Constraint Collapse: Definition and Concept Paper

This paper defines Constraint Collapse as a systemic condition in which feedback, consequence, and correction remain present but lose their ability to enforce change.Unlike ordinary system failure, Constraint Collapse does not require feedback loops to disappear or errors to become invisible. Problems may still be detected, metrics may continue updating, and systems may remain responsive. The defining shift occurs when feedback loses its binding force. Correction becomes optional, stopping conditions weaken, and operational continuity becomes easier than invalidating the system’s own representations or processes. Within the Reality Drift framework, Constraint Collapse names the loss of corrective force that allows misalignment to persist even when it is visible. Drift weakens correction, and weakened correction in turn allows drift to continue.