Currently in SOC, the Social Contract is the point where the activities that fulfill Obligations connect.
Instead, it would be useful if there was an Exchange activity that consisted of the establishment of the Social Contract, and all of the provision Activities. In the attached diagram, there is the simple case of paying for something. The new class so:Exchange is an Activity that encapsulates the provisioning activities and the agreement to make the exchange. Its duration is the entire duration of the fulfillment of the obligations. It might, therefore, include many such provisions – such as paying monthly installments as separate payments. It clarifies that the Social Contract is the activity of agreeing upon the terms of the exchange and thus can be temporally bounded separately from the provisions and the exchange itself. For example, I agree with the bank to pay the cost of my house plus interest over 30 years. That agreement takes place at the beginning of the exchange. I then take custody of the house and pay monetary amounts every month towards reducing my mortgage. Interest from the bank then increases the amount to be paid back. Eventually, I pay off the house and take full ownership of the property. This 30 year period is thus a very long running Exchange, consisting of many activities. This also means that you can have an Exchange where you do not know about the Contract and Obligations, but you do know about the provisioning Activities. No new properties are needed to get to this degree of modeling, as P9 is sufficient for asserting that the different activities are part of the overall Exchange. This would then pave the way for more specific types of Exchange, such as P2_has_type Mortgage, or Sale, or Sale-by-Auction, etc. It would also potentially allow for gifts and bribes that do not have Obligations or Contracts, per the Obligation scope notes. Auction of a Lot of 3 paintings would then consist of a payment and three Acquisitions. The Acquisitions do not individually have payments, as the obligation is that one payment will result in the acquisition of all three paintings. Rob
