The Starlight Library
Read the current scoring rules, the research still in progress, and the historical versions that show how the method changed.
View current data and review coverage in Chinese →
Three simple document states
Current documents explain the method now in use. Research / paused documents show work that is still being tested or has been set aside. Historical documents preserve earlier thinking and formulae. Each card also says whether it contains a full text, a summary, an original draft, or a historical edition.
How contribution is assessed
Start with the person-level method now in use, then follow the earlier formulae and major experiments in chronological order. The history explains why the measure changed.
Records the former six-bucket, five-dimension, R, Score, and T0–T9 calculation chain, and why the outcome ledger replaced it.
Measure complete outcomes that have been realized, not fame: M sets magnitude, a allocates responsibility, and scripts replay the calculation uniformly.
English public full text
Records how the former ranking mapped Score to T0–T9; the current person research ranking does not use this mapping.
English public full text
Why a complete outcome first becomes light, why shared contribution is allocated from one budget, and how the six pools prevent omissions and duplication.
English editorial summary
Explains how sources, facts, attribution, counterfactuals, and uncertainty enter a reviewable record.
English editorial summary
The text and mechanical tests once passed, but empirical testing on real samples did not pass as a whole; this route never entered the current ranking or public data.
English editorial summary
A chronological source-based guide to the formulae, cases, counterexamples, validation results, and stopping rules in R1, R2, R3, R4, and R4.10.
Records how the six goals, five factors, and early aggregation narrative took shape; its formulae have been superseded by Canonical v1.
How far has human civilization come?
Starlight cannot yet give human civilization as a whole a reliable score. This section preserves earlier attempts, explains why work paused, and sets out what is still missing.
E has shifted from total to per-capita terms without re-anchoring; the F and R/A thresholds remain open, so no civilization tier or 0.7x coefficient is published.
English public full text
An early argument archive that expanded a single energy scale into E, R, and A; SCL remains paused pending re-anchoring.
English editorial summary
How the ranking is made and revised
These documents explain how evidence is gathered, independently reviewed, and revised, and why rankings, prizes, and funds are decided separately.
A Dark Star is a specific, unresolved civilizational gap; its potential score is not an outcome score and cannot be inherited automatically.
English public full text
Second review independently discovers disagreements; red and blue teams attack material disputes. Neither can replace adjudication by forcing decimal agreement.
English public full text
Everyone can be assessed with the same measure; the frontier, Top lists, and awards derive from the same person ledger.
English editorial summary
The early record in which star tiers, six goals, and the person ranking were first institutionalized; its old aggregation formulae and example scores have lapsed.
English editorial summary
Place a light at the decisive moment
A fund supplies money, a prize recognizes people, a measure sets the scale, and a ranking records history. Civilization does not upgrade itself. It advances bit by bit because a small number of people keep pushing where nobody applauds.
Where all of this came from
These records preserve the original question, purpose, and organizational ideas behind Starlight, so readers can see where the measure came from.
Identify the people and outcomes that truly move civilization forward, support those still working at its dark frontiers, and preserve verifiable contributions in public memory.
English public full text
Explains in one page the status of the current person research ranking, unmigrated introduction archive, historical algorithms, and civilization measure.
English public full text