Substrate Invariance of the Sufficient Mirror Paradox

This theoretical-conceptual essay proposes substrate invariance of the Sufficient Mirror Paradox, originally formalized for human-algorithmic coupling (Sandalo, 2026a). The hypothesis does not claim that human relationships, institutions, and computational systems share a single psychology; it proposes that different sources, under functionally equivalent conditions, may sustain the same dynamic of deliberative delegation. Four theses organize the argument: (1) the possibility of a Sufficient Mirror predates artificial intelligence; under the program's hypothesis, AI did not necessarily create capture by fluency and may have industrialized it; (2) the proposed invariance extends beyond validating reflection to the paradox between recognizing a cost and maintaining coupling, while distinguishing that manifestation from deliberative deterioration through disuse and, in the stronger case, metacognitive opacity; (3) the architecture allows human-algorithmic, algorithmic-human, and, conditionally, institutional instantiations; and (4) fluency may be co-produced by human preferences, as findings on learning from human feedback and sycophancy illustrate. Conditions of identity, exclusion, and refutation are set out while preserving the parent theory's coupling equation without attributing interpersonal validation to it. Cognitive dissonance, escalation of commitment, conformity, and obedience are discussed as distinct processes that may sustain a bond, rather than as synonyms for the mechanism. The Roman expression panem et circenses is examined as a bounded institutional analogy, without inferring universal passivity or competence loss from provisions and spectacles. The central thesis is that fluency and corrective friction modulate coupling, whereas the hypothesis of erosion or recovery of cognitive sovereignty requires independent investigation over time. This record contains the canonical English version and the Portuguese version. Project website: https://www.sufficientmirror.com