SΔϕ-27 — Low-Cost Convergence and Restoration Cost Explosion: Exception Compression as a Minimal Fixation Mechanism (v1.0)

This paper extends SΔϕ-26 by distinguishing between two different cost layers: operational cost and restoration cost. Operational cost refers to the expense of continuing along an already selected path, while restoration cost refers to the expense of abandoning or revising that path after fixation has occurred. The central claim is that low-cost convergence in operation does not contradict irreversibility; rather, it is one of its primary generators. As exception frequency decreases, operational repetition becomes cheaper, path dependence intensifies, and the restoration cost of alternatives rises. Irreversibility is thus marked not only by the impossibility of return, but by the repeated success of low-cost…