Chores and Errands
Year: 2026
Type: report
Abstract: Chores and Errands treats recurring small duties as structural regulators rather than merely burdensome tasks. A chore divides undifferentiated time, sequences behaviour, moves organisms between states, consumes surplus energy, and creates recurring transitions that can stabilize a day or a social system. Feeding, cleaning, commuting, nesting, patrolling, gathering, gardening, and errands all provide repeated structure. When recurring obligations disappear, the loss is not only practical: schedules, transitions, environmental cues, and social contact can disappear with them. The essay extends this logic from individuals to assets and collective systems. Small assets can be maintained by one organism; larger, higher-maintenance structures eventually require multiple participants. The maintenance burden itself can therefore become a driver of sociality. Across scales, recurring maintenance is treated as part of what keeps differentiated systems differentiated. Main framework: [10.5281/zenodo.19287268]
Author: Memory Prism
Language: English
Topic: Complex Systems and Dynamics
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203902544