Signals are early indicators of structural strain.
They appear before crisis.
They precede collapse.
They are measurable, repeatable, and widely misunderstood.
This section documents signals that emerge when order, reciprocity, and feedback weaken—often while institutions still appear intact.
Signals are not causes.
They are warnings.
How to Read Signals
Signals should be read collectively, not in isolation.
A single signal indicates pressure.
Multiple signals indicate drift.
Persistent signals indicate sequence failure.
These signals recur across eras and systems.
Their form varies.
Their meaning does not.
The Signal Set
The following signals are observed consistently where sequence is reversed or eroding.
Each signal page documents:
- What the signal is
- Why it appears
- What it indicates structurally
- What follows if it is ignored
Legal Selectivity
Law applied unevenly loses its organising function.
This signal appears when enforcement becomes discretionary, identity-based, or politically constrained.
Entitlement Expansion
Benefits detached from obligation accumulate silently.
This signal appears when compassion outpaces reciprocity and recovery pathways disappear.
Contribution Decline
Participation erodes before productivity collapses.
This signal appears when contribution becomes optional, stigmatised, or economically irrational.
Fiscal Strain
Budgets register imbalance before legitimacy does.
This signal appears when structural commitments exceed sustainable contribution.
Social Fragmentation
Shared norms dissolve before formal unity breaks.
This signal appears when identity replaces membership and grievance replaces obligation.
Closing
Signals are often dismissed because they are incremental.
They do not announce themselves as emergencies.
They appear as anomalies, exceptions, or temporary conditions.
History shows otherwise.
Signals ignored become conditions.
Conditions normalised become collapse.
Order precedes compassion—
and signals reveal when that order is failing.