Chapter 101: Overload, Fragmentation, and Schizophrenia

Modern societies ask agents to participate in many partially incompatible spheres at once: work, family, civic life, markets, and networked publics. Because attention, time, and stable recognition are bounded resources, the resulting demands can exceed capacity. This chapter frames stress, role conflict, and identity fragmentation as predictable structural outcomes of cover failure — too many patches, not enough gluing — rather than as purely individual defects. The Fragmentation Proposition (VII.P24) formalizes the link between cover complexity and coherence loss.