# rock bottom (floor)

*Ordinarily means:* the lowest point in a bad stretch, from which the only way is up

the first wall that holds under a falling parameter, which is why the lowest point is also the first point a rebuild can anchor to.

- Computed level: L20 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: psychology

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [fall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-fall.gravity), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [hold](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hold.physical), [first](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-first.order), [low](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-low.spatial), [weight](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-weight.physical), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep)

**Through:** A parameter falls through window after window whose walls give; the fall ends at the first wall that holds, and because that wall bears weight, maintenance can restart against a fixed point instead of a moving one.

**Novel properties:**
- first holding wall
- fall-terminating boundary
- anchor point for rebuilding

## Examples
- An addict names the arrest, not the years before it, as the turning point: it was the first consequence that did not move. *(society)*
- A share price falls through one analyst floor after another until it reaches the price at which buyers actually appear. *(economics)*
- A dropping water table stabilizes at the depth of the impermeable rock layer, and the wells are drilled to that depth. *(geology)*

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