# conscience (internalized)

a wall moved inside the system, a boundary once kept by others and now maintained by the self-model, which is why it holds where no others are looking.

- Computed level: L20 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: psychology

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [motion](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-motion.movement), [inside](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-inside.spatial), [system](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-system.organized), [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [once](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-once.temporal), [keep](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-keep.maintenance), [others](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-others.distinct-entities), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self.personal), [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [hold](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hold.physical), [look](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-look.visual), [time](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-time.dimension)

**Through:** An externally enforced boundary is copied into the self-model, which takes over its upkeep, so the wall keeps holding in exactly the situations where no external enforcer can see.

**Novel properties:**
- observer-independent enforcement
- internalized boundary upkeep
- self-carried wall

## Examples
- Drivers stop at red lights on empty roads at night with no camera and no traffic. *(society)*
- An accountant flags her own error in figures no auditor would ever have checked. *(business)*
- A chess player announces a touched piece in an online game where no arbiter could know. *(sport)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-conscience.internalized*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-conscience.internalized.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*