tipping point · irreversible
Ask Prometheusa wall where crossing it ends the thing's window; drift back requires more work than any force can provide.
Tipping point (noun) means: a wall where crossing it ends the thing's window; drift back requires more work than any force can provide. It emerges from wall, window, drift, parameter: When a parameter crosses a wall marking the end of its viable range, aimless drift pushes it further out, and the effort needed to return exceeds any force available. In the EmergenceLexicon it sits at computed level 15, chaining down to the four foundations (space, time, energy, pattern).
Examples
- Arctic sea ice loss passed a point after 2007 where summer melt no longer recovers, despite winter refreeze. climate
- The 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown continued releasing radiation after cooling systems failed beyond recovery. engineering
- By 476 CE, the Western Roman Empire had fragmented past restoration, as military and tax structures collapsed. institutions
Emergence
- point of no return
- asymmetric recovery cost
- unidirectional threshold
Chain to foundations
full chain as text (272 steps)
- tipping pointL15
- wallL10
- windowL7
- driftL11
- parameterL4
- maintenanceL14
- backL13
- changeL1
- crossL13
- forceL12
- provideL8
- requiredL6
- workL3
Neighborhood
Concepts that depend on this one above; what it is built from below.
Used by (1)
Relations
| is-a | threshold.boundary | used where the crossing of a boundary changes a system’s behavior |