• Pons_Aelius
    22•2 years ago

    Most people expect gradual change when many things in life are more like punctuated equilibrium.

    Stable state despite gradual change in underlying conditions.

    Then rapid change to new stable state.

    • Entropywins
      6•2 years ago

      You’ve now put a fear in me about my life that I wasn’t ready for…

      • Pons_Aelius
        13•2 years ago

        Sorry to do that, but I believe the world makes a lot more sense when viewed through the lens of punctuated equilibrium. It does not make things better, just makes the chaos more understandable.

        The dot com bubble.

        The housing bubble.

        Basically every economic bubble all the way back to tulip mania.

        The Arab Spring.

        The changes in the USA post 9/11.

        And most disturbing of all, the recent rapid swing of pretty much all environmental indicators into uncharted territory. Our biosphere may be heading into a phase of rapid change.

        • Neato
          8•2 years ago

          Nobody wants to change. It’s hard and expensive. Until they have to because conditions have required it. Then they change as fast as possible to a new state that works in the new conditions so they can survive.

    • FaceDeer
      6•2 years ago

      There’s also the Ernest Hemmingway quote from The Sun Also Rises:

      “How did you go bankrupt?"

      “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”