Distinguish from
Goal alignment
Components can pursue the same immediate objective while differing in their broader evaluations or reasons for pursuing it.
A lens
Value alignment
Do the parts evaluate outcomes in sufficiently similar ways?
Value alignment concerns what components treat as good, bad, desirable, or worth preserving. It is one important form of alignment, but it neither guarantees coordination nor is required for every kind of coordinated system.
Try seeing it
Ask what the parts care about, not merely what they do.
Two people may behave similarly for very different reasons. Conversely, people who value many of the same things can still disagree about goals, facts, procedures, or appropriate action.
Value alignment therefore identifies one relationship among components, not a master variable from which all other alignment follows.
Distinguish from
Behavioral alignment
Appropriate-looking behavior does not uniquely reveal the values that produced it.
Distinguish from
Alignability
A component can be redirectable through its environment without adopting the values of whoever redirects it.
A question to carry elsewhere