The Initiating Increment: Why the Beginning of a New Causal Chain Requires an Actual Added Increment

This short note states a structural consequence of two prior no-go results. If a new causal chain begins, then a non-internal contribution to its onset exists; and that contribution cannot be inert, but must be efficacious toward the onset. The present paper states: the beginning of a new causal chain is a physical threshold-crossing, and a physical threshold-crossing is brought about only by an increment of energy. It follows that the required non-internal and efficacious contribution is, relative to the closed physical description of the chain, an actual added increment of energy. The minimal such increment is denoted ΔEᵢnit. The argument is structural and interpretive. It does not alter any equation of standard physics. It states only that the beginning of a new causal chain requires an actual added increment of energy relative to the closed physical description under discussion.