THRESHOLD OF STIMULATION
Charles François (2004). THRESHOLD OF STIMULATION, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 3546.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3546 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
Thresholds are kind of points of no return. They concretize a discontinuity and mostly the shift from a quantitative accumulation process to a qualitative change.
In many processes no such critical change appears until resistance to change is overridden by multiple- and sometimes massive- repetition of some stimulation.
It is the equivalent of the common sense saying about “the last straw that broke the camel's back”.
Many technical and human disasters result from a lack of understanding of this mechanism ofdiscontinuous change and the insufficientobservation of accumulation phenomena.
See also
Catastrophe, Power laws