This article proposes a novel, natural-science framework that reframes rationality not as a normative ideal or simple rule-following, but as an infrastructural control mechanism. While traditional complex systems research focuses on agents following local rules (e.g., flocking or foraging), this paper argues such models are insufficient for modern humans operating within multilevel, non-parallel emergent systems—where feedback is often delayed, indirect, or symbolically mediated
Topcular et al. (Thu,) studied this question.