37. No obligatory connections within the content we manage.

Obligatory connections are links within the content that turn relationships with objects, people, situations, or ideas into pre-set obligations for future time and action. Content is everything we possess and use within and around us — what we are and the things at our disposal.

Internally, a person creates connections that automatically become obligations through habits, through links to specific situations, through emotional and mental associations, and through a sense of duty without personal necessity.

Externally, obligations are implemented through external models and then internalized through the imposition of cultural and moral norms, the suggestion of roles and rules, and authoritative figures.

The same mechanism applies to objects and physical items. When a connection of the type “might be needed” is created toward an object, it leads to the need for space, organization, maintenance, and attention. In this way, the object begins to occupy future time and resources, even without being used.

In all cases, a connection becomes an obligation when it preemptively occupies future time, attention, or action.