Architectural dependency does not mean that one phenomenon causes another in a simple linear sequence.
A dependency claim states that a phenomenon requires certain organisational conditions in order to exist, operate, or become intelligible.
For example, APS proposes that cognition depends upon significance. This does not mean that significance causes cognition in the way that one event causes another. Rather, cognition cannot occur unless significance has already been established within the organisation of the system.
Dependency therefore identifies conditions of organisational possibility rather than direct causal mechanisms.
This distinction allows APS to analyse complex biological organisation without reducing explanation to linear chains of causes and effects.