I was reading a new article about what it means to be "cool": break the rules slightly, but not too much, avoid penalty, etc. That's all great, but what does it mean for a topological machine?

A cool person is an example of a new possible state, somewhat different to the existing. There is a penalty, so the output is noisy (stress).

The next state is also difficult to predict while avoiding the penalty, but not too much. If it was easy, the output signal would be strong and moved the body, like making a cup of coffee. If it's too much, than the next state is too noisy to create a meaningful action.

So, this "not too much" is the main trick. You are acting on the edge, like a blade runner, edge runner, a person jumping from a plane, whatever other example of an action with adrenaline you have. Everything works in the same way.

The edge is not so "fancy" like some psyco disease from cyberpunk, just the edge of the noise floor. The noise also triggers too much of the topology as it is associated with everything (by the definition), so the physical level of the machine (in this case the biological, cell chemistry) exhausts resources over too much of the volume. You get tired.