Irreversibility in socio-technical systems is often explained through malice, negligence, or flawed intentions. This paper proposes a different account. We argue that irreversibility is not a moral property of actors, but an emergent structural outcome produced when specific procedural configurations align in sequence. We present a minimal structural model identifying four critical nodes: decision delegation to external authorities, erasure of deliberative processes, temporal compression of judgment, and irreversibility lock-in. Individually, each node may be defensible or even necessary in certain contexts. However, when these nodes align sequentially, irreversible outcomes— including physical harm—can occur without requiring malicious intent, ethical failure, or individual culpability. Using a single flow-based diagram (Figure 1), we show how harm arises downstream of procedural alignment, while justification and rationalization appear only post hoc. The model is intentionally agnostic to psychology and normativity, focusing instead on observable process transitions. We further demonstrate that this structure is fully isomorphic to the prohibitions outlined in Article 5 of the EU AI Act, suggesting that regulatory restrictions target structural irreversibility rather than technological capability. The framework generalizes across AI governance, medical decision-making, organizational sanctions, and institutional enforcement.
Hinano Kimura (Fri,) studied this question.
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