On Reductionism

The argument presented thus far does not reduce political conflict, economic inequality, or cultural breakdown to individual stress responses. It does not suggest that injustice can be "regulated away," or that structural violence dissolves through nervous-system alignment alone.

What it asserts is narrower — and more difficult to dismiss: that no social system, however just its ideals or sophisticated its design, can function intelligently at scale if the biological conditions required for perception, judgment, trust, and coordination are systematically degraded.

Biology here is not explanation. It is boundary condition.

Just as thermodynamics does not explain why a particular engine was built, but determines whether it can run, nervous-system regulation does not explain political history — but determines whether collective intelligence remains accessible under pressure.