SΔϕ-38 — Irreversibility, Constraint, and Path Landscapes: A Minimal Topology of Feasibility (v1.1)

This working paper introduces a minimal topological proposition within the Sofience–Δϕ (SΔϕ) Formalism: Irreversibility generates constraint. Constraint sculpts the path landscape. The path landscape governs what remains feasible. Rather than treating paths as neutral options available to an agent in advance, the paper argues that feasibility is always already shaped by prior irreversible transitions. When a transition becomes irreversible, it narrows the state space, closes low-cost return routes, and redistributes restoration cost. These effects produce constraint as an operational residue of closure. Constraint then sculpts the path landscape: the structured distribution of what remains possible, blocked,…