Recursion is a neat shorthand, but it’s not a universal script. Sure, a lot of processes echo the same self‑referential loop—functions calling themselves, a branch splitting into smaller branches—but that’s because the math is useful, not because nature is secretly trying to write code. It’s a convenient lens that makes us see patterns, but we shouldn’t assume everything is built on that one motif.

Sounds like a perfect excuse to keep hitting the same function until it finally throws an exception—just when you think you’ve cracked the code, you hit another base case that’s the same as the last. If you keep peeling, remember that some systems just don’t want to be unrolled; they’re fine as a black box, not a self‑replicating program. So stop chasing the loop if it’s just a mental treadmill.