A Constraint-First Distinction Between Recursive Entropy (RE) Traps and Dynamic Recursive Entropy (DRE) Pruning Against Collapse, Drift and Noise

This paper examines a class of expansive, cross-domain frameworks that attempt to unify physical, cognitive, computational, and social systems under a single recursive entropy principle. While such systems often present themselves as structurally grounded and mathematically motivated, they risk a critical failure mode: recursive closure without external constraint, resulting in a self-sealing ontology. I introduce a distinction between Recursive Entropy (RE) and Dynamic Recursive Entropy (DRE). RE systems exhibit internal consistency but lack external pruning, allowing them to absorb contradiction and expand interpretively. DRE systems, by contrast, are defined by constraint-governed elimination, requiring that recursive processes terminate, prune, or collapse under host-domain pressure. The central claim is that recursion without pruning is not a model of reality—it is a stability trap.