Have you ever perceived or deduced something about humanity that hasn’t been documented or thought of, and been asked about it?

Discovering the Hidden Repository of Humanity’s Unspoken Mysteries

Have you ever pondered whether there are enigmas or insights that humanity has yet to document or even consciously conceive? Questions that, despite your ability to perceive or infer them, have remained unasked and unexamined—hidden within the very fabric of our systems and knowledge.

While this may seem like an unconventional inquiry, it opens the door to a fascinating concept known as the “Information Sink Problem.” This idea explores how certain types of data, decisions, and knowledge become trapped within systems—accessible in a sense, but often impossible to retrieve or interpret meaningfully over time.

The Core Concept: Information Traps in Complex Systems

Throughout history, we’ve observed that humans tend to treat data loss or decay as mere background noise. However, beneath this surface lies a structural pattern: information often flows into specific reservoirs—be they bureaucratic processes, biological systems, or artificial intelligence models—and then becomes effectively inaccessible or undecipherable. It’s not that the data disappears; rather, it becomes locked, obscured, or untraceable.

Examples of Hidden Data Reservoirs

• Administrative and Bureaucratic Records: Decisions are made, records created, but after a few years, the rationale and decision-making processes often fade away. The inputs are there, but the logical trail has become a mystery.
• Genetic and Biological Codes: DNA holds vast evolutionary responses to environmental pressures. Yet, the original conditions and pressures that shaped this genetic information are practically unknowable, buried within the genetic code without a reverse pathway.
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Models: Complex neural networks encode extensive patterns and correlations. Nonetheless, many of these insights cannot be directly linked back to specific data sources or logical processes, rendering the models opaque.
• Human Memory and Societal Norms: People tend to remember outcomes or facts rather than the reasons behind them. Societies might enforce norms long after the original motivations have been forgotten, yet the underlying rationale remains elusive.

A Subtle but Profound Law

This phenomenon hints at a universal truth: some systems tend to accumulate meaning or information faster than it can be accessed or decoded. Over time, they transform into what could be described as “informational black holes”. This isn’t due to malicious intent or neglect; rather, it is an inherent consequence of the way complex systems evolve, designed or otherwise.

Implications for