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Excess
1 min read · 214 words
Excess is what happens when the intake exceeds the system’s capacity to process or use it.
The mechanism applies across domains. Too much food: the system stores what it can’t use, and the storage has costs. Too much stimulation: the processing system overloads, and the overflow becomes noise. Too much information: the mind can’t integrate, and the unprocessed input becomes anxiety. Too much activity: the energy system depletes faster than it replenishes. Too much of a good thing is still too much — the system has ranges, and exceeding them in either direction degrades function.
The hardware is poorly built to regulate excess because the hardware was calibrated for scarcity. The wanting circuit says more. The conservation system says store it while it’s available. Neither has a reliable signal for this is past the useful range. The signals that do fire — the fullness, the overwhelm, the diminishing returns — are quiet compared to the wanting circuit’s volume.
The one at the controls must supply the regulation the hardware doesn’t have. The gauges for sufficiency — is this enough? Has this exceeded the useful range? — are not automatic readings. They are assessments made from the chair, against the hardware’s continuous lobbying for more.