AIM Framework glossary
Unidirectional PM Flow Principle
Canonical definition
The Unidirectional PM Flow Principle states that in any dyadic interaction between two Individuals with different Status-PM positions, the net Mimetic Premium flow is unidirectional, from the lower-Status-PM party to the higher-Status-PM party, through four non-price modalities: attention transfer, deference concession, narrative authority yield, and positional concession. The flow is a structural consequence of the architecture: each party's valuation of the other carries Mimetic Premium contributed by the surrounding network's valuations of the other, the higher-Status-PM party has more Mimetic Premium directed at them, and so the behavioural outputs through which that valuation is expressed flow in greater volume toward them. The flow is non-satiating (Axiom 6), each round can intensify the differential through Self-Reinforcement, and under unmanaged conditions it produces the Macro-Residue of Unidirectional PM Flow at institutional and civilisational scale.
Explanation
When two people of unequal standing meet, the one lower down gives more attention, defers more, accepts the other's version of events more readily and takes the less prominent place, beyond what the other's actual contribution would warrant. Neither notices it as a transfer, because both read it as ordinary respect and deserved recognition. It never tops out, and summed over countless meetings it builds the concentrations of power and advantage visible at the scale of whole institutions.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Principle.