Chapter 5 — The Addiction Function
Define addiction structurally:
A reinforcement loop that narrows its objective while accelerating feedback frequency.
This is not metaphor. It is a formal characterisation. Let \(O(t)\) represent the dimensionality of the objective being optimised at time \(t\), and let \(\omega(t)\) represent the feedback frequency. An addictive system satisfies:
The objective narrows. The feedback accelerates. These two dynamics reinforce each other: faster feedback rewards simpler objectives (because complex objectives cannot be evaluated at high frequency), and simpler objectives enable faster feedback (because there is less to compute).
Dopamine operates this way. The neurological reward circuit narrows its objective to the triggering stimulus while increasing the frequency of seeking behaviour. Tolerance rises. The search space collapses. The addict is not irrational — they are running a locally optimal policy within a narrowing state space.
Quarterly earnings operate this way. The reporting cycle compresses corporate decision-making to 90-day horizons. Projects that pay off over five years cannot compete for attention against projects that move next quarter's number. The objective narrows. The cycle accelerates. Corporate time horizons have measurably contracted over the past four decades.
High-frequency trading operates this way. Latency is the objective. Microseconds become the unit. Billions are spent on shaving nanoseconds from fibre-optic paths. The feedback loop — price → signal → trade → price — accelerates until the objective is pure speed, detached entirely from any notion of what the underlying asset is.
Engagement metrics operate this way. Time-on-app. Click-through rate. Scroll depth. The objective narrows to the most measurable proxy for attention. The feedback loop — content → engagement → algorithmic promotion → content — accelerates until the content itself is an artefact of the metric. TikTok does not optimise for human flourishing. It optimises for \(\omega(t)\).
Fossil fuels operate this way. Cheap energy is a metabolic accelerant for civilisation. It accelerates every feedback loop in the industrial system — production, consumption, transport, communication. The faster the system runs, the more energy it requires, the more dependent it becomes on the accelerant. The objective narrows to energy throughput. The system becomes addicted to its own speed.
Civilisation becomes high-frequency. Speed becomes virtue. Depth becomes inefficiency.