Information Synchronization Constraints on Civilizational Boundaries

If society is a complex system that depends on continuous information exchange to maintain its own structure, what inherent boundaries and constraints does this mode of existence impose upon it? This paper addresses this question by constructing a framework that connects social synchronization, complexity, technological level, and spatial extent. The paper first defines social synchronization as the dynamic process through which distinct components within a social system sustain shared knowledge, normative consistency, cultural transmission, and coordinated response capabilities via ongoing communication. The maximum time that can be tolerated for completing a closed loop of effective information exchange is defined as the maximum synchronization tolerance time, denoted by $T$. The paper then defines social structural complexity $S_s$ and temporal complexity $S_t$. The former represents the effective state space that a social system must maintain and constrain in order to preserve its functional integrity, while the latter represents the minimum effective synchronization information exchange demand required per unit time to sustain these states. Under the condition that the effective coordination capacity of a single information exchange has a finite upper bound, the paper demonstrates that higher structural complexity entails higher temporal complexity and a shorter maximum synchronization tolerance time. Furthermore, the paper treats the technological level of a society, $K$, as part of the social system's state space and points out that a higher technological level demands greater social complexity and more stringent synchronization conditions to be sustained. Incorporating the finite speed of information propagation, the paper further derives that there exists an upper bound on the spatial extent within which a unified social system can maintain synchronization. Under the idealized assumption that information processing within the social system can be completed instantaneously, the spatial extent of a unified social system is given by $L_{\max}=vT/2\leq cT/2$. Given that social complexity requires a finite material and spatial foundation to be borne, the structural complexity and technological level that a unified social system can sustain are also subject to corresponding upper limits. The paper further discusses several scenarios that interstellar expansion may face within this framework, pointing out that expansion beyond the synchronization boundary will cause the projected social entity to undergo differentiation and technological regression relative to the parent civilization. Whether a distant new social system can persist in the long term depends on whether the technological level it can maintain after detaching from the parent's synchronous support still meets the minimum survival and development requirements of the target environment. Finally, the paper applies the above framework to the Fermi paradox and the Great Silence, re-examining several presuppositions in the traditional debate that have not been subjected to rigorous scrutiny. It points out that the path from the emergence of a technological civilization to the formation of a large-scale, long-term stable, and observable interstellar presence is subject to multiple constraints, including synchronization boundaries, complexity inheritance, environmental adaptation, technological maintenance, and signal detectability. Consequently, the intuition in the traditional Fermi paradox regarding the visibility of extraterrestrial civilizations may have been significantly overestimated. At the same time, this paper no longer treats the Fermi paradox merely as a puzzle awaiting resolution by some single mechanism. Instead, it regards the current "Great Silence", the fact that no clearly confirmed signs of extraterrestrial technology have yet been found, as a still limited yet empirical clue, used to constrain the three open questions posed at the end.