Drift Catalysts (β₆)

1. Canonical Definition

Drift Catalysts (β₆) are identifiable conditions that increase the drift rate (D) by raising contradiction, interpretive demand, or unresolved information faster than stabilizers can sustain proportion. In Meaning System Science, β₆ names accelerants that raise inconsistency accumulation across a declared meaning system, including interface conditions that import incompatible baselines and governance breakdown that increases exposure to Constraint Failure or Closure Failure.

2. Featured Lineage

Daniel Kahneman — Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
Showed how load and heuristic substitution increase uncorrected error. MSS extends this by treating high demand conditions as catalysts that raise drift rate when correction throughput cannot scale.

Philip Tetlock — Expert Political Judgment (2005)
Showed how complexity and accountability pressures distort forecast quality. MSS adapts this by modeling catalytic environments where variation exceeds reconciliation capacity, increasing inconsistency accumulation.

3. Plainly

Drift Catalysts are conditions that make inconsistencies build up faster than the system can resolve them. When catalysts stack, disagreement becomes durable and correction falls behind even if teams remain competent and motivated.

4. Scientific Role in Meaning System Science

β₆ provides a named class for analyzing why drift rate increases under certain operating conditions. It supports early detection by distinguishing rising demand and contradiction from stabilizer weakness, and it helps locate whether drift pressure is local or imported through interfaces and dependencies.

5. Relationship to the Variables (T, P, C, D, A)

• T: Verification throughput falls behind, weakening reconstructability under load.

• P: Competing signals increase, reducing cross role comparability of action.

• C: Pathways strain and exceptions multiply, increasing routing and ownership ambiguity.

• D: Inconsistencies accumulate faster than correction and integration can keep pace.

• A: Regulatory bandwidth is consumed by uncertainty, lowering correction quality and throughput.

6. Relationship to the Physics of Becoming

L = (T × P × C) / D

β₆ acts primarily by raising D. When drift rate rises faster than stabilizers can remain proportionate, legitimacy decreases even when surface structures appear unchanged.

7. Application in Transformation Science

Transformation Science uses β₆ to model when operating conditions will push drift rate beyond viable proportion, to identify leading indicators of instability, and to separate catalyst driven drift from failures of design or intent.

8. Application in Transformation Management

Practitioners use β₆ to identify and reduce accelerants such as unstable definitions, conflicting authority outputs, overloaded signal volume, rapid policy change, and interface import of unresolved inconsistencies. Catalyst reduction is a common prerequisite for reliable evaluation and sequencing.

9. Example Failure Modes

• Policy or tool change outpaces training and verification, lowering reconstructability.

• Two authorities issue incompatible interpretations for the same case.

• Work volume increases without correction capacity, raising inconsistency accumulation.

• Interfaces import incompatible baselines, producing recurring mismatch across handoffs.

10. Canonical Cross References

Meaning-System • Interpretation • Meaning System Science • Physics of Becoming • First Law of Moral Proportion • Legitimacy (L) • Truth Fidelity (T) • Signal Alignment (P) • Structural Coherence (C) • Drift (D) • Affective Regulation (A) • Interface • Coupling • Meaning Topology • Coherence Regulators (γ₆) • Constraint Failure • Closure Failure • Meaning-System Governance • Transformation Science • Transformation Management • LDP-1.0 • 3E Standard™