This summary records a fundamental tendency of a system: to reduce active distinctions and move toward a stable form in which further transformation is no longer required.
1) Classical Physical Level
The closest formulations in physics are:
- the principle of energy minimization;
- the principle of free-energy minimization;
- the tendency toward equilibrium.
The general idea: a system tends toward a state in which internal gradients, tensions, and potentials have been dissipated.
In brief: a system tends toward a state in which work is no longer required to maintain it.
2) The Modern Language of System Dynamics
A more general vocabulary:
- relaxation toward equilibrium;
- dissipation;
- decay of nonequilibrium modes.
The key formula: a system tends to extinguish distinctions that require dynamics.
3) Universal Invariant
If energy is removed as a particular case, a more fundamental principle remains:
a system tends to reduce the number of active distinctions.
A stable state is a state in which distinctions no longer require transformation.
4) Applying the Principle to Thinking
The same mechanism operates in the cognitive domain. When a person:
- acts according to a template;
- avoids uncertainty;
- relies on ready-made forms,
they reduce the amount of distinctions that have to be processed.
Hence:
- new meaning = tension;
- uncertainty = energy;
- choice = work.
Thinking as a system tends to fold this tension into a stable form.
5) Working Formulations of the Principle
Version 1 (Universal)
A system tends toward a state of minimal activity of distinctions.
Version 2 (Dynamic)
A system tends toward a state in which distinctions do not require transformation.
Version 3 (Through Form)
A system tends to fix distinctions in a stable form in order to stop transforming them.
Version 4 (Manifesto)
Stability is distinction brought to a halt.
6) The Other Side of the Principle
Acceleration arises not from stability but from nonequilibrium, yet from a kind of nonequilibrium that:
- does not get stuck in slow modes;
- is not fixed prematurely.
Consequently:
- not every deviation produces movement;
- not every stable state is a problem.
7) Final Generalization
A system tends to fold distinctions into a stable form, yet it is precisely unfinished distinctions that are the source of movement and transformation.
8) Short Name
The most precise and concise name is:
Principle of Folding Distinctions.
