diff --git a/docs/PARAMETER-REGISTRY.md b/docs/PARAMETER-REGISTRY.md
index 257487aba4..5b5321e96f 100644
--- a/docs/PARAMETER-REGISTRY.md
+++ b/docs/PARAMETER-REGISTRY.md
@@ -11,30 +11,44 @@ Rules:
    - **Full name** — the complete sentence describing exactly what it is.
 2. All three resolve to the same registry row; changing the value changes it everywhere at once.
 3. No bare values anywhere in code — a number never appears without its technical name.
-4. Values live as registry rows (data), revisable, history logged per change.
-5. Every row carries its own **why** — the reason it was set where it's set.
+## The only real constants
 
-## Finding new ones — no orphans allowed
+**0, 1, −1, +∞, −∞. That's the whole list.**
 
-The failure mode: you're coding, you reach for a number, you type it
-bare, and six months later nobody knows what it serves. So:
+These five need no registry, no definition, no history — they are
+structure itself: nothing, unity, negation, and the two endless ends.
+They may appear bare anywhere.
 
-1. **The linter is the shepherd.** No bare numeric literals in kernel
-   code (0, 1, and array indices excepted). Any magic number fails the
-   build with one message: *"register it or name it."*
-2. **Registry-first workflow.** Need a new knob? Add the row first —
-   three names, full sentence, why — then use it. Thirty seconds now,
-   saves the archaeology later.
-3. **Tuning proposes, registry disposes.** When behavior feels wrong
-   and the fix is "adjust something," that instinct is the discovery
-   event: propose a row for the thing you want to adjust. If two
-   different tweaks keep wanting the same knob, that's one parameter
-   trying to be born.
-4. **Periodic sweep.** Grep for repeated suspicious literals; anything
-   appearing twice outside tests gets named.
+Everything else is **not a constant and must never be invented as one.**
+Inventing numbers is how systems rot: someone types `0.73`, someone
+else copies it, soon it's load-bearing folklore nobody can explain.
 
-New parameters are discovered by friction. The registry makes sure
-friction turns into knowledge instead of folklore.
+Every other quantity is a **named relationship** — a registry row
+carrying what it connects, which direction it pushes, and why its
+current setting is what it is. Relationships get tuned; constants
+don't exist to tune.
+
+## Finding new ones — no orphans, no inventions
+
+The failure mode isn't just forgetting what a number does. It's
+*inventing* numbers like they're free. So:
+
+1. **The linter is the shepherd.** In kernel code, the only legal bare
+   literals are `0`, `1`, `-1`, `Infinity`, `-Infinity` (and array
+   indices). Anything else fails the build: *"express it as a
+   relationship."*
+2. **Relationships, not inventions.** Need a quantity? Don't mint a
+   constant — name a RELATIONSHIP between existing registered
+   readings ("how fast truth cools when unasserted"), give it three
+   names and a why, and set its current value as data.
+3. **Tuning proposes, registry disposes.** When behavior feels wrong,
+   that instinct reveals a missing relationship — propose the row.
+4. **Periodic sweep.** Repeated suspicious literals get converted into
+   relationships or deleted.
+
+The registry doesn't collect constants. It catalogs how this system's
+quantities relate — because π was never a number either; it's a
+relationship we got lucky enough to shorten.
 
 ## Registered parameters