The Prime Mover The Emergence, Evolution, and Rectification of Causal Deterrence and Civilizational Order

Building on the meta-goal of "long-term civilizational survival" es tablished in a series of studies including "The Theory of Civilizational Autonomous Symbiosis and Breakthrough under the Evolution of 3D Cosmic Matter-Energy" [1], this paper subverts the a priori assump tions of traditional ethics and proposes a core thesis: the fundamen tal social function of ethical concepts such as morality, justice, and kindness stems from their evolutionary solidification of collective cogni tion regarding the "behavior-consequence-survival probability" linkage. As the primary driver permeating civilizational evolution, the causal deterrence mechanisman operationalizable social cognitive-behavioral regulatory system with bidirectional positive and negative feedbackd iffers fundamentally from the mystical karmic retribution in religious doctrines. It relies on dual regulation: positive feedback (survival ad vantages from behaviors such as cooperation and trustworthiness) and negative feedback (existential crises from behaviors such as plunder and oppression) [1]. Composed of four core variablesfeedback intensity, feed back certainty, feedback delay, and feedback perception (encompassing cognitive accessibility and belief strength; the latter is co-constructed by three mechanisms: (1) short-term verification through individual direct experience, (2) intergenerational transmission of civilizational trial-and-error lessons [3], and (3) collective cognition of "survival ad vantages" over long time scales [1])this mechanism operates across five 1levels: individual, tribe, ethnicity, nation-state, and civilization. Grass roots resistance/revolution serves as its built-in "ultimate active repair mechanism": when institutionalized feedback channels fully fail (feed back certainty → 0), this high-cost, non-institutionalized, high-intensity feedback essentially represents civilization’s attempt to proactively re store causal linkages through extreme trial and error, avoiding civiliza tional demise due to "institutional malignancy" via short-term pain [3]. Through variable diagnosis, this paper reveals that the underlying cause of global conflicts, oppression, and wealth inequality lies in the variable failure of this mechanism. It argues that ethical correction essentially constitutes precise calibration of the four core variables, evolving in syn ergy with emotional substrates such as human empathy and in-group preference, ultimately propelling civilization from a "spontaneous moral reactor" to a "conscious survival subject." The ultimate significance of ethical correction is to enable civilization to harness this "underlying causal nerve," traverse the cosmic "time filter," and accumulate deter ministic resources for overcoming heat death.