Flow Diagrams
Compressed system maps showing how incentives, signals, and structures actually move. Curated as they emerged.
Systems Flow Diagrams
Systems thinking often shows up as flow — decision points, incentives, signal paths, and where things stall or accelerate.
Sometimes the most honest way to capture a systems-related thought is not an essay, but a compressed diagram: the few steps that actually matter, laid out in sequence.
This page is a curated shelf of those diagrams, placed as they emerged.
Vendorization Creates Fragility
Date
December 28, 2025
Flow
Public function exists →
Reliability matters at the point of use →
But…
Publicly needed function is vendorized →
Vendor captures demand →
Customer capture via brand-unspecific corridor monopoly →
Revenue centralized →
Maintenance authority removed from the point of use →
Failure burden externalized to intermediaries at the moment of use →
Asymmetric incentives form →
Partial reliability is sufficient for the vendor →
No impact to vendor revenue →
Downtime becomes tolerable →
Failures accumulate →
Customer frustration increases →
Users reroute to the next node →
No impact to vendor (corridor ownership) →
Vendor revenue remains intact →
Intermediaries absorb damage →
Brand harm →
Safety exposure to customers →
No repair authority →
No refund authority at point of failure →
Feedback loop breaks →
Failure visible only to the customer, not the intermediary →
Correction impossible at the moment of failure →
Fragility normalizes →
System persists →
Reliability quietly collapses while brands and customers absorb the burden.
Compression
When vendors capture demand but externalize failure, fragility is all but guaranteed.
Provenance
Originally developed as a standalone flow diagram on X.
Formalized from SIA Systems in Action — When Vendorization Creates Fragility.
Related Systems Diagnostics
- Principal–Agent Drift Analysis
- Drift Detection Test
Notes
This flow describes vendor fragilization: a failure pattern in which reliability degrades because the party controlling maintenance and uptime does not bear the consequences of failure at the point of use.
The structure generalizes across domains including infrastructure, healthcare equipment, enterprise software, education platforms, and other vendorized systems where demand is captive and correction authority is displaced.
Capability Drift Hidden in Infrastructure
Date
December 27, 2025
Flow
Public functions outsourced →
Evaluative capacity declines →
Oversight becomes procedural →
Vendors become de facto arbiters of quality →
Incentives favor substitution and cost optimization →
Quality degrades incrementally →
Failures misattributed to “wear,” “weather,” or “bad luck” →
Shortcuts compound →
Rebuild costs rise →
System recognizes need to correct →
Pause.
Correction attempted.
Capability required for correction is no longer present →
Institutions resist rebuilding internal expertise →
System loses the ability to correct itself →
Degradation normalizes.
Compression
Systems fail quietly when they retain responsibility but lose the ability to evaluate quality.
Drift replaces collapse.
Provenance
Originally developed as a flow diagram on X.
Formalized from the essay Capability Drift in Public Infrastructure.
Related Systems Diagnostics
- Principal–Agent Drift Analysis | Drift Detection Test
Notes
This flow applies across domains where expertise migrates out of the system while accountability remains nominal. Infrastructure is one visible instance of a broader structural failure pattern.
Traceability Necessary for Containment
Date
December 23, 2025
Flow
Clear chain → error nodes identified → containment
Shadow chain → error nodes hidden → system failure
Traceability = safety (in any system)
Compression
Systems fail if error nodes lose traceability.
Provenance
Originally posted on X
Related SIA
Brittle Power Breaks Interpretability
Date
December 18, 2025
Flow
Loss of interpretability →
Pressure replaces structure →
Pause.
Reflect.
Brittle system revealed →
Brittle power breaks interpretability first →
Reflection interrupts the plan.
Compression
When pressure replaces clarity, structure has already failed.
Provenance
Originally posted on X
Related Systems Diagnostics
Cognitive Load Test
Frame Dynamics Diagnostic
Traceability Collapses Containment
Date
December 11, 2025 and December 14, 2025
Flow
Rules → loopholes
Loopholes → workarounds
Workarounds → shadow supply chains
Shadow supply chains → lost traceability
Lost traceability → system fragility
Compression
Systems fail the moment the map disappears.
Provenance
Originally posted on X¹ and X2
Related SIA:
When the Factories Left
Date
December 9, 2025
Flow
Factories leave →
the anchor collapses →
the vacuum demands a replacement →
systems choose what people never would →
prisons bloom where production once stood
Provenance
Originally posted on X
Related essay:
When the Factories Left
UBI Hidden in Plain Sight
Date
December 5, 2025
Prompt / Frame
Will UBI solve issues created by AI taking jobs?
(a theoretical walk)
Flow
AI takes jobs → governments give UBI checks
People stay home → get involved in politics
Time on their hands → pressure builds → demands for change
Institutions can’t tolerate that much free time → UBI gets canceled
Counter-Flow
Employment-based subsidies → make-work
Make-work → jobs
Jobs → income
Income → societal stability
Compression
UBI hidden in plain sight.
Hidden UBI Doctrine.
Provenance
Originally posted on X
AI Legislation Debate
Date
November 25, 2025
Prompt / Frame
“Let’s legislate AI,” pundits say.
Flow
Legislate AI → birth new rules
Rules → demand new tech stacks
Stacks → outsourced identity checks and the like
Outsourcing → handed to “approved vendors”
Approved vendors → compound fragility at scale
Compression
We add layers to create safety —
and end up creating dependencies instead.
Provenance
Originally posted on X
