but not zero, because care resists automation. |
ε is not a policy lever. It is an observed state of the world — and it can be read off a real economy two ways that share no data, from its capital stock and from its time use. Every function in this framework must produce physically meaningful output across the full arc from ε = 0 to ε = 0.99.
Four Entropy Domains¶
The economy organizes resistance to entropy across four physical domains:
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Personal
Biological needs: food, shelter, healthcare, sanitation. Scales with population and age structure.
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Infrastructure
Buildings, roads, power grids, water systems, communications. Grows with automation-embodied capital.
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Ecological
Soil fertility, water cycles, pollination, fisheries, climate stability. Co-equal Trust obligation.
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Knowledge
Skills, institutional memory, standards, software, training. Accelerates at high ε as complexity compounds.
The EOH → TEH Pipeline¶
Physical state → total_eoh() # entropy obligation from physics
→ human_eoh_per_domain() # ε drives the machine/human split
→ registration boundary # EOH admitted to the collective ledger
→ × worker multiplier # TEH enters circulation
EOH generation is measurement-driven — functions take actual physical state (capital stock, ecosystem health, age distribution, knowledge base) and return entropy obligations derived from calibrated physical constants and auditable baselines. EOH fulfillment is where ε belongs — the machine/human split, registration curves, and fiscal mechanics are genuinely ε-driven.
Structural Conditions¶
Four conditions define system integrity. All must hold at every ε:
| Condition | Rule | Enforced by |
|---|---|---|
| I — Ledger Identity | TEH supply = created − destroyed | condition_i_check() |
| II — Multiplier Band | Skill multipliers within a governed, auditable band | condition_ii_check() |
| III — Zero Interest | Balances grow through labor only, never passively | condition_iii_balance_growth_check() |
| IV — Distributed Competency | Human reserve in every essential domain | condition_iv_check() |
The dashboard gives a one-command health check:
The reference configuration reads YELLOW rather than green, and the dashboard says why rather than hiding it.
Get Started¶
Requires Python ≥ 3.10. No external service dependencies.
from hours_eoh.core.eoh_generation import total_eoh
from hours_eoh.core.eoh_fulfillment import eoh_to_teh_pipeline
eoh = total_eoh(epsilon=0.40) # the canonical arc: a reference frame
result = eoh_to_teh_pipeline(0.40)
print(f"EOH: {eoh['total']:.3e}")
print(f"TEH created: {result['teh_created']:.3e}")
Where to Go Next¶
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Theory
The mathematical foundations: what an economy is, the ε arc, the four entropy domains, structural conditions, EOH accounting, and the 9 design principles.
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Developer Reference
Complete API documentation for all modules —
core/,land/,scenarios/, andresearch/. Includes worked code examples for every function. -
Quick Start Guide
Install, run the pipeline, check the dashboard, and run your first scenario. Annotated CLI examples for every command.
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Ground Use Fee Framework
The full mathematical specification for the GUF — the fee, a worked example at ε = 0.40, ecological write-down pathways, and the §9 rebuilding surcharge.