Extinction debt
noun
The delay between a habitat being damaged and the species depending on it finally disappearing. The book uses it for human originality that may linger for a while after its conditions have been eroded.
Also known as delayed extinction
Extinction debt is an ecological term for the delay between a habitat being destroyed and the species that depended on it finally disappearing. The damage has happened. The full loss has not arrived yet.
In *Human Still Wins*, the idea is borrowed for culture. Original human work may remain present long enough for us to notice when the copies become flatter, even while the conditions that produced the original signal are being weakened. The old richness can survive in the system for a while.
That delay is dangerous because it looks like safety. We can still recognise the real thing, so we assume the real thing will keep replenishing itself. A debt is not evidence that nothing was lost. It is loss waiting for its date.