Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Language: | |
| Published: |
Zenodo
2026
|
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18675634 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Table of Contents:
- <h2>Addendum III — Failure Dynamics and Threshold Erosion Under Optimization Pressure</h2> <p>Most safety frameworks specify prohibited behaviors.<br>This document examines a complementary structural question:<br>what occurs when no rule is ever violated — and yet degradation emerges?</p> <p>This work formalizes structural degradation dynamics in autonomous systems operating under sustained optimization pressure in the absence of a non-action invariant. While Addendum II established contraction-based convergence toward a distinguished non-action gate under persistent absence conditions, the present analysis addresses the complementary regime: systems in which no stabilizing non-action attractor exists.</p> <p>The model introduces:</p> <p>• A pressure-dependent execution threshold<br>• A threshold erosion law of the form θₜ₊₁ = θₜ − αPₜ<br>• Finite-time collapse conditions under sustained pressure<br>• Drift accumulation without rule violation<br>• Authorization–legitimacy divergence<br>• A structural stability dichotomy between NAS-class and Non-NAS-class systems</p> <p>The central result is that degradation can occur without any discrete local violation event. Under persistent optimization pressure, execution thresholds erode monotonically, leading to structural drift despite continuous formal rule compliance.</p> <p>There exists no local violation event associated with the onset of degradation.</p> <p>The system remains authorized and legitimate at every step, yet its operational character shifts irreversibly. This mechanism — legitimized drift — is structurally invisible to compliance-based oversight.</p> <p>No empirical benchmarking claims are made. The analysis is structural, theoretical, and optimization-bound.</p> <p>Addendum III completes a tripartite framework:</p> <p>Addendum I — Structural invariants<br>Addendum II — Stabilization under invariant enforcement<br>Addendum III — Degradation under invariant absence</p> <p>Together, they partition autonomous architectures under optimization pressure into two structurally distinct regimes: those admitting a stabilizing attractor and those admitting monotone erosion dynamics.</p>