David B. Forbes is an independent systems researcher focused on resilient distributed systems, governance-first autonomy, and safety-constrained behavior in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems.
His work examines how authority, legitimacy, and execution boundaries must be explicitly defined and enforced to prevent unsafe or unjustified system behavior under uncertainty. He is particularly concerned with failure modes arising not from insufficient intelligence, but from ambiguous, degraded, or improperly constrained authority.
Forbes’ research emphasizes architectural invariants such as the Stable Authority Boundary (SAB), authority contraction, refusal as correct behavior, quorum-gated execution, and degraded operational states.
Identity: ORCID • Google Scholar
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A practice-based research monograph examining authority boundaries, refusal, and failure modes in autonomous and distributed systems.
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Authority, Refusal, and Resilience in Autonomous Systems
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David B. Forbes · Standard / Specification · 2026
A normative standard defining testable requirements for preventing illegitimate execution in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems by enforcing an explicit authority boundary between evaluation and execution.
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Stable Authority Boundary (SAB) v1.0 — Conformance Specification
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David B. Forbes · Preprint · 2026
Analyzes responsibility diffusion as a systemic socio-technical failure mode that emerges when authority boundaries are unclear and coordination degrades.
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Nobody Is in Charge Anymore: Why Modern Systems Fail at the Moment Responsibility Matters
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A teacher-facing companion to Engineering Seams, built for classroom use and design review training. Teaches seam detection as an assessable skill: finding the boundary where evaluation becomes action without an explicit authority gate, recognizing progress-by-default behavior under uncertainty, and treating hold/refuse/stop as legitimate engineering outcomes.
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Seeing Before Solving: A Method for Engineering Judgment Under Uncertainty
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An observational lens for identifying engineering seams—where system invariants thin, authority becomes implicit, and decisions go unstated.
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ENGINEERING SEAMS — Observed, Not Resolved: What Authority Leaves Behind
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Identifies the missing architectural constraint that causes modern autonomous and AI-driven systems to fail at boundaries.
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The Missing Layer: The Hidden Risk in Modern Autonomous Systems
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Defines correct behavior when coordination is absent—treating silence as a valid operating condition and non-action as a legitimate outcome.
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Designing Systems That Behave Correctly in Silence
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Reframes resilience as purpose preservation under uncertainty rather than continuous operation.
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Resilience Is Not Uptime
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Formalizes bounded authority, quorum-gated action eligibility, and refusal as safety invariants for autonomous and distributed systems.
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Authority Contraction and Refusal as Safety Invariants in Autonomous Systems
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Examines boundary failure patterns in AI-driven systems when authority and legitimacy checks are missing or violated.
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Authority, Silence, and Failure Modes in AI-Driven Systems
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Defines refusal as an explicit enforcement action that preserves legitimacy and safety when coordination degrades.
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Refusal as a Legitimacy-Preserving Enforcement Act
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A practical guide to interpreting Zenodo records, metadata, and signals with an engineering lens.
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How to Read Zenodo Like a Systems Engineer
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