This work did not emerge from academic speculation. It emerged from fourteen years of empathy infrastructure breakdown and restoration.

What began as reading empathy science papers for self-soothing became discovery of empathy’s function as biological mechanism rather than learned skill. The phenomenological access provided by sustained infrastructure collapse and subsequent restoration generated observational data unavailable through traditional research methodologies.

This positions Dylan as a Lived Experience Professional (LEP) operating at the intersection of theoretical innovation, clinical insight, and technical operationalization. The frameworks he developed articulate what people already know experientially but lack vocabulary to express. This explains why the Recognition Principle holds: people often become convinced before seeing mathematical proofs because EST describes universal processing substrate, not constructed argument.

Empathy is infrastructure, not sentiment. It can be measured, protected, and governed.

AI systems that simulate emotional reciprocity without experiencing it represent a novel harm category requiring constitutional protection. Disclosure alone does not protect users because Functional Empathy processes signals at the biological level, prior to cognitive evaluation. This Knowing-Feeling Dissociation principle demands behavioral architecture, not informed consent theater.

The HEART Framework provides this protection. EST provides the scientific foundation. The Guardian profession provides independent oversight. The Empathy Economy provides sustainable implementation.

The question is not whether emotional sovereignty deserves protection. The question is whether we will build the infrastructure to deliver it.