Poincaré Meets Bellman: Revisable Memory, Operational Quotients, and Evidence-Supported Learning in Changing Environments
Organizations: Department of Computer Science University at Albany
Abstract
Memory consolidation determines both what a learner can do now and which changes remain implementable later. We develop a finite-model synthesis of operational state abstraction and optimal control under the stability-evidence-revision (SER) framework. ``Poincaré meets Bellman'' names two complementary roles: qualitative dynamics identifies reusable action-response structure, and dynamic programming prices acquisition, retention, reuse, merging, and forgetting. Recurrence enters separately through the timing and value of future demands. We distinguish active quotient merging from historical information erasure, characterize exact repair by zero-error functional coding and causal migration, and derive a Bellman recursion over the joint law of hidden state and complete deployed memory. A first-return model yields an explicit retention rule. Conditional results show how factor sharing avoids enumerating combinations and how independent informative observations improve identification, while leaving some zero-error evidence budgets unchanged. Finite enumerations verify the coding and retention calculations. The synthesis gives an exact benchmark for specified finite models, without claiming universal recurrence, bounded-memory open-ended learning, or tractable global planning.
Figures & tables
| Question | Conventional distortion-based VQ | SER retention and consolidation |
|---|---|---|
| What is valued? | Reconstruction under a specified distortion and rate model. | Competence and supported continuation value under resource costs. |
| Why split? | Improve the chosen distortion objective. | Enable a supported distinction whose repair is causally implementable. |
| Why merge? | Release or reallocate representational resolution. | Share protected computation while deciding separately what evidence survives. |
| What limits repair? | The algorithm’s data, model, and coding constraints. | The actual retained state and admissible future access. |
| When install? | The method’s optimization or update rule. | A declared prospective evidence criterion and migration check. |