Complex Dynamics of Iteration a Unified Framework for Neural, Evolutionary, Social, and Behavioural Systems

Abstract

Every neural spike began as a subthreshold tremor. Every cultural norm began as a whispered private opinion. Every addiction began as relief. This paper proposes that these transformations — from hidden potential to observable reality — share a single mathematical grammar: complex dynamical systems, in which the imaginary component encodes latent possibility and iteration carries it into the real.
We introduce two novel summary statistics — the Complex Coherence Index (CCI) and the Imaginary Reserve Ratio (IRR) — and apply them across five domains: neural habit formation, evolutionary epigenetics, social contagion, psychological creativity, and digital amplification. This revised edition addresses peer-reviewer concerns by sharpening falsification criteria, providing worked computational examples, acknowledging the limits of analogy, and focusing the strongest empirical predictions on the two most tractable domains: behavioural neuroscience and network science.