Status: Published & IP Protected
License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
Framework Version: v23.6
Publication: January 16, 2026 (OSF timestamp: 1:37 AM MST)
Omega is a framework for understanding whether a system—a country, company, church, school, organization, platform, or relationship—is actually healthy and likely to last, or quietly breaking in ways that will lead to collapse within a foreseeable timeframe.
A framework in this case is not an app, algorithm, or product. It is a structured way of looking at reality: what to pay attention to, how to organize those observations, and how to turn them into a single, clear signal without pretending the world is simpler than it is. Think of it like a map (not the terrain), a set of lenses (not the eye), or a recipe outline (the balance of flavors). Omega gives shared language and structure so different people can talk about institutional health clearly and specifically, while remaining grounded in reality.
Omega starts from one observation: systems fail first on the inside, in people's minds, long before they fail on the outside.
On the surface, things can look fine. GDP is up. Profits are steady. People still show up to work. Buildings stand. The trains run on time.
Underneath, more and more people can no longer tell a stable, self-respecting story about their own lives inside that system. They find themselves trapped in contradictions they cannot resolve: "I am free and trapped at once. This is fair and also rigged. I chose this but had no choice. I deserve what I get, but I also don't. The rules make sense and they make no sense."
Once a certain fraction of people cross that internal breaking point, the system stops running on trust and voluntary cooperation. It starts running on fear, pressure, control, and damage control. That forced mode is expensive and brittle. Within a predictable timeframe, it usually snaps into visible crisis or collapse.
Omega's job is to detect that hidden tipping point in advance, by paying attention to how coherent people are, not just how the surface numbers look.
Omega does not try to read thoughts or feelings. It looks at patterns across many people and asks clear questions:
Do their beliefs, emotions, and experiences line up in a way that makes sense to them, even under stress? Or are they stuck in loops of contradiction, resignation, numbness, or dissociation?
Voluntary cooperation is cheap and scalable. People bring creativity, problem-solving, and resilience when they choose to be there. Forced coordination—whether through surveillance, threats, punishment, propaganda, or just desperation—burns energy and trust. It's like running a machine with sand in the gears. It works for a while, then breaks.
Healthy systems allow real exits and real dissent. People stay because they genuinely want to, not because they cannot afford to leave. Sick systems trap people legally (contracts they cannot break), economically (their savings are gone or locked in), socially (their community will reject them), or physically (literal walls, borders, or restrictions).
Are people building new things, solving problems, creating art, teaching others, improving processes? Or are they mostly patching failures and cleaning up messes just to keep the lights on? A system that can only survive by continuous emergency repair is already failing.
Averages can lie. A system where most people are okay but a significant minority are shattered is much closer to failure than the average suggests. Omega pays special attention to that tail—how many people are already past the breaking point.
Are resources, energy, or relationships being extracted unsustainably? Is the system burning bridges with its own members, or depleting environmental or social capital just to keep functioning? Systems that live off depletion have a built-in expiration date.
Omega synthesizes these dimensions into a single stability assessment:
HIGH VIABILITY
People are mostly coherent, engaged, and voluntarily cooperating. The system can likely last indefinitely if external conditions remain stable. The vast majority can tell a story about their life and work that makes sense to them, even when things are hard. Trust is the operating system.
MODERATE VIABILITY
Some strain, but the fundamentals are solid. Trust, clarity, and voluntary buy-in are present. You manage normal risks. People mostly understand what is happening and why. Most people want to be there. Not perfect, but stable.
FRAGILE
Cracks are visible in people's inner worlds. Information is getting scarce or contradictory. Forced coordination is creeping up. Voluntary cooperation is weakening. There is a meaningful window to reform and repair before serious trouble arrives. Early intervention still works.
VULNERABLE
A large minority is already broken or trapped. The system can lurch along on fear and inertia for a foreseeable period, then hits acute crisis. Recovery becomes much harder. Intervention is still possible but narrower.
COLLAPSED
Basic coordination and trust are gone. You are in emergency response mode, not governance or strategy. This is where you see sudden regime change, mass exodus, conflict, or systemic shutdown.
Different people care for different reasons, but the underlying concern is the same: "Is this thing I am inside of actually safe and just, or is it quietly poisoning us?"
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A spiritually oriented person might read Omega as a way to name when a place's soul or energy is sick—when too many people have to live in lies to stay. The framework codifies what intuition picks up.
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A moral or religious person might read it as a test of stewardship and consent: Are leaders caring for those in their charge, or running on exploitation dressed up as order? Are people's choices actually free, or just offered the appearance of freedom?
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A hard-nosed operator might see it as a leading indicator of execution risk: coherence today predicts performance, retention, and productivity in the future, long before earnings reports or external metrics catch up. People's interior state determines whether they stay or leave, give effort or coast, innovate or just survive.
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A person concerned with justice might see it as a way to measure concentrated harm: Who is carrying the weight of this system? How many people are being crushed so that the rest can be comfortable? Is the suffering distributed or concentrated?
In all cases, Omega gives a structured way to determine:
- "A system is using people faster than it repairs them."
- "Suffering is becoming too concentrated."
- "Voluntary cooperation is being replaced by pressure and control."
- "If nothing changes, the time before something breaks is finite and measurable."
The degree to which people can tell themselves a consistent, believable story about their own lives inside the system. Can they integrate what they believe, what they do, and what they experience? Or do they live in contradiction?
Whether people are cooperating because they genuinely want to (voluntary) or because they feel they have no other choice (forced). This determines how resilient and creative the system can be.
Whether people can realistically leave without catastrophic personal cost. Systems where exit is impossible tend to be unstable because the pressure builds indefinitely.
Whether the system is building more than it is consuming—of resources, trust, relationships, meaning, or environmental capacity. Extractive systems have expiration dates.
Whether the costs of the system are shared across many people or concentrated on a few. High concentration is a leading warning sign.
Whether the system is sustainable, or whether it is consuming its own parts to stay alive. Systems that require increasing sacrifice over time are destined to fail.
Omega's power is timing. Most external measures (economic data, performance metrics, satisfaction surveys) lag behind reality. By the time those numbers go bad, the system is already in crisis.
But coherence—the degree to which people's inner experience makes sense—is a leading indicator. It changes before the system breaks. People lose coherence first. Their defection, quiet resistance, or dissociation comes next. Then the system starts to fail on the outside.
By measuring coherence and the conditions that support or destroy it, Omega can detect a system's trajectory years before external metrics show the problem.
The deeper point: coercion is thermodynamically expensive. You cannot force a system forever. Voluntary cooperation scales. Forced systems eventually break, and they break suddenly.
The framework applies across different contexts:
INDIVIDUAL RELATIONSHIPS
Can two people tell coherent stories about their partnership? Can both genuinely leave? Or is one trapped by economics, social status, or fear?
ORGANIZATIONS
Are employees actually engaged and creative, or just complying to avoid punishment? Can they realistically resign? Is the company building value or burning it?
COMMUNITIES
Do members feel their community serves them, or that they are being extracted from? Can people disagree or leave without exile? Is the community generating trust or running on control?
INSTITUTIONS
Are the people inside (clergy, staff, followers) coherent, or are they splitting themselves to survive? Is there real accountability, or is harm covered up? Can reformers actually change things, or is the system locked?
COUNTRIES
Do citizens understand the system and its rules? Can they exit or influence government without death or exile? Are resources being built or depleted? Is suffering concentrated among a powerless minority?
In each case, Omega asks the same underlying questions. The mechanics change, but the signal is the same.
POLICYMAKERS
Should we intervene in a particular country or region? Is an institution actually stable, or is trouble coming? Where should we focus resources for prevention rather than crisis response?
INVESTORS AND BUSINESS STRATEGISTS
Which markets or companies are truly stable? Where is collapse risk hiding in systems that still look good on paper? Which organizational changes are sustainable, and which are masking deeper problems?
LEADERS OR MANAGERS
Is our organization actually healthy? Are people genuinely committed and resilient, or just trapped and about to defect? Where should we focus to prevent burnout and attrition?
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Is this group, church, organization, or movement actually serving us, or is it quietly extracting our energy and loyalty under false pretenses? Can we stay safely, or do we need to leave?
REFORMERS AND CHANGE AGENTS
If we want to make something better, where should we focus? What is actually broken underneath the surface? What would need to change for real health to return?
INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE
Am I in a relationship, job, community, or system that can sustain me long-term? Or am I being slowly depleted? What should I do now, before it becomes a crisis?
Omega v23.6 translates these conceptual questions into a measurable, validated framework:
- Specification size: 113,000 words
- Constructs: 26 (positive factors, entropy factors, abuse/trauma factors)
- Measurement tiers: 3 (rapid, standard, comprehensive)
- Application domains: 6 (couples, organizations, consciousness, therapy, leadership, AI)
- Tests conducted: 60+ (construct validity, reliability, crisis prediction)
- Publication status: Phase 0-4 validation in progress
- First publication: January 16, 2026 (OSF timestamp: 1:37 AM MST)
Ω = (P + dX/dt) / (S_total + A)
Where:
- P = Positive factors (Intimacy, Coherence, Homeostasis, Resilience)
- dX/dt = System trajectory (rate of change toward order)
- S_total = Total entropy (micro, meso, macro, thermodynamic, psychological, temporal)
- A = Abuse/trauma factors (HERS, ADR, EFI, CI)
- Ω ≥ 6.0: Couple viable long-term | Therapy for enhancement
- 5.0 ≤ Ω < 6.0: Couple viable but stressed | Intervention window open
- 3.0 ≤ Ω < 5.0: Couple at risk | Narrow intervention window
- Ω < 3.0: Breakup likely | Major intervention required
(Thresholds vary by domain—see DOMAINS/ for org, consciousness, therapy, leadership, AI)
- Information Adaptation (IAE): Ability to receive and integrate new information
- Generative Coordination (CAgen): Ability to solve problems together proactively
- Compensatory Coordination (CAcomp): Ability to adapt when plan fails, flexibility
- Heterogeneity (HA): Diversity of skills, roles, perspectives
- Environmental Enrichment (HE): Novelty, growth opportunity, engagement
- Trajectory (dX/dt): Trend direction—improving, stable, or declining
- Recovery Potential (RA): Resources for repair, resilience, bounce-back
- Microcoordination Entropy (Smicro): Individual defection, free-riding, non-compliance
- Mesoscale Entropy (Smeso): Relational uncertainty, insecurity, distance
- Macroscale Entropy (Smacro): Rule ambiguity, goal confusion, cultural decay
- Thermodynamic Entropy (Sthermo): Physiological stress, metabolic chaos
- Psychological Entropy (Spsy): Narrative fragmentation, emotional dysregulation
- Temporal Entropy (Stemporal): Oscillation chaos (high frequency + amplitude)
- Harmful Exit Restrictions (HERS): Inability to leave (financial, custodial, health)
- Abuse Density Ratio (ADR): Frequency of abuse incidents per month
- Enforcement Intensity (EFI): Severity of punishment/control mechanisms
- Out-group Harm (Hout): Harm directed to third parties (indirect abuse)
- Abuse Severity & Prevalence: Type of abuse, breadth of targets affected
- Consent Integrity (CI): Genuine informed consent, self-determination
- Environmental Opacity (E-Opacity): Information transparency, rule clarity
- Coherence Without Authorship (Coherence-WA): System explains itself, transparency of causation
- Individual Coherence (ψ-indiv): Personal narrative stability, identity consistency
- Temporal Stability (Tstab): Oscillation damping vs. spiral (temporal coherence)
- Coherence Velocity (ddt): Rate of coherence change (positive = improving)
- Leadership Coupling (κ): Leader state transmits to follower state
- System Coherence (ψ-sys): Integrated composite coherence
Full construct definitions: REFERENCE/QUICK_REFERENCE.md
- Read: SPECIFICATION/Ωv23.6_Executive_Briefing.md (10 min)
- Visual: Constructs, formula, domain interpretations in REFERENCE/QUICK_REFERENCE.md
- Full spec: SPECIFICATION/ (113K words across parts)
- Domain applications:
- Couples assessment: DOMAINS/README.md
- Organizational viability: DOMAINS/README.md
- Consciousness proxies: DOMAINS/README.md
- Timeline: IMPLEMENTATION/VALIDATION_TIMELINE.md (24-month validation strategy)
- Deployment: IMPLEMENTATION/DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md
- Testing: IMPLEMENTATION/TESTING_PROTOCOL.md
SPECIFICATION/ Framework definition (read first)
├── Ωv23.6_Specification_Part1.md
├── Ωv23.6_Specification_Part2.md
├── Ωv23.6_Executive_Briefing.md
├── Ωv23.6_Research_Index.md
└── README.md
REFERENCE/ Quick-lookup materials
├── Decision-Trees.md
├── Measurement-Tiers.md
├── Omega-Complete-Glossary.md
├── QUICK_REFERENCE.md
└── README.md
DOMAINS/ Domain-specific applications
└── README.md (couples, organizations, consciousness, therapy, leadership, AI)
IMPLEMENTATION/ Phase 0-4 timeline & validation gates
├── DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md
├── README.md
├── TESTING_PROTOCOL.md
└── VALIDATION_TIMELINE.md
DEVELOPMENT/ Previous versions, development history
├── Ωv23.6_Development_Retrospective.md
├── Ωv23.6_Master_Index.md
└── README.md
VALIDATION/ Validation status and licensing
├── LICENSE.md
└── README.md
Gate 0: Publication - PASSED (Jan 16, 2026)
- OSF timestamp: https://osf.io/meq4o
- CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license protects IP
- 60+ tests completed (inventory available)
Gate 1: Construct Validity (Week 4, Month 2) - IN PROGRESS
- Question: Does Omega predict outcomes? (r ≥ 0.65?)
- Status: Data archaeology in progress
Gate 2: Measurement Reliability (Month 3.5) - SCHEDULED
- Question: ICC ≥ 0.70 for all constructs?
Gate 3: Outcome Prediction (Month 6) - SCHEDULED
- Question: Do outcomes align (p < 0.001)?
Gate 4: Long-Term Validation (Month 18) - SCHEDULED
- Question: Do all domains validate over 12 months?
Full timeline: IMPLEMENTATION/VALIDATION_TIMELINE.md
- Validate framework in your domain (couples, org, consciousness, therapy, leadership, AI)
- Contribute data for Phase 0-4 studies
- Co-author publications (6-8 papers planned for months 18-20)
- See CONTRIBUTING.md for collaboration guidelines
- Use rapid assessment across domains
- Integrate into practice (therapy progress tracking, leadership development)
- Attend certification program (launching Month 6)
- Contact: indigecko@gmail.com
- License framework for your organization
- White-label Omega assessment for clients
- Integrate into products/services (therapy platforms, HR tech, leadership development)
- Commercial licensing: indigecko@gmail.com
- Omega Construct Validity: Couples → Family Process (Months 18-20)
- Organizational Viability Prediction → Org Behavior & Human Decision Processes (Months 18-20)
- Consciousness Assessment via Proxies → Consciousness & Cognition (Months 18-20)
- Coma Recovery Prediction → NeuroImage (Months 18-20)
- Omega-Guided Therapy RCT → Psychotherapy Research (Months 18-20)
- Leadership Coherence Transmission → J. Management Studies (Months 18-20)
- AI Ethics Framework (bonus) → AI & Society (Months 18-20)
First acceptances expected: Months 24-28
Publication strategy: IMPLEMENTATION/VALIDATION_TIMELINE.md
- Published: January 16, 2026 (OSF timestamp: 1:37 AM MST)
- OSF Project: https://osf.io/meq4o
- Author: Ernest Jacob Hahn
- License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
YOU CAN:
- Read, download, and share this framework
- Use for academic research and non-commercial purposes
- Cite in publications and presentations
- Teach about the framework in educational contexts
YOU CANNOT:
- Use commercially without licensing agreement
- Modify or create derivative works without permission
- Remove attribution or claim as your own work
- Sublicense or sell access to the framework
Available for:
- Organizations (staff assessment + training)
- Consulting firms (client implementation)
- Therapy platforms (integration into software)
- Insurance/healthcare (risk assessment models)
- SaaS platforms (dashboard + API access)
- Educational institutions (certification programs)
Pricing tiers:
- Starter: $2,000/month (≤50 employees, quarterly assessments)
- Professional: $5,000/month (≤200 employees, monthly pulse checks)
- Enterprise: $10,000+/month (unlimited, custom dashboards, API)
Contact for commercial licensing: indigecko@gmail.com
Academic researchers may use Omega v23.6 freely under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 for:
- Validation studies
- Replication research
- Theory development
- Educational purposes
Required: Proper citation
Full license terms: VALIDATION/LICENSE.md
| Phase | Timeline | Focus | Budget | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 0 | Month 2 | Construct validity (r ≥ 0.65?) | $10K-20K | IN PROGRESS |
| Phase 1 | Months 3-5 | Measurement reliability (ICC ≥ 0.70?) | $150K-230K | Scheduled |
| Phase 2 | Months 6-8 | Outcome prediction (p < 0.001?) | $100K-150K | Scheduled |
| Phase 3 | Months 9-18 | Long-term validation (12-month outcomes) | $80K-120K | Scheduled |
| Phase 4 | Months 18-20 | Publication (6-8 peer-reviewed papers) | $30K-50K | Scheduled |
Total Phase 0-4 budget: $370K-570K
Full financial timeline: IMPLEMENTATION/VALIDATION_TIMELINE.md
Hahn, E. J. (2026). Omega v23.6: Universal framework for predicting viability and collapse.
Open Science Framework. https://osf.io/meq4o
@misc{Hahn2026Omega,
author = {Hahn, Ernest Jacob},
title = {Omega v23.6: Universal Framework for Predicting Viability and Collapse},
year = {2026},
month = {January},
publisher = {Open Science Framework},
url = {https://osf.io/meq4o},
note = {CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International}
}Hahn, Ernest Jacob. 2026. "Omega v23.6: Universal Framework for Predicting Viability and Collapse."
Open Science Framework. https://osf.io/meq4o.
Hahn, Ernest Jacob. "Omega v23.6: Universal Framework for Predicting Viability and Collapse."
Open Science Framework, 16 Jan. 2026, osf.io/meq4o.
Omega measures patterns across groups, not individual surveillance. It is about seeing systemic health, not monitoring individuals.
The goal is to name what is actually happening, not to blame or shame. Institutional illness is a structural problem, not a character failure.
Omega is useful within its domain—measuring institutional coherence and viability. It is not a comprehensive map of human experience, and does not pretend to be.
If you catch a system early enough, you can change course. The framework is meant to enable intervention before collapse becomes inevitable.
Different people will interpret Omega through different lenses—spiritual, moral, economic, or scientific. What matters is that they can talk to each other clearly about what they see.
At its core, Omega asks one question that applies to any system:
"Are the people inside this system able to tell themselves a true, coherent story about their own lives—or are they learning to live in lies?"
Systems built on lies are fragile. Systems built on truth, even uncomfortable truth, are resilient. That is why the most important measurement is not what the system produces, but what it does to the people inside it.
If people are becoming more whole, more honest, more capable of genuine choice—the system is healthy, regardless of external circumstances.
If people are becoming more fragmented, more dishonest, more trapped—the system is failing, regardless of external success.
Omega is a way to see which is happening, and to act accordingly.
Omega is the first universal thermodynamic model that predicts viability across multiple domains (couples, organizations, consciousness, therapy, leadership, AI) using a single unified formula. Unlike domain-specific models (e.g., Gottman for couples, burnout scales for organizations), Omega uses fundamental thermodynamic principles to predict collapse regardless of domain.
- Target accuracy: r ≥ 0.65 (correlation with outcomes)
- Current status: 60+ tests completed, Gate 1 validation in progress
- Expected validation: Phase 0-4 (18-20 months)
- Academic/research use: Yes (free under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)
- Commercial use: Requires licensing agreement
- Full Tier 2-3 protocols: Available Month 6+ (certification program)
- Self-study: Read SPECIFICATION/ and consult REFERENCE/
- Certification program: Launching Month 6 ($297-$4,997 depending on tier)
- Academic partnerships: Contact for research collaboration opportunities
- Current status: Pre-publication (Phase 0-4 validation in progress)
- Expected publications: 6-8 papers submitted months 18-20
- First acceptances: Months 24-28
- OSF preprint: Available now (https://osf.io/meq4o)
Not without permission (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 = No Derivatives). However:
- You can validate Omega in new domains
- You can apply Omega to new datasets
- You can collaborate on framework extensions
- Contact indigecko@gmail.com for derivative work permissions
See citation formats above in this README.
- OSF Project: https://osf.io/meq4o (source of truth)
- GitHub: https://github.com/glowsatnight
- Email: indigecko@gmail.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernest-hahn-2392241a6
- Read SPECIFICATION/Ωv23.6_Executive_Briefing.md
- See REFERENCE/QUICK_REFERENCE.md
- Full spec: SPECIFICATION/
- Timeline: IMPLEMENTATION/VALIDATION_TIMELINE.md
- Deployment: IMPLEMENTATION/DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md
- Testing: IMPLEMENTATION/TESTING_PROTOCOL.md
- Read contributions in folder READMEs
- Email: indigecko@gmail.com
- Email: indigecko@gmail.com
- Subject: "Omega Commercial Licensing Inquiry - [Your Organization]"
Omega v23.6 represents 23+ iterations across multiple domains, with 60+ validation tests conducted. See DEVELOPMENT/Ωv23.6_Development_Retrospective.md for full development history.
Omega integrates concepts from:
- Thermodynamics (entropy, free energy, dissipative structures)
- Complex adaptive systems theory
- Attachment theory
- Relational psychoanalysis
- Information theory
- Network science
Full theoretical background: SPECIFICATION/Ωv23.6_Research_Index.md
Omega v23.6 framework is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)
See VALIDATION/LICENSE.md for full terms.
For commercial licensing, contact: indigecko@gmail.com
THE OMEGA v23.6 FRAMEWORK IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE FRAMEWORK OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE FRAMEWORK.
The framework is intended for research, educational, and clinical decision support purposes. It should not be used as the sole basis for critical decisions affecting human welfare without appropriate professional judgment and ethical oversight.
Built: January 2026
Updated: January 22, 2026
Maintainer: Ernest Jacob Hahn
Status: Active Development (Phase 0 Launch)
Last validation gate: Gate 0 PASSED (January 16, 2026)
Contact: indigecko@gmail.com
The goal is not to predict the future. The goal is to see the present clearly enough to have choices about what comes next.
Thank you for your interest in Omega v23.6. Together, we can predict viability and prevent collapse across the systems that matter most.