GROWTH (Explosive or Exponential)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1485 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
The characteristic of a growth Template:Ency term, Template:Ency term or Template:Ency term constantly submitted to a Template:Ency term.
Any system affected by this type of growth is quicky running toward its destruction, because it is using up evermore growing quantities of some specific Template:Ency term obtained from its Template:Ency term, until the moment the Template:Ency term becomes scarce and insufficient to maintain the rapidly growing Template:Ency term of the system.
According to Template:Ency person's (himself an economist) barbed comment: “Anyone who believes that exponential growth can continue indefinitely in a finite world is either a madman or an economist” (1973, p.92).
As stated by Template:Ency person: “The basic growth Template:Ency term is of necessity escalatory or Template:Ency term, at least over a reasonable working Template:Ency term” (1968, p.27).
Such Template:Ency term are very dangerous as they are generally not clearly perceived until the terminal Template:Ency term is well on its way and cannot anymore be stopped. A dramatic Template:Ency term becomes then unavoidable.
This type of Template:Ency term growth is frequently observed in some physical Template:Ency term, in ecology, in man-made disasters, in financial panics and in economics, as for example hyper-inflations.
Their early detection and avoidance could be one of the most important contribution of cybernetics and systems to practical activities in general.