Feedback loops

Peter and Rosemary Grant report that finches with longer beaks do better in wet conditions in the Galapagos islands. This allows for the discovery of more food and a higher reproduction rate. Finches with shorter beaks, however, do better in dry conditions. So, based on the environment, the species and population respond.

Having an umbrella when it rains is helpful, but not so much when it’s 72 degrees in the spring.

Every creature must respond to the environment around them. So when unemployment rates go up, people will react. Desperation can kick in when someone is caught in a vicious debt cycle. The same can be said about the old marshmallow experiment. It might signal that patience can be rewarded with two marshmallows. But someone without the resources, who lives in scarcity, may think it is very reasonable to take what is in front of you.

We can’t correctly evaluate why individual players do what they do. But we can step back and examine the system and its operation, examining the feedback it gives us and adjusting.

Reminder: Holding a microphone too close to a speaker causes the noise to amplify over and over again to give a rotten sound for everyone to hear. When one suffers, we all suffer.