Coherence before optimality: the ISHEA EICI across micro, meso and macro scales

This paper positions the ISHEA EICI framework as a universal coherence index in formal dialogue with Bhui et al. (2026) — "The Roots of Rationality" (MIT, NYU, Columbia, UCL, Brown). While Bhui et al. identify six adaptive dynamics across timescales but leave the constraints problem open, this paper provides the formal resolution at three scales simultaneously: (1) Micro — TACC cycle (Thinking→Assimilation→Creation→Checking) as bioenergetic decomposition of individual cognition; (2) Meso — EICI as organizational coherence instrument (ζ=0.68, panel OLS); (3) Macro — ICC (Collective Cognition Index) as population-level predictor of market, cultural, and genetic adaptive outcomes. Eight empirical cases documented. EICI operates below the No Free Lunch theorem: it measures whether adaptive machinery functions prior to any optimality judgment. Author: C.J. Pérez Pulido, ISHEA Institute, Bologna. Part of K-Model cluster: 10.17605/OSF.IO/WST24.