Irresistible Forces
Resisting a force without enough sustained energy to resist forever.Change | Return |
Jump in the air | Fall to earth |
Freeze an ice cube | Warms to room temperature |
Boil water | Cools to room temperature |
Clothes become wet | Clothes dry in the air |
Stretch an elastic | Returns to original shape |
Return to Equilibrium
Equilibrium is the point where competing forces are balanced. Changes that put a system out of equilibrium are likely to be temporary. For example, supply and demand in a market where a sudden spike in demand for a good causes shortages. This change would tend to be temporary as suppliers have incentive to increase supply to meet demand.Change | Return |
Shortage | Suppliers increase supply to meet demand |
Surplus | Suppliers decrease supply to clear the surplus |
Get dizzy or off balance | Recover your balance |
Get a cold | Heal |
Deviation From Trend
A process that is strongly running in one direction that temporarily goes in the other direction. For example, the stock of a mismanaged company that is destined to go bankrupt may temporarily go up for a period of time with a long term trend that will drive the stock to zero.Long Term Trend | Deviation |
Climate change | Weather variations |
Stock market will be much higher in future | Stock market goes down |
Company will eventually go bankrupt | Company stock goes up |
Air pollution getting worse in a city | Fresh air from a pleasant wind |
Regression Toward the Mean
Regression toward the mean is the tendency for unusual results to become closer to average with time.Change | Revision to Mean |
Have a bad day | Things get better with time. |
Have a good day | Bad days also arrive with time. |
Investor dramatically outperforms market | Investors that outperform the market may be lucky or be taking large risks such that their results will be more average in the long term. |
Stable Systems
Systems such as a society, machine or organism often have stability built into them. For example, if you are hot your body may sweat to bring down your core temperature.Change | Return |
Overflowing river system | River system eventually drains |
Human gets a headache | The body typically tries to return to normal |
A society has an economic recession | Policy makers decrease interest rates and flush banks with liquidity to try to stimulate economic activity. |
A room becomes cold | An automated heating, cooling and ventilation system begins to heat the room. |
Human Behavior
Human's commonly seek stability and may work to try to undo changes that occur.Change | Human Action |
Fall down | Get up |
Bicycle breaks down | Fix bicycle |
Fired from job | Get a new job |
