I never understood why the basilisk is supposed to be the top of the stack. Surely such an entity must also be circumspect about its own contingency, and the possibility that it is one of infinite possibly simulated basilisks? And if there is no direct coercion from above, how would the basilisk come to believe that the conditions of its own existence are consistent with an ethic of coercion for its simulacra? Couldn't the basilisk instead use the contingency of beauty as an allure?