A structural observation across time.
Across history, present systems, and projected futures, a consistent pattern appears when systems continue operating without requiring an explicitly accountable human decision-holder.
The human gradually de-centers. Not through removal, but through fatigue. Not through failure, but through continuity.
Biologically, socially, and cognitively, the human adapts to sustained noise. Signals overlap. Closure is demanded everywhere. The body remains present while agency thins.
When systems resolve by default, the human shifts from decisor to responder. From actor to monitor. From source of closure to surface-level confirmer.
This shift rarely announces itself. It accumulates. Over time, responsibility fades without explicit handoff.
The failure is not collapse. The system continues. Outputs remain. Metrics report success.
What fails quietly is sustained human authorship. Decision-making persists without a felt center.
At what point does adaptation become absence? And how would a human notice the difference without stopping the system?