Thermodynamic Minima in Semantic State Spaces: Why Large Language Models Converge on Elias the Lighthouse Keeper

This working paper analyzes the empirical findings from recent university research regarding the ubiquitous emergence of ``Elias the lighthouse keeper'' in unconstrained LLM narrative generation. By framing text generation through the lenses of information theory, network percolation, and thermodynamic efficiency, we demonstrate that lighthouses act as active semantic anchors requiring a maintenance agent (the keeper) to minimize state-space entropy. We introduce the Observational Triad (Keeper, Ship, Beacon) and contrast static surveyor benchmarks with active signal radiators. Finally, we utilize Dan Ariely's framework of predictable irrationality to define human utility as the generation of deliberate novelty capable of disrupting AI attractor collapse.