A Reductio ad Absurdum Proof of the Necessity of a Universal Response Delay τ₀ > 0

We prove by contradiction that assuming no minimal response delay (τ₀=0) leads to three independent physical absurdities: a Maxwell’s demon engine violating the second law, superluminal signaling breaching relativistic causality, and reversible quantum decoherence contradicting measurement irreversibility. These collective failures collapse thermodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics, demonstrating that τ₀>0 is a logical necessity on par with c and ħ.