Data Physics and the Semantic Capture of Intent

The Three Metaphors

The Cake

Data isn’t born unstructured — we compress it into documents for humans, destroying its value to machines. RAG is “un-baking the cake.”

The Prism

SDC acts as a prism, refracting single-source truth into three value beams: Development (Cyan), Legal (Gold), and AI (Magenta).

The Fortress

Traditional APIs have 500+ attack vectors. SDC collapses this to 2 endpoints: GET /schema and POST /ingest.

Key Concepts

Data Physics

A paradigm shift from “Data Management” — treating data degradation as entropy, a fundamental force of chaos requiring prevention rather than repair.

Data Entropy

The degradation of meaning that occurs the moment data leaves its source — structure and context are progressively lost.

Native Semantic State

Capturing data with its full structure and metadata at the moment of creation, before entropy destroys its machine-readable value.

SDC4 Protocol

The Semantic Data Charter protocol acting as “white light” — raw domain expert intent that refracts into development, legal, and AI value streams.

Core Arguments

1

Data is born structured — form entries, sensor readings, transactions all start with structure. We compress them into documents for human readability, destroying their machine value.

2

RAG is expensive reconstruction — we are paying billions to LLM companies to reconstruct context we deliberately destroyed when flattening data into PDFs and reports.

3

Solve at source, not downstream — you cannot secure a sprawling API after it’s built, govern data after it’s flattened, or fix context after the domain expert has retired.

4

Security through simplicity — 500 REST endpoints means 500 BOLA attack vectors; collapsing to 2 well-guarded gates with strict validation eliminates the attack surface.

5

Single source, multiple outputs — the SDC4 Protocol captures intent once and produces development (zero-cost evolution), legal (liability shield), and AI (hallucination defense) value.

Key Quotes

“We are spending billions trying to ‘un-bake the cake’ of enterprise data. It’s time to fix the ingredients.”

“Data is rarely born unstructured. It starts as a form entry, a sensor reading, or a transaction. It is born structured.”

“We don’t have an attack surface; we have an attack point.”

“You cannot solve these problems downstream. You have to solve it at the Source.”

Visual Resources

Infographic

Click to view full size

Deep Dive Slide Deck (15 slides)

Click to open PDF

Semantic Knowledge Graph

Machine-readable metadata for search, discovery, and graph database integration.

The Entropy Problem vs Solution

flowchart TD
    subgraph Problem["Current State: Data Entropy"]
        A[Structured Data Born] --> B[Compressed to Documents]
        B --> C[Context Destroyed]
        C --> D[RAG Pipeline]
        D --> E[LLM Reconstruction]
        E --> F[Hallucinated Context]
    end

    subgraph Solution["Data Physics: Semantic Capture"]
        G[Domain Expert Intent] --> H[SDC4 Protocol]
        H --> I[Native Semantic State]
        I --> J[Preserved Structure]
        J --> K[Zero Entropy]
    end

    Problem -.->|"Billions $ Spent"| F
    Solution -.->|"Prevent at Source"| K

    style Problem fill:#ffcdd2,stroke:#c62828
    style Solution fill:#c8e6c9,stroke:#2e7d32

Value Prism Architecture

flowchart LR
    subgraph input ["INPUT"]
        WHITE["White Light\nDomain Expert Intent"]
    end

    subgraph prism ["SDC4 PRISM"]
        SDC["Semantic Data\nCharter"]
    end

    subgraph outputs ["VALUE BEAMS"]
        CYAN["Cyan Beam\nDevelopment\nZero-Cost Evolution"]
        GOLD["Gold Beam\nLegal\nLiability Shield"]
        MAGENTA["Magenta Beam\nAI\nHallucination Defense"]
    end

    WHITE --> SDC
    SDC --> CYAN
    SDC --> GOLD
    SDC --> MAGENTA

    style input fill:#fff9c4,stroke:#f9a825
    style prism fill:#e1bee7,stroke:#7b1fa2
    style CYAN fill:#b2ebf2,stroke:#00838f
    style GOLD fill:#ffe082,stroke:#ff8f00
    style MAGENTA fill:#f8bbd9,stroke:#c2185b

Security Architecture: The Fortress

graph TB
    subgraph Traditional["Traditional: 500 Attack Vectors"]
        E1["/patients"]
        E2["/invoices"]
        E3["/suspects"]
        E4["/orders"]
        E5["... 496 more"]
        ATK1((Attacker))
        ATK1 -.->|"BOLA"| E1
        ATK1 -.->|"BOLA"| E2
        ATK1 -.->|"BOLA"| E3
    end

    subgraph SDCArch["SDC: 2 Guarded Gates"]
        G1["GET /schema\nHere is the map"]
        G2["POST /ingest\nHere is the payload"]
        V[Strict Validation]
        G2 --> V
        V -->|Valid| App[Application Logic]
        V -->|Invalid| Reject[Reject Before Processing]
        ATK2((Attacker))
        ATK2 -.->|"Blocked"| V
    end

    style Traditional fill:#ffcdd2,stroke:#c62828
    style SDCArch fill:#c8e6c9,stroke:#2e7d32

Complete Knowledge Graph

graph TB
    subgraph paradigms ["Paradigms"]
        DP["Data Physics\n(paradigm)"]
        DM["Data Management\n(paradigm, obsolete)"]
    end

    subgraph concepts ["Concepts"]
        ENT["Data Entropy\n(concept)"]
        NSS["Native Semantic State\n(concept)"]
    end

    subgraph metaphors ["Metaphors"]
        CAKE["The Cake\n(metaphor)"]
        PRISM["The Prism\n(metaphor)"]
        FORT["The Fortress\n(metaphor)"]
    end

    subgraph technologies ["Technologies"]
        SDC["SDC4 Protocol\n(technology)"]
        GETS["GET /schema\n(technology)"]
        POST["POST /ingest\n(technology)"]
    end

    subgraph values ["Value Streams"]
        CYAN["Cyan: Development\n(value_stream)"]
        GOLD["Gold: Legal\n(value_stream)"]
        MAG["Magenta: AI\n(value_stream)"]
    end

    subgraph problems ["Problems"]
        RAG["RAG Costs\n(problem)"]
        BOLA["BOLA Attacks\n(problem)"]
    end

    DP -->|replaces| DM
    DP -->|addresses| ENT
    NSS -->|prevents| ENT
    SDC -->|captures| NSS

    CAKE -->|frames| RAG
    PRISM -->|frames| SDC
    FORT -->|frames| BOLA

    SDC -->|produces| CYAN
    SDC -->|produces| GOLD
    SDC -->|produces| MAG

    FORT -->|implements| GETS
    FORT -->|implements| POST

    CAKE -->|solves| RAG
    FORT -->|solves| BOLA

    style DP fill:#c8e6c9,stroke:#2e7d32
    style DM fill:#ffcdd2,stroke:#c62828
    style ENT fill:#ffecb3,stroke:#ff8f00
    style NSS fill:#b2ebf2,stroke:#00838f
    style CAKE fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#7b1fa2
    style PRISM fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#7b1fa2
    style FORT fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#7b1fa2
    style SDC fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1565c0
    style CYAN fill:#b2ebf2,stroke:#00838f
    style GOLD fill:#ffe082,stroke:#ff8f00
    style MAG fill:#f8bbd9,stroke:#c2185b
    style RAG fill:#ffcdd2,stroke:#c62828
    style BOLA fill:#ffcdd2,stroke:#c62828

Taxonomy

data_physics_domain
├── paradigms
│   ├── data_physics
│   │   ├── entropy_as_force
│   │   └── solve_at_source
│   └── data_management (obsolete)
│       ├── bugs_to_fix
│       └── downstream_repair
├── concepts
│   ├── data_entropy
│   ├── native_semantic_state
│   └── intent_capture
├── metaphors
│   ├── the_cake
│   │   ├── born_structured
│   │   ├── compressed_for_humans
│   │   └── unbaking_expensive
│   ├── the_prism
│   │   ├── white_light_intent
│   │   └── refracted_value
│   └── the_fortress
│       ├── attack_surface_reduction
│       └── validation_at_gate
├── technologies
│   ├── sdc4_protocol
│   ├── get_schema_endpoint
│   └── post_ingest_endpoint
├── value_streams
│   ├── cyan_development
│   ├── gold_legal
│   └── magenta_ai
└── problems
    ├── rag_reconstruction_costs
    ├── bola_attacks
    └── context_loss

Neo4j Graph Import

Import this knowledge graph into Neo4j to explore the Data Physics domain interactively.

Cypher Import Script

// Data Physics Domain - Neo4j Import

// Create Paradigm nodes
CREATE (dp:Paradigm {id: 'data_physics', name: 'Data Physics',
  description: 'Treating data management as physics with entropy as fundamental force'})
CREATE (dm:Paradigm {id: 'data_management', name: 'Data Management',
  description: 'Traditional approach treating data issues as bugs', status: 'obsolete'})

// Create Concept nodes
CREATE (entropy:Concept {id: 'data_entropy', name: 'Data Entropy',
  definition: 'Degradation of meaning as data moves from source'})
CREATE (nss:Concept {id: 'native_semantic_state', name: 'Native Semantic State',
  definition: 'Data captured with full structure at creation'})

// Create Metaphor nodes
CREATE (cake:Metaphor {id: 'the_cake', name: 'The Cake',
  problem: 'Un-baking compressed documents', solution: 'Capture at source'})
CREATE (prism:Metaphor {id: 'the_prism', name: 'The Prism',
  problem: 'Multiple value streams needed', solution: 'Single source refracts'})
CREATE (fortress:Metaphor {id: 'the_fortress', name: 'The Fortress',
  problem: '500+ attack vectors', solution: '2 guarded gates'})

// Create Technology nodes
CREATE (sdc:Technology {id: 'sdc4_protocol', name: 'SDC4 Protocol',
  purpose: 'Semantic Data Charter for intent capture'})
CREATE (getSchema:Technology {id: 'get_schema', name: 'GET /schema',
  purpose: 'Provide the data map'})
CREATE (postIngest:Technology {id: 'post_ingest', name: 'POST /ingest',
  purpose: 'Accept payload with validation'})

// Create ValueStream nodes
CREATE (cyan:ValueStream {id: 'cyan_beam', name: 'Cyan Beam',
  target: 'Development', benefit: 'Zero-Cost Evolution'})
CREATE (gold:ValueStream {id: 'gold_beam', name: 'Gold Beam',
  target: 'Legal', benefit: 'Liability Shield'})
CREATE (magenta:ValueStream {id: 'magenta_beam', name: 'Magenta Beam',
  target: 'AI', benefit: 'Hallucination Defense'})

// Create Problem nodes
CREATE (rag:Problem {id: 'rag_costs', name: 'RAG Reconstruction Costs',
  cost: 'Billions', description: 'Paying LLMs to reconstruct destroyed context'})
CREATE (bola:Problem {id: 'bola_attacks', name: 'BOLA Attacks',
  risk: 'High', description: 'Broken Object Level Authorization on many endpoints'})

// Create Person node
CREATE (dc:Person {id: 'dinis_cruz', name: 'Dinis Cruz', role: 'Security Researcher'})

// Create Relationships
CREATE (dp)-[:REPLACES]->(dm)
CREATE (dp)-[:ADDRESSES]->(entropy)
CREATE (nss)-[:PREVENTS]->(entropy)
CREATE (sdc)-[:CAPTURES]->(nss)
CREATE (cake)-[:FRAMES]->(rag)
CREATE (prism)-[:FRAMES]->(sdc)
CREATE (fortress)-[:FRAMES]->(bola)
CREATE (sdc)-[:PRODUCES]->(cyan)
CREATE (sdc)-[:PRODUCES]->(gold)
CREATE (sdc)-[:PRODUCES]->(magenta)
CREATE (fortress)-[:IMPLEMENTS]->(getSchema)
CREATE (fortress)-[:IMPLEMENTS]->(postIngest)
CREATE (cake)-[:SOLVES]->(rag)
CREATE (fortress)-[:SOLVES]->(bola)
CREATE (fortress)-[:REFERENCES]->(dc)

How to use this in Neo4j

Create a free Neo4j Sandbox at sandbox.neo4j.com — select “Blank Sandbox”
Open Neo4j Browser and paste the Cypher code above into the query editor
Run the query (click the play button or press Ctrl+Enter)
Visualize the graph with: MATCH p=()-[]-() RETURN p

Source Information

Original Author	Timothy Cook
Original Post	Substack
Content Created By	Dinis Cruz
License	CC BY 4.0 International
Generated With	Google NotebookLM
Format	PDF (15 slides) + Infographic
Date	January 2026

Continue Reading

Explore the foundational thesis about Data Entropy and the case for native semantic capture.

Unbaking the Cake → All Resources

Data Physics

The Three Metaphors

The Cake

The Prism

The Fortress

Key Concepts

Data Physics

Data Entropy

Native Semantic State

SDC4 Protocol

Core Arguments

Key Quotes

Visual Resources

Infographic

Deep Dive Slide Deck (15 slides)

Semantic Knowledge Graph

The Entropy Problem vs Solution

Value Prism Architecture

Security Architecture: The Fortress

Complete Knowledge Graph

Taxonomy

Neo4j Graph Import

Cypher Import Script

How to use this in Neo4j

Tags

Source Information

Continue Reading