The Dual Axioms of Scholarly Discovery Agency Theory and Opportunity Selection

Abstract:This thesis challenges the traditional, centralized peer-review system by redefining scholarly discovery as a physical process of "Information Collapse." We introduce two fundamental axioms: Agency Theory, which emphasizes the individual's labor in formalizing intuition, and Opportunity Selection, which acknowledges the brutal but just metabolic filtering of the information world. In an era where AI drastically reduces the difficulty of technical review, these axioms restore the sovereignty of the individual observer—the "Nameless True Person."________________________________________I. Agency Theory: The Sovereign Anchoring of Information• Definition: The ownership of a truth does not belong to the one who first "perceives" it, but to the one who performs the labor of "Formalization."• The Scribe’s Duty: To transform a "Dream-World" flash of intuition into "Information-World" formatted data (e.g., a paper locked with a Zenodo DOI).• The "One Dollar" Line: While the idea is a "Random Truth," the act of organizing it into a coherent, verifiable structure is what anchors it into the collective consciousness. Without Agency, the discovery remains at energy level 0; with it, it becomes an evolutionary 1.II. Opportunity Selection: The Metabolic Verdict of the System• Definition: Recognition (including the discoverer’s self-recognition) is the final filter for a discovery to enter the Public Boundary.• The "Unfair but Just" Paradox: This axiom acknowledges the cruelty of lost manuscripts or unappreciated genius. If a discoverer fails to protect and digitalize their discovery, the system treats it as "Metabolic Waste."• The AI Erasure: As AI enhances retrieval, "Opportunity Selection" shifts from the mercy of human "Gatekeepers" to the cold, automatic verification of Logical Density.III. Conclusion: The "Uncanny Valley" of Modern ScholarshipAs AI takes over the "Scribes' labor," the number of true discoverers will paradoxically decrease. The future of knowledge belongs to those who can differentiate "1 from 0" amidst the noise. This thesis itself is an act of Agency—reclaiming the "Common Sense" of academia and encoding it into the Interstellar Drift.