Can you provide one example of such a phenomena operating on anything longer than a very short timescale? I'm genuinely curious. Nearly every example I can think of is long-term negative.
edit: I'd venture to say anything longer than 5-10 years could be considered long term for this question. Under that measure, I'd say government spending has exhibited positive-feedback behavior over the last 50+ years. Anything else?
I wanted to argue originally that the original iPhone is a nice example, if you compare it to other 2007 high end phones like the N95, but a theoretically perhaps clearer example is the evolution of soccer formations, they evolve to beat the currently used formations. To pick a specific example, the 4-4-2 with diamond midfield is a formation which is good in two situations, beating itself and being perfectly suited to the 1998-2000 French international squad, which did win the World and European Championship. After this success suddenly everybody wanted to play a 4-4-2 diamond. Interestingly it is not very good against the dominant formation of the late nineties, the 4-4-2 with flat midfield.[1] The solution to this problem was the development of the modern full back, [2] and suddenly the best players are playing the position with the least influence. And this in turn leads to shifts in tactics, such that the full back position can more easily join the attack. [3] So I would argue, that if France did not have the specific players they had in the late nineties, then modern football would look very different than it actually does. Especially we would still see very unremarkable players at full back.
[1] A flat midfield has two wingers on each side, a diamond midfield only one.
Religion. Fashion ex Louis chairs. Language ex regional accents and new words / phrases. Manners and other social protocalls. Operating systems, social networks, and computer languages.
In Japan, this is even more pronounced. MFGs seek to ride the wave of teen uptake of new fast-moving products. These products tend to enjoy a short-lived, but intense attention by consumers.
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Can you provide one example of such a phenomena operating on anything longer than a very short timescale? I'm genuinely curious. Nearly every example I can think of is long-term negative.
edit: I'd venture to say anything longer than 5-10 years could be considered long term for this question. Under that measure, I'd say government spending has exhibited positive-feedback behavior over the last 50+ years. Anything else?
I wanted to argue originally that the original iPhone is a nice example, if you compare it to other 2007 high end phones like the N95, but a theoretically perhaps clearer example is the evolution of soccer formations, they evolve to beat the currently used formations. To pick a specific example, the 4-4-2 with diamond midfield is a formation which is good in two situations, beating itself and being perfectly suited to the 1998-2000 French international squad, which did win the World and European Championship. After this success suddenly everybody wanted to play a 4-4-2 diamond. Interestingly it is not very good against the dominant formation of the late nineties, the 4-4-2 with flat midfield.[1] The solution to this problem was the development of the modern full back, [2] and suddenly the best players are playing the position with the least influence. And this in turn leads to shifts in tactics, such that the full back position can more easily join the attack. [3] So I would argue, that if France did not have the specific players they had in the late nineties, then modern football would look very different than it actually does. Especially we would still see very unremarkable players at full back.
[1] A flat midfield has two wingers on each side, a diamond midfield only one.
[2] http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/01/19/twtc-the-advent-of-at...
[3] http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/22/is-the-sweeper-set-fo...
Religion. Fashion ex Louis chairs. Language ex regional accents and new words / phrases. Manners and other social protocalls. Operating systems, social networks, and computer languages.
In Japan, this is even more pronounced. MFGs seek to ride the wave of teen uptake of new fast-moving products. These products tend to enjoy a short-lived, but intense attention by consumers.
The population of New York vs. Philadelphia
Any decisive battle between two big kingdoms.
The "share of the pie" for the upper class in the US in the last few decades.
Movies: Rocky, 8 million. Star Trek, Infinitum.