A queue is a human-made ordering system with the following parameters: (1) a sequence of participants arranged in a determinate order, (2) a shared understanding that access to a scarce resource or service is allocated by position in that order, and (3) a first-in-first-out allocation rule enforced by social norms, signage, barriers, or attendants. The concept persists through language (the word 'queue', the phrase 'in line'), physical infrastructure (rope stanchions, numbered tokens, ticketing systems), and sustained social practice — taught explicitly to children and enforced through peer sanction. [formal: cōnordō | substrate: behavior | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
queue
A queue is a human-made ordering system with the following parameters: (1) a sequence of participants arranged in a determinate order, (2) a shared understanding that access to a scarce resource or service is allocated by position in that…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made system for ordering participants in a line or sequence, used to allocate limited resources or services fairly. It persists through language, teaching, signage, and sustained social practice.
Names and aliases
- queueen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrg7sm5n00pb2a1nlr9zgvwdSERVES →
A queue is designed specifically to allocate scarce resources equitably. Remove fairness as a goal and the queue loses its raison d'etre — without the purpose of fair allocation, ordering mechanisms become arbitrary hierarchies or brute-force先到先得. The designed purpose is fairness; the mechanism is FIFO ordering. Per Law 8d: for whose sake does the queue exist? For fairness.
- cmsc62wgo02ha3vv321fexvluINSTANCE_OF →
A queue is a specific kind of data structure where elements are ordered and accessed in FIFO (first-in, first-out) order. A competent speaker would call a queue 'a data structure.' This is a direct INSTANCE_OF relation against the nearest kind.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Aug 5, 2026, 11:42 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 0c22d683582ee3819d7bfac7d594a799a40320ca7fee38a656392fd5f091d5c6