The Intermediate Layer Problem: Why Quantum Mechanics Terminates at Descriptive Compression

This paper introduces the Intermediate Layer Problem: reduction in theoretical science often stops at a compressed statistical description instead of reaching the true generative mechanism. Through a detailed case study of quantum mechanics, it shows that the theory excels at predicting probability distributions yet leaves the actual production of individual events unspecified. The work argues that this misidentification of level limits conceptual progress and proposes Plateau Dynamics as a stability-based framework to restore the missing generative link between epistemic description and ontic process.