Civilization as an adaptive system

“Techno-feudalism” is a vivid description. But a description is not yet a model. This inquiry asks which feedback loops, ownership structures, and selection pressures would make the analogy explanatory—and what observations would falsify it.

Questions this note must answer

• What is the unit of selection in an institutional system?
• Which mechanisms concentrate power, and which create countervailing adaptation?
• Can historical transitions be compared without smuggling the conclusion into the metaphor?
• What measurable predictions distinguish techno-feudalism from monopoly capitalism or platform rent extraction?

This queued outline is intentionally not a finished political claim. It will be published only after the mechanisms, evidence, and strongest counterarguments are in place.