Thermodynamic Individualism: Oscillatory Dynamics in the Social Extension of Refusal-Driven Dimensionality Reduction Theory (RDRT)

Abstract

Abstract This article extends Refusal-Driven Dimensionality Reduction Theory (RDRT) — originally a thermodynamic framework unifying qualia, selfhood, free will, and language origins through obligatory halts ("refusals") in recursive prediction — to the social domain. We introduce thermodynamic individualism: the self as a pre-social cached residue of individual refusals, with society acting as a collective modulator of parameters such as contextual precision (π_context) and safety margins (M_safety). A core duality emerges between recursive depth—a phenomenal gift enabling intensified experience, insight, and adaptation—and societal order, a conservative restraint imposing collective halts to contain ethical erosion and personality dissolution at extremes (e.g., sociopathy or scattered genius). No stable equilibrium exists; antagonistic values drive perpetual oscillations, explaining historical cycles of innovation and conservatism. Measurable societal indicators are proposed, aggregating parameters via cross-national datasets (World Values Survey, Hofstede dimensions, Global Innovation Index) for empirical testing. Comparisons with symbolic interactionism, conflict theory, functionalism, and proximate thermodynamic sociology highlight RDRT's radical ontological individualism. Grounded in predictive processing and neural energetics, this extension offers a parsimonious, falsifiable paradigm bridging consciousness and sociology, with implications for understanding societal fluctuations, policy, and cultural evolution. Keywords thermodynamic individualism, refusal-driven dimensionality reduction theory, RDRT, recursive depth, societal order, oscillatory dynamics, phenomenal gift, safety margins, contextual precision, subjective mental temperature, predictive processing, active inference, social extension, measurable societal indicators, World Values Survey, Hofstede cultural dimensions, innovation indices, conservatism, ethical dissolution, genius and sociopathy, negative ontology, consciousness sociology