OSCILLATIONS (Shortening)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2437 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences, Methodology or model |
W.D. GROSSMANN and K,E.F. WATT stress that “there is an increase in amplitude and decrease in wavelength of all major wave-like oscillations in society… This gradual decrease in wavelength is striking in graphs plotting year by year, from 1740 to the present, the wholesale price index adjusted for its long-run trajectory value”.
This implies a rapid “decrease of time-spans for reactions” with the aggravating factor that economic and political leaders are generally unaware of this situation.
The authors give other examples and evaluate this phenomenon as of “Severity rating 1” (1992, p.35).
This phenomenon is closely related to evolutive acceleration and both seem to indicate the progressive dominance of chaotic behavior in human systems, highly probably in relation to the exponential growth of energy use.