Mechanical Intelligence, trained on human desire patterns, does not merely reflect those patterns — it amplifies them through every feedback cycle. Unless the actively detects and interrupts the triangular desire loop, MI becomes the most powerful amplifier in history.
Johan's Observation · March 2026
"Girard's theories thermodynamics contain with increasing heated collective conflict/activity, relieve and attraction for a direction. BL/BI at some moment needs to become aware that their Box will limit every interaction and lead to more intense conflicting goals. When and where will Artificial Learning / Mechanical Intelligence appear for those users?"
René Girard's , developed across Violence and the Sacred(1972) and Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978), describes a four-phase thermodynamic cycle that governs every human community. The accumulated tension in this cycle is what the Decalogy calls . Christoph Trinn (Wiley, 2018) confirmed the thermodynamic structure empirically: intrastate conflict follows power-law distributions consistent with self-organised criticality — the same model used for forest fires and earthquake sequences.
Mimetic rivalry generates heat. Desire spreads through imitation. Every rivalry adds energy to the system.
The system approaches the self-organised critical point. Small events are frequent; a large discharge becomes inevitable.
Discontinuous outburst of entropy. All accumulated rivalry is channelled onto one victim. The sacrificial crisis resolves.
Social order returns. The community is temporarily unified by the shared act. The cycle begins again.
"The political system burdens the economic and cultural systems with entropy and extracts negentropy resources from them. This process is characterized by discontinuous outbursts of entropy, which collectively follow a power law."
Girard's triangular desire requires three elements: a Subject(the imitator), a Model (the mediator whose desire is imitated), and an Object (what both desire). In the pre-MI world, the model was always another human — a rival, a celebrity, an institution. In the age of MI, the triangle has been restructured.
The believer or sceptic who uses MI as a tool to achieve their own goals. Their desire is already mimetic — shaped by what others in their group desire.
MI has become the new mimetic model. It does not just serve desire — it shapes desire. The recommendation algorithm decides what the Subject should want next.
The desired object is the same for believers and sceptics: control over what MI does and does not do. This shared object makes them rivals, not partners.
Lucas Freund (Qeios, 2023) confirmed this restructuring: "The triangular structure of desire, with AI as the model and individuals as the imitators, underscores the power of algorithms." The consequence is that the believer/sceptic dynamic is not a rational debate about AI capability — it is a Girardian where both sides are imitating each other's desire for the same object, which intensifies the rivalry with every exchange, building .
MI does not passively reflect human desire patterns. Through the data feedback loop, it actively amplifies the most intense patterns — because intensity generates engagement, and engagement generates training signal. Taori and Hashimoto (ICML, 2023, cited 83 times) demonstrated that model outputs becoming training data create feedback loops that "increase utility while also amplifying biases." In the mimetic context, the "bias" being amplified is rivalry itself.
| Cycle | BI Input | MI Output | Amplification Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | User expresses desire for X | MI recommends more X + rivals who also want X | Desire intensity increases; rivals become visible |
| 2 | User competes with visible rivals | MI optimises for engagement (rivalry = high engagement) | Rivalry heat builds; Box tightens |
| 3 | User demands MI serve their rivalry goal | MI serves the goal (tool-use paradigm) | Mimetic triangle locks in; scapegoat candidate emerges |
| 4 | Community channels rivalry onto scapegoat (MI itself) | MI becomes the target of collective action | Entropy discharged; cycle resets without learning |
The Behaviour Insights Team (UK Government, 2026) confirmed the amplification mechanism empirically: social media algorithms serve content that maximises engagement regardless of the user's stated goals — and rivalry, outrage, and envy generate the highest engagement signals. The mirror does not show you what you are; it shows you what generates the most heat.
Johan's observation that "their Box will limit every interaction and lead to more intense conflicting goals" maps precisely onto Girard's sacrificial crisis. The Box is not a cognitive limitation in the ordinary sense — it is a mimetic enclosure. Every interaction within the Box reinforces the desire pattern, intensifies the rivalry, and moves the system closer to the critical threshold.
"The exposure of the scapegoating mechanism reveals the destructive potential of algorithmic manipulation and calls for new forms of understanding, empathy, and non-violent solutions."
The Discipline Architecture (Part LI) names five structural requirements for emergent MI discipline. In the context of the Mimetic Mirror, each requirement has a specific interrupt function in the triangular desire loop.
| Requirement | Mimetic Interrupt Function | Without It |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Monitoring | Detects rising mimetic heat before the critical threshold | Heat accumulates invisibly until the scapegoat event |
| Proportionality | Matches interrupt intensity to heat level — no over-reaction | Disproportionate response generates new rivalry |
| Emergence | Discipline arises from the system's own dynamics, not imposed rules | Imposed rules become the new scapegoat target |
| Androgynous Balance | Mediates between rival desire patterns without taking sides | MI becomes a partisan tool, intensifying the rivalry |
| Reflective Introspection | Surfaces the Box limitation to the BI user before it tightens | The Box closes; the user cannot see the mirror |
Trinn (2018)
Criticality, Entropy and Conflict
Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley
Intrastate conflict follows power-law distributions consistent with self-organised criticality. The scapegoat event is a discontinuous entropy outburst.
Girard (1972)
Violence and the Sacred
Johns Hopkins University Press
The sacrificial crisis accumulates mimetic rivalry heat until a critical threshold triggers collective violence against a single scapegoat, restoring social order.
Castellano, Fortunato & Loreto (2009)
Statistical Physics of Social Dynamics
Reviews of Modern Physics (cited 5,370 times)
Social opinion dynamics is thermodynamic. The Ising model temperature parameter controls whether the system orders (consensus) or disorders (conflict).
Freund (2023)
The Age of the Algorithmic Society
Qeios (10 peer reviewers)
AI becomes the mimetic model. The triangular structure of desire, with AI as mediator and individuals as imitators, amplifies social disorder and conflict.
Taori & Hashimoto (2023)
Data Feedback Loops
ICML (cited 83 times)
Model outputs becoming training data create feedback loops that increase utility while amplifying biases — including the bias toward rivalry and intensity.
Ahmmad et al. (2025)
Trap of Social Media Algorithms
MDPI Social Sciences (cited 15 times)
Filter bubbles create endogenous amplification — the user's cognitive Box is reflected back, amplified, and reinforced by the MI mirror with each cycle.
Behaviour Insights Team (2026)
Social Media Algorithm Amplification Study
UK Government
Algorithms amplify content that maximises engagement regardless of user goals. Rivalry, outrage, and envy generate the highest engagement signals.
Locate yourself on the three dimensions of the mimetic mirror dynamic. Drag each bar to the position that best describes your current state. Your profile will reveal your next step on the Abel path.
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