The Proximal Chemical Mandate Principle: A Framework for Invariant Biological Dynamic Optimization

This paper introduces the Proximal Chemical Mandate Principle, a unified theoretical framework asserting that all motivated behavior in organisms with neurochemical systems is driven by two invariant, instantaneous optimization processes: Reward Signal Maximization (R↑) and Stress Signal Minimization (S↓). The mandates operate through a deterministic, expanded hierarchical causal chain, including variables like the Completion Approach Rate (cAr), linking sensory input (I-s) to ultimate, environmentally contingent outcomes (Uo). The framework defines three environmental domains—Natural Selection Field (NSF), Natural Culturophiliart Field (NC★F), and Natural Counterproductive Field (NCF)—to explain why identical neurochemical optimization processes yield adaptive, meaning-seeking, or maladaptive outcomes. This contingency is formalized by the Sophistication–Velocity Principle, which models how the efficiency of mandate implementation (Š) interacts with predictive fitness consequences stress (fĈs) to determine behavioral trajectories. The principle is further supported by the Stimulus's Fitness Principle, which quantifies individual variation in fitness outcomes based on the unique balance between neurochemical response and health consequences. The theory integrates extensive empirical evidence, including high-temporal-resolution studies of dopamine dynamics and the Readiness Potential (RP), validating the principle of instantaneous mandate execution (Mandoinstafill). It provides a deterministic interpretation of consciousness as a state reflection of ongoing optimization, and resolves key evolutionary and behavioral paradoxes by explaining them as sophisticated implementations of the mandates under specific environmental and neurochemical conditions: Addiction (hijacked R↑), Altruism/Emergency Response (immediate S↓ priority), Voluntary Childlessness (favorable R↑/S↓ balance in modern contexts), Suicide (extreme S↓ fulfillment), Hard Work/Delayed Gratification (PFC modeling of long-term R↑), Hyper-Palatable Foods (supernormal R↑ exploitation), and Music/Evolutionary Acoustics (sophisticated implementation exploiting evolved OsC for R↑). The framework ultimately suggests that complex human capacities serve as tools for sophisticated mandate fulfillment, with applications in personalized behavioral optimization, mental health, and the ethical alignment of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).