# trickle down (collective)

*Ordinarily means:* When benefits from the top eventually reach the bottom.

A collective outcome nobody chose, where motion through a structure is mistaken for intentional distribution, and the source is treated as a cause even though the flow would stop if the structure's maintenance ceased.

- Computed level: L16 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: collective outcome nobody chose

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [flow](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-flow.movement), [structure](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-structure.arrangement), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [source](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-source.origin), [cause](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-cause.reason)

**Through:** none

**Novel properties:**
- none

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-trickle-down.collective*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-trickle-down.collective.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*