Constraint Collapse describes a systemic condition in which feedback, consequence, and correction mechanisms remain present but lose their ability to enforce change. Systems continue to operate, update, and optimize, yet no longer possess reliable mechanisms for invalidating error or stopping misaligned processes. Feedback becomes informational rather than corrective, allowing misalignment to persist without escalation. This paper outlines the structural dynamics that produce this condition and its implications across technological systems, institutions, and cognition.
A. Jacobs (Thu,) studied this question.