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29 June 2006

Vocabulary AskMecha What word describes actions and reactions that build on themselves exponentially?
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It's sort of like positive feedback, (but positive feedback in the electronic sense, not the psychobabble sense).

I can't think of a great example, but, for instance, green house gases cause global warming which releases huge quantities of green house gases to be released from under the arctic permafrost, etc etc

any ideas? I keep thinking resonance or regeneration or something.

post by: small_ruminant at: 11:36 | 24 comments

Domino effect? Two words though. Or would it be ripple effect...

posted by iconomy 29 June | 11:41

I think it's just "exponential growth". I don't know of a single-word synonym.

posted by eamondaly 29 June | 11:48

domino effect is the idea but there's a more official word for it. Positive feedback loop is more accurate but isn't quite right either.

posted by small_ruminant 29 June | 11:49

Snowball effect? Chain reaction?

Not every process that affects its own growth rate is exponential, incidentally.

posted by Wolfdog 29 June | 11:57

Vicious or Virtuous Circle?
Still doesn't get it down to one word.

posted by rainbaby 29 June | 12:00

IN biology, there's something called "biomagnification," which means that toxic chemicals such as mercury accumulate exponentially in animals that eat high on the food chain.

The phrase "exponential progression" is sometimes used in population dynamics.

posted by Miko 29 June | 12:01

thanks, Miko- those are the ideas I was looking for!

posted by small_ruminant 29 June | 12:04

I thought there was one word but maybe there isn't.

posted by small_ruminant 29 June | 12:05

Hmm. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poincar%C3%A9_recurrence_theorem and Ergodic theory.

Otherwise: what other folks have said, plus viscious/virtuous cycle. Butterfly effect?

posted by Specklet 29 June | 12:05

Exponential (and geometric) growth mean very specific things in certain contexts (like math, finance or most scientific terms), so you want to be a little careful about how you use them.

Ergodicism, such a lovely word, like the butterfly effect, means that tiny causes can have effects that are hugely amplified. "Non-linear effects" means roughly the same thing, but sounds so 2001. All three of these terms are more general than exponential or geometric progression, which have explicit mathematics behind them.

posted by bonehead 29 June | 12:13

Ergodic theory COULD be right but I can't figure out what it is.

yes, it's true- s_r is not all that bright

posted by small_ruminant 29 June | 12:13

Cumulative? I don't know if that's what you mean, though...

posted by jokeefe 29 June | 12:16

Redoubled? Maybe reduplicative?

posted by eatitlive 29 June | 12:27

Oopsie on my linky.

posted by Specklet 29 June | 12:41

Feedback Loop?

posted by nomad 29 June | 12:43

The more I think about it, the more I don't think Ergodic theory is your man. (Basically it's a precursor to chaos theory, which is loosely related to the butterfly theory, but also is related to measure theory, which is what I was thinking of initially.)

And Poincare's theorem has to do with recurrence... not really accumulation or the idea of feedback.

I've failed.

posted by Specklet 29 June | 12:59

How about self-perpetuating? It doesn't really grab the exponential concept though.

posted by tetsuo 29 June | 13:06

I don't think Ergodic theory is your man.

Maybe not now, but you know? An ex of mine actually is an ergodic theorist. We were together until I, um, took a random walk.

posted by tangerine 29 June | 13:20

does that pay well?

posted by small_ruminant 29 June | 13:22

Autocatalytic?

posted by misteraitch 29 June | 13:24

I'd say snowballing. Ouroboric is neat but not quite right. I'm tired or I'd have a few more ideas.

posted by Hugh Janus 29 June | 13:29

Self-fullfilling self-prophecy?

posted by StickyCarpet 29 June | 13:35

nope, not right, but it's a cool word- I had to look it up.

posted by small_ruminant 29 June | 13:37

I'm thinking of resonance, a la the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. There's also constructive/destructive interference. Just to be confusing, constructive interference is what causes feedback and can cause your amplifier to destruct (well, not really, they have fuses and failsafes).

Self-fulfilling prophecy, forced feedback, harmonic oscillation, feedback loop, vicious cycle/circle...

Good luck! This will be gnawing at me.

posted by Eideteker 29 June | 18:14

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