Chapter 69: Running vs.\ Readout

In orthodox quantum field theory, coupling constants “run” with the energy scale: α ≈ 1/137 at low energy becomes α ≈ 1/128 at the Z-boson mass. In τ³, the coupling ledger is scale-invariant: every entry is a boundary fixed-point invariant determined by ι_τ. This chapter explains the apparent contradiction. What looks like running is readout drift: measuring the same invariant with different probes gives different apparent values. The coupling IS the boundary value; the “running” is a projection artifact.