Informational Collapse

An informational collapse occurs when a system's internal model of itself diverges so far from its actual state that the system can no longer make effective decisions. It is not merely a shortage of data; it is a structural failure of network epistemics in which the channels that should transmit truth have been corrupted by incentives, hierarchy, or fear. The Soviet Union in the 1980s is the canonical example: the planning apparatus reported success while the economy was collapsing. Informational collapse is the terminal stage of institutional blindness — the condition in which an organization can see everything except what matters.