From Correspondence to Generation: The Rule Replication Principle and a New Physics of Cross-Scale Phenomena

Inspired by Niels Bohr’s correspondence principle, this paper proposes and preliminarily validates a universal framework for self-organized dynamics. The framework posits that when a system is in a state of deep and sustained coupling with its environment, the generation of its internal structure is not driven by specific informational content but triggered by the accumulation of a time-delayed dose. Once the dose reaches a system-specific critical threshold, the system undergoes a non-equilibrium phase transition, spontaneously generating an internal structure that is logically isomorphic to the dominant environmental rule—a process termed rule replication. Intense fluctuations in the environment can significantly accelerate dose accumulation. The explanatory power and preliminary predictive potential of this theoretical framework are demonstrated through three independent case studies across different scales: quantum physics (controlling entanglement dynamics by engineering a non-Markovian environment), biomedicine (social isolation stress triggering specific prefrontal protein network restructuring and compulsive behavior), and socio-cognitive phenomena (large-scale AI interaction leading to the emergence of corresponding syntactic structures in human dreams). This study aims to provide a unified conceptual starting point for understanding structure generation phenomena across scales, from quantum decoherence to cognitive emergence.