Glossary of Core Concepts
Status: v1.0 conceptual consolidation.
Purpose: Define the project vocabulary so the theory does not become poetic fog.
Each term has a definition, use, boundary, example, and theory links.
Repair lag
Definition: The delay between destabilization and effective correction.
Why it matters: It gives the project its central timing mechanism.
What it is not: Not ordinary slowness; some slow institutions are protective.
Example: Synthetic media spreads before verification; emissions persist before policy repair.
Linked theories: D,E,F,G
Repair crisis
Definition: A provisional selected-domain diagnosis for a bounded episode in which a defined pressure may outrun a specified repair process and predeclared adequacy criterion.
Why it matters: It names a comparative research problem without assuming that unlike domains share one cause or measure.
What it is not: Not total collapse or fatalism.
Example: A climate sector or verification episode may qualify only after its unit, period, process, criterion, rival, and comparison are declared.
Linked theories: D
Substrate
Definition: A background condition that makes visible systems possible.
Why it matters: It prevents the theory from focusing only on outputs.
What it is not: Not an inert base; substrates can be living, social, technical, or symbolic.
Example: Ecological stability, care, attention, trust, shared reality.
Linked theories: B,D,G
Substrate depletion
Definition: The drawdown of background capacities faster than replenishment.
Why it matters: It links climate, care, attention, and trust.
What it is not: Not all decline; it requires a replenishment mismatch.
Example: Carbon sinks, parental care, public trust, cognitive bandwidth.
Linked theories: B,D
Coordination failure
Definition: The inability of systems to align action across different codes and time horizons.
Why it matters: It explains why known problems remain unsolved.
What it is not: Not mere incompetence; it can be structurally produced.
Example: Science says reduce emissions; markets price assets; politics fears backlash.
Linked theories: C,D
Functional differentiation
Definition: The separation of society into systems such as law, markets, politics, science, media, and family.
Why it matters: It explains why modern societies are powerful but hard to steer.
What it is not: Not fragmentation by itself; differentiation can increase capability.
Example: Legal truth, scientific truth, media visibility, and market price diverge.
Linked theories: C,D
Reality mediation
Definition: The way technical systems shape what appears real, important, visible, and authoritative.
Why it matters: It adds perception and meaning to systems analysis.
What it is not: Not the claim that reality is fake.
Example: Feeds, search, chatbots, deepfakes, metrics, influencer authority.
Linked theories: E,F
Synthetic reality capture
Definition: Manipulation of public reality through plausible synthetic evidence and visibility systems.
Why it matters: It explains why post-truth is insufficient.
What it is not: Not a guide to propaganda; it is defensive analysis.
Example: AI robocalls, deepfake audio, fabricated screenshots, chatbot hallucinations.
Linked theories: F
Verification burden
Definition: The labor required to determine whether content, claims, or evidence are authentic.
Why it matters: It shows why truth can fail through exhaustion.
What it is not: Not skepticism itself.
Example: Citizens cannot individually forensically verify every video or claim.
Linked theories: E,F
Truth infrastructure
Definition: Institutions and practices that certify public reality.
Why it matters: It shifts truth from individual belief to social capacity.
What it is not: Not a ministry of truth.
Example: Journalism, courts, science, archives, provenance systems, public records.
Linked theories: E,F,D
Meaning market
Definition: A pluralized environment where individuals assemble meaning from many competing sources.
Why it matters: It explains belief recombination.
What it is not: Not proof that all spirituality is shallow or consumerist.
Example: Meditation apps, astrology, therapy culture, influencers, AI companions, politics.
Linked theories: E
Meta-spirituality
Definition: Spiritual practice assembled across traditions, technologies, self-development, therapy, ecology, and aesthetics.
Why it matters: It captures belief after institutional monopoly weakens.
What it is not: Not one movement; not automatically irrational.
Example: Manifestation, tarot, wellness, psychedelics, meditation, ecological spirituality.
Linked theories: E
Conspirituality
Definition: Overlap between alternative spirituality and conspiracy belief.
Why it matters: It marks a specific risk within meaning markets.
What it is not: Not equivalent to all spirituality.
Example: Wellness communities adopting anti-institutional conspiracy narratives.
Linked theories: E,F
Reproductive agency
Definition: The real freedom to have the number of children one wants, including none, fewer, later, or more.
Why it matters: It is the ethical anchor of fertility analysis.
What it is not: Not pronatalism or population engineering.
Example: A couple wanting children but blocked by housing, work, health, care, or partnership conditions.
Linked theories: G
Care substrate
Definition: The practical and emotional labor that reproduces persons and communities.
Why it matters: It reveals hidden costs behind labor markets and demographics.
What it is not: Not only childcare; also eldercare, kinship, health, emotional labor.
Example: Families, schools, clinics, caregivers, social insurance.
Linked theories: B,G,D
Life script
Definition: A culturally available narrative for sequencing adulthood, work, partnership, care, and identity.
Why it matters: It explains how personal choices become socially intelligible.
What it is not: Not destiny or a single traditional script.
Example: Education-work-home-partnership-parenthood scripts weakening or diversifying.
Linked theories: G,E
Future confidence
Definition: The felt credibility of building a long-term life in a stable world.
Why it matters: It links climate, work, trust, and fertility.
What it is not: Not optimism as personality.
Example: Parenthood feels riskier when housing, climate, and politics feel unstable.
Linked theories: G,D
Attention extraction
Definition: The conversion of human attention into behavioral data, engagement, advertising, or influence.
Why it matters: It connects dopamine shorthand to political and epistemic effects.
What it is not: Not all media use.
Example: Feeds optimize novelty, outrage, and compulsive return.
Linked theories: A,E,F
Policy-symbol substitution
Definition: A frontier hypothesis that visible symbolic response may displace material repair when a causal displacement pathway is demonstrated.
Why it matters: It tests whether apparent action consumes attention, legitimacy, or resources without changing a defined repair pathway.
What it is not: Not all symbolism; symbols can mobilize repair.
Example: A candidate episode would need traced decisions, resources, and outcomes rather than a slogan-to-failure inference.
Linked theories: D,G
Public learning loop
Definition: The cycle of claim, evidence, critique, revision, and institutional correction.
Why it matters: It turns the project itself into a living system.
What it is not: Not endless relativism.
Example: Claim registry, falsifier guide, case tests, release notes.
Linked theories: D
Glossary rule
A concept should stay in the project only if it helps explain a feedback loop, a repair failure, a substrate, a coordination problem, a falsifier, or a leverage point. If a term only sounds profound, cut it.