Self-Organized Criticality is a really important concept, and basic to how the universe manages to end up being interesting. These dynamics are fractal so they show up on all scales (eg neurons). @TaylorPearsonMe's thread is great. I'm going to share some thoughts of my own 🧵
Self-organized criticality and civilization as a sandcastle
12 tweets · July 2020 · 115 likes · 12 retweets · read on Twitter
Taylor uses a discrete grid-based sandpile model developed by Per Bak etc in the 80s. You can also model this dynamic with straight up physics: any given grain has a maximum slope, above which it collapses. Gradual addition of sand moves to critical, then avalanche corrects.
What's remarkable about this model is it points out that the critical slope is a natural attractor based on these two forcing functions. The system *naturally tends towards* situations in which a small addition of sand can cause a huge avalanche (power law distribution)
Recently I was struck by a sense that society was in some sense a SANDCASTLE 🏰, built up WAY past the critical slope… but somehow held up with a: 💧 water to make sand stickier 🛠️ fortifications: plastic shovels propped up against it 👏 active hands-on attempts to patch it
This is a new [[metaphor]] for talking about what's broken with our civilization, & like any new [[metaphor]] it has new affordances.
Sustainability is often discussed in terms of resource depletion This new sandcastle metaphor allows us to talk about not just the consumption of the society, but the instability of the structure itself: It's not simply that it will run out, but that it will fall down.
Moreover, like any falling down, civilizational collapse would involve a release of potential energy! Since the industrial revolution we've used more energy than is sustainable, but there's also a sense in which a lot of that energy remains latent & poised to explode.
It's clear that society has more dimensions & complexity than just a pile… …which means that the state-space has multiple options, so we can ask: "what shape would it collapse into?" "what shape would we like it to collapse into?" "can we catch it with new structures?"
Another question here might be "what sorts of factors play the role of the forcing functions in the sandpile?" Mutual Causality in Buddhism & General Systems Theory, which I was reading when I had the above insight, suggests: 💞 a pull to commonality ↔️ a pull to distinction
Obviously it's way more complex than that, but I think that's part of it. She points out how those two need to be in balance for maximum intelligence: 👥 total unity & totalitarianism blocks info flow 🅰️ total chaos & anarchy lacks coordination
I have a lot more questions & ideas I'm exploring here, which you can find on my roamblog here on the page [[Self-Organized Criticality]] roamresearch.com/#/app/malcolmo… Here's a sketch I made while thinking about it. Pink star is in the totally-unstable sandcastle region.
I'd also love to know what if anything this inspires in you! Connections, critiques, ideas for what the various forcing functions might be?