We ask a structural question: given unreliable elementary problem-solvers, what organizations of them solve hard problems reliably, and what are the limits? We develop a
decomposition algebra: elementary solvers are morphisms in a stochastic category, and four combinators (sequential composition, parallel ensembling, verification gating, and recursive reduction) generate the space of compound solvers. We equip this algebra with two homomorphisms, a
reliability valuation into the ordered monoid
([0,1],≤) and a
cost valuation into a commutative semiring, and we derive the composition laws that govern how reliability flows through structure. Our central results are (i) a
verification odds law (the result that names this report), showing that a verification gate multiplies the odds of correctness by the verifier's likelihood ratio
Λ, so that
k conditionally independent gates yield geometric amplification; (ii) a
reliability amplification theorem, giving target reliability
1−δ at
O(log1/δ) verification depth whenever
Λ>1; and (iii) a
threshold dichotomy: above the critical parameters reliability can be driven arbitrarily close to one at logarithmic cost, while at or below them no amplification is possible. We then show that
self−organization is the least fixed point of a monotone improvement operator on the complete lattice of strategies, and that this fixed point equalizes marginal log-odds gain per unit cost. Finally, we prove matching limits: an information ceiling bounds per-gate amplification by a divergence quantity; shared error causes create a strictly positive voting floor, so diversity is
necessary for unbounded amplification. Reliability, in short, is neither free nor magical: it is bought with independent information, arranged by composition, and bounded by the verifier.