Part I: Foundations

Normativity Thickens Across Scales

Introduction

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Thermodynamic	Free energy gradients	Dissipative selection
Boundary	Viability manifolds	Persistence conditions
Modeling	Prediction error	Truth instrumentally necessary
Self-modeling	Valence	Felt approach/avoid
Behavioral	Policies	Functional norms
Cultural	Language	Explicit ethics

There is no scale $\sigma_0$ below which normativity is exactly zero and above which it is nonzero. Instead, normativity accumulates continuously:

N(\sigma) = \int_0^{\sigma} \frac{\partial N}{\partial \sigma'}, d\sigma'

where $\partial N / \partial \sigma > 0$ for all $\sigma$ in the range of physical to cultural scales. Normativity accumulates continuously.