# metastable (shallow)

held in a position without work, but near a wall, so the thing persists on its own until one small drift crosses and it cannot return.

- Computed level: L21 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: window

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [equilibrium](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-equilibrium.state), [near](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-near.spatial), [small](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-small.size)

**Through:** A parameter rests where no maintenance is needed, but the resting place sits near a wall, so a single small drift carries it across where equilibrium far from a wall would have absorbed it.

**Novel properties:**
- persistence without upkeep
- one-push fragility
- stability that reads as permanent from inside

## Examples
- Supercooled water sits liquid below freezing until a single dust grain gives the crystal somewhere to start, and the whole volume freezes at once. *(physics)*
- A company with one customer runs profitably for years without effort spent on sales, until that customer leaves and no pipeline exists to replace them. *(business)*
- A friendship maintained by shared circumstance persists effortlessly until one person moves away, and neither had ever built the habit of reaching out. *(everyday life)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-metastable.shallow*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-metastable.shallow.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*