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Grok:

Core Framework: Control Theory Applied to Energy OversupplyControl theory is the backbone of understanding how systems—biological or societal—maintain stability through feedback loops. In biological systems, homeostasis relies on negative feedback (e.g., insulin regulating blood glucose) and integral control (accumulating errors over time to adjust set points). Rex’s post posits that an oversupply of cheap energy, particularly hydrocarbons, disrupts these mechanisms, creating an open-loop system where feedback is muted. Let’s break this down.

Biological Systems: Energy Oversupply as a Control FailureThe post highlights metabolic dysregulation (e.g., obesity) as a consequence of energy oversupply. From a control perspective, this is a classic case of an oversaturated input overwhelming regulatory capacity. Normally, biological systems operate with a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control structure:
-Proportional: Immediate response to energy imbalance (e.g., hunger signals).
-Integral: Long-term correction (e.g., fat storage adjusted by metabolic rate).
-Derivative: Anticipatory adjustment (e.g., thermogenesis to burn excess).

With abundant oil-derived food (fertilizers, processing, transport), the system faces a glut that exceeds the derivative’s predictive capacity and saturates the integral term, leading to futile cycling (wasted energy) or oxidative stress (e.g., reactive oxygen species damaging cells). The NCBI study on metabolic cancer suppression (2020) supports this: excess energy removes energetic limitations on cell proliferation, akin to a control system losing its upper bound, accelerating oncogenesis. This mirrors Rex’s evolutionary mismatch—our ancestral systems evolved for scarcity, not the 200-mph energy deluge of modern life.