@Alex its also the role of negative reinforcement in living systems. its basically there as a means to say "NO." when the living system does something actively wrong. there is a positive and negative arc for both, and humans overly rely on the negative arcs on their own, but you do actually need to use them sometimes.

which is why i tend to advocate politicians and execs need to be punished for attempts and not allowed to walk their bullshit back. plebs don't get second chances, they get felony convictions. since the rule of law is conceptually about everyone having to follow the same rules, it goes that business elites also need to be appropriately burned for failed power plays.

feudal people understood this more than we do.