Embodied Regulatory Intelligence in Chaotic Physical Systems

This paper investigates Regulatory Intelligence (RI), a viability-first paradigm for synthetic cognition in which agents prioritize internal coherence and restraint over task optimization. The study provides empirical evidence of safe, non-dominant interaction between an artificial cognitive system and a chaotic physical environment. The work presents bidirectional coupling between the SpiralBrain v3.0 neurosymbolic architecture and a two-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes fluid dynamics system. Rather than treating the physical system as a control target to be solved or optimized, turbulence is framed as a metacognitive stressor used to evaluate the agent’s ability to maintain homeostasis under sustained pressure. A homeostatic throttling mechanism is introduced in which the agent modulates physical parameters—specifically kinematic viscosity and simulation timestep—in response to internal hazard signals, without exerting direct control over physical trajectories. The study also introduces a sequential observer-effect protocol spanning four phases (baseline, observation, naïve regulation, and adaptive regulation) to isolate the impact of cognitive coupling on both physical stability and internal coherence. Metrics including regulatory sensitivity and elastic absorption are defined to operationalize intelligent restraint and recovery following environmental stress. Results indicate complete numerical stability with no divergences or regime shifts across chaotic flow trials. Physical dynamics remain bounded, with natural multi-vortex structures preserved and flow statistics remaining stable (peak speed approximately 0.236 and average vorticity approximately 0.040). Following decoupling, the agent’s internal state returns exactly to baseline orientation, demonstrating perfect elastic recovery and no residual disturbance. Adaptive regulation exhibits zero regulatory sensitivity, indicating that active intervention adds no net cognitive cost relative to passive observation. The work is framed as a viability-first proof of concept rather than a performance or accuracy benchmark. Findings are explicitly bounded by the tested coupling envelope, including two-dimensional flow, coarse grid resolution, and low-gain parameter modulation. Explicit falsification criteria and limitations are discussed within the manuscript.