case-studies.md

Case Studies

This layer stops being only a template and starts functioning as a formal bridge between the analytical core and recognizable phenomena.

Selection criterion

The two cases below were chosen because they present:

1. observable local reinforcement;
2. cumulative degradation of optionality;
3. explicit exit cost or a cost that can be modeled cleanly;
4. the possibility of mapping r, o, l, chi, and menu M with reasonable precision.

Cases formalized now

Case A - Technological platform with lock-in

Main file: case-platform-lock-in.md

This case captures organizations or individuals who maximize local convenience and productivity inside a dominant platform ecosystem while trading interoperability, portability, and technological sovereignty for immediate efficiency.

Case B - Career as a status game

Main file: case-career-status-game.md

This case captures trajectories in which the agent optimizes local prestige and external validation while compressing autonomy, identity plasticity, and the real menu of future exits.

Canonical structure of each case

Each formalized case should make explicit:

1. dominant local game;
2. metric of local victory;
3. reinforcement mechanism;
4. degraded optionality variable;
5. exit cost;
6. plausible alternative trajectory;
7. signature predicted by the theory;
8. possible falsifiers.

Methodological reading

The case studies are not yet strong empirical validation. They function as:

• formal instantiations of the model;
• tests of causal intelligibility;
• preparation for future calibration with data.