04 · The artifact
Loss reconstruction
What was on the part of the leaf that broke off?
- Status
- Specified, unbuilt
- Field
- Empty — nobody is doing this
- Who wants it
- Trait extraction. And the argument itself.
Why it matters
You cannot measure leaf area on a torn leaf, and torn leaves are everywhere. Reconstructing missing lamina unblocks morphometrics at scale — and the fill propagates into a measurement, into a climate inference. It has to travel as a claim, never as a repair.
What it needs
Multi-method reconstruction with the disagreement kept, not smoothed.
State of the art
Inpainting is mature. Inpainting that refuses to look seamless is not.
Next head
Reproductive state →