Attractor Selection in Media with Memory: From Space-Time Crystals to Galaxy Rotation Curves

A steady drive does not always produce a steady state. In driven, dissipative systems with internal memory, the long-time behavior may instead be a stable rhythm - a limit-cycle attractor robust to perturbations. We propose that this dynamical pattern, driven medium + memory/constraints → attractor selection, provides an organizing lens for phenomena across quantum matter, particle physics, cosmology, and astrobiology. We use space-time crystals in nematic liquid crystals as our anchor: under steady illumination, topological solitons stabilize a spontaneous spatiotemporal rhythm lasting hours [1]. This demonstrates experimentally that media with structured memory crystallize patterns “along an underlying grain.” We map the same motif to hadron decay suppression (geometric impedance), galaxy rotation curves (Temporal Echo memory kernel), and biological homochirality (chiral transport bias). The Temporal Echo construction, with memory τ_c ∝ a_N^-1/2, reproduces MOND-like scaling and predicts DDO 154’s flat rotation velocity (49 km/s predicted vs. 45–50 km/s observed) with zero adjustable parameters. The framework makes falsifiable predictions for history-dependent galactic kinematics.