POPULATION EXPLOSIONS
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2586 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
Populations explosions are a result of a unilateral or strongly dominant positive feedback, which triggers a runaway event. This process normally ends in a crash.
Runaways happen when the supply of energy or aliments is growing in an unlimited fashion, until some critical threshold is crossed.
It can even happen in a more subtle way, as shown by the following experiment, described by L.B. SLOBODKIN: “If a population of green hydra is given a diet of water fleas the hydra proceed with their normal response to population growth and become smaller as individuals become more numerous. They become so small, in fact, that they are unable to eat the waterfleas at all and the entire population dies of starvation” (1968, p.153).
In short, the positive feedback tends to finally trigger a negative one, which may appear under the guise of starvation, a pandemy, a process of biological or behavioral (as for instance in lemmings) self-destruction.
One may wonder about the potential lessons for mankind in its present process of population explosion.