ESC / HSC — Energy Stabilization Cycle / Human Stabilization Cycle: A Unified 4-Stack Framework (Perspective)

Abstract

Traditional models treat biological, psychological, and social stability as separate domains (Schrödinger, 1944; Prigogine and Stengers, 1984). We propose a single thermodynamic law operating across scales: the Energy Stabilization Cycle / Human Stabilization Cycle (ESC/HSC). ESC states that systems with limited energy and information optimize for the cheapest way to stay stable through four sequential conditions: Existence → Stabilization → Accumulation → Information. In human systems this is Live → Belong → Gather → See. When Stage 2 (Belong) and Stage 3 (Gather) are enclosed even under objective abundance, Stage 4 (See) goes offline: curiosity drops, threat bias rises, trust falls. We define the Enclosure Loop, a falsifiable county-scale composite ESC_alarm, and locate parallel frameworks (HBC: PDS→SDP→ERS; NBSLP; HEDI/HEDS; LESS/LESI) as separate submissions. ESC/HSC reframes prosperity as sustained flourishing, not wealth, and offers testable predictions for physics, public health, and institutional design. --- Figure 1 — Universal 4-Stack: Existence → Stabilization → Accumulation → Information. Human expression: Live → Belong → Gather → See. Figure 2 — Enclosure Loop: Stage 2/3 enclosure → PDS fires → hoarding/defending → Stage 4 offline → inability to see enclosure → outputs read as proof → enclosure tightens. ESC_alarm = (1 − HRV_z) + IL6_z + threat_bias_z + (1 − social_trust_z) + (1 − institutional_trust_z) + Gini_z − info_integrity_z Falsification (BOOM test): If counties with objectively available food, housing, and internet but high subjective scarcity also show high curiosity, high trust, and low threat bias, this account of the loop is wrong. This is part of a 6-paper ecosystem: HBC, NBSLP, HEDI/HEDS, LESS/LESI, NOHEDD, Veritodynamics - submitted separately. No new empirical data. Theoretical framework.