Coda: In Plain Terms

Simply: a community that cannot leave the network is not free, and a network that cannot be left will eventually coerce. The exit door is a feature, not a flaw. — When eleven people at the Cardinal Scale wanted to do things differently, they were not fought; they were helped to leave well, taking what was theirs. The two communities still trade and still speak. That clean divergence is a sign of health.

Toward the coherent substrate. Extraction traps; it raises the cost of leaving until leaving becomes unthinkable. Coherence keeps the exit open. A network you can leave cleanly is one that must keep earning your presence rather than capturing it — the difference between the two substrates in a single design choice.