Abstract RAL-1 formalizes the thermodynamic requirement for stable spatial interfaces. It establishes that spatial navigation, depth-based interaction, and three-dimensional interface architectures are only viable when anchored in residue. Without residue as anchoring substrate, spatial systems collapse into surface behavior: illusionary depth, infinite scroll, representational overload, and spatial disorientation. RAL-1 completes the canonical triangle formed by RID-1 (Residue Identity), RTL-1 (Residue–Transparency Law), and the evolutionary progression AP₁ → AP₂ → TP₁ articulated in The Ambient Evolutionary Sequence (Eissens, 2026). Transparency alone is insufficient; space requires anchoring. This law explains why spatial interfaces repeatedly failed across symbolic, chromatic, and early transparent systems, and why depth-based navigation only becomes meaningful within residue-anchored transparency architectures such as the Transparency Phone (TP₁). RAL-1 must be read downstream of the canonical progression AP₁ → AP₂ → TP₁ and functions as a foundational precondition law for all ambient, spatial, and post-symbolic interface systems.
Raynor Eissens (2026) studied this question.