When in the OSR Masters program, I learned about Punctuated Equilibrium points. These are points or milestones in a system where change becomes chaotic and it is no longer possible to predict what will emerge from a system. At these points, small inputs can have enormous effects in the final outcomes.
As a system passes through a punctuated equilibrium point, the foundation of the system—the parts of the system that keep it stable and unchanging—are loosened. In human systems, I believe this means that changes can be introduced that would normal seem impossible, but which can seemingly be accomplished with relative ease.
Think of people that have gone through near death experiences, some make whole scale changes in their lifestyles and never look back. After having a Heart attack many people stop smoking after years and years of feeble attempts. Other people don’t change at all. They somehow have a belief that the way it was is the only way it can be and this belief informs their choices going forward. Many people knowing that smoking will kill them, smoke through heart attacks and lung cancer up until the bitter end or until the explosive oxygen they are using to breath precludes them from smoking—else they blow themselves up.
It is almost like the normal laws of cause and effect don’t apply as we go through these punctuated points.
