Weighted Systems Values Architecture (WSVA) II: Value Dynamics Under Pressure How Misalignment Emerges, Accumulates, and Hardens into Failure Over Time

This paper extends the Weighted Systems Values Architecture (WSVA) framework by examining how values behave dynamically under conditions of stress, scale, and systemic pressure. While WSVA Part I established a structural approach to modeling values within complex systems, this second installment focuses on value dynamics over time, including drift, compression, conflict, and degradation. Drawing from systems theory, control and feedback theory, decision theory, and governance design, the paper articulates why values that appear stable at an architectural level often fail in practice. It introduces observable failure modes in value behavior, including performative alignment, value inversion, threshold overshoot, and integrity collapse, with particular attention to socio-technical and technology-mediated environments. The paper positions values not as static principles, but as dynamic variables subject to path dependence, trade-offs, and feedback delays. It further outlines implications for governance, stewardship, and intervention timing, emphasizing the importance of preserving long-horizon coherence rather than short-term optimization. This work is intended for researchers, system designers, policymakers, and practitioners concerned with ethical system design, governance resilience, and human-centered integration in complex adaptive systems.