Terminal Optimization: Implications of Human-AI Functional Coupling

We aren’t marching toward some cinematic war where the machine suddenly awakes to eliminate or place us in irons. The reality is quieter: a self-reinforcing feedback loop where human dependency and machine architecture iteratively reshape each other until their separate trajectories blur together. This working paper examines the mechanics of functional coupling, structural agency, the loss of intellectual self-reliance, and the imperative for active oversight in the age of intelligent systems.