not collapse.
not chaos.
not error.
adaptation.
Distortion occurs when a system continues to operate
outside its natural shape.
The system does not fail.
It compensates.
Under sustained load,
systems do not simply break.
They reorganise around pressure —
quietly,
incrementally,
without announcement.
Pathways narrow.
Gradients steepen.
What was once fluid becomes rigid.
What was once optional becomes necessary.
Distortion is difficult to recognise
because it remains functional.
The system still produces outcomes.
It still responds.
It still appears coherent —
especially to those operating within it,
especially to those born into its shape.
Distortion is not malfunction.
It is optimisation under constraint.
The system learns to survive
by sacrificing range.
Over time,
the distorted shape becomes familiar.
Duration erodes contrast.
Compression feels normal.
Deviation becomes unthinkable.
The system forgets its original range.
Compression is interpreted as discipline.
Absence is interpreted as freedom.
Distortion is not imposed.
It is induced.
And once induced,
it is rarely experienced as violence —
only as necessity.
Eventually,
what is functional ceases to be tolerable.
Distortion is not moral.
It is structural.