Adaptation. Addiction. Discipline.
What is a system? Simply put, it’s a set of connected components working together to form a complex whole. Each part has a specific role, and changes in one part can affect the others, allowing the system to function and achieve specific goals. For example, consider your body , a system comprised of components like the heart, lungs, and brain, all connected yet independent, working towards a singular purpose: survival.
Our world, both physical and digital, can be thought of as a collection of systems. Understanding some first principles about them helps us see the world differently. Today, let’s look at loops.
A system has inputs and outputs. For instance, your brain receives inputs through your senses and sends outputs as electrical signals back to the nerves. When your brain detects injury, it responds with signals of pain. What happens when a system’s outputs are fed back into it as another input? This creates a feedback loop. This direct feedback informs the system how it is performing and could either stabilize it or set it on a spiral of growth or decline. Let’s explore further.
Balancing Loops
You wake up at 7:00 AM, completely unwilling to jump out of bed. You need to be at work by 9:00 and have a busy day ahead, yet every bone in your body signals exhaustion from a late night of binge drinking. You know what to do, though a large cup of dark roast coffee gets you going. The day becomes hectic after lunch, prompting another large cup on your way home. That’s when you overdo it, and now you have trouble sleeping due to too much caffeine stimulation. But now you know how your body works; no matter how tired you are in the morning, coffee wakes you up, and no matter how tired in the evening, staying away from it is a better idea. This is a balancing feedback loop coffee affects your motivation and your nervous system, and your brain signals you to adjust its consumption based on signals of low and excessive stimulation. Balancing loops help stabilize a system and enable it to work correctly around a set point.
Consider how your body maintains its temperature. Why do you start sweating heavily after 15–25 minutes of a heavy cardio workout? Your body detects if it’s too warm and triggers responses to bring the temperature back to a comfortable range. This is another great example of a balancing loop, constantly adjusting to external conditions to maintain equilibrium.
Reinforcing Loops
Imagine you put some money in a savings account with a 5% yearly interest rate. The next year, you have 1.05 times that much money. If this amount is reinvested, the following year you have 10% more money than two years ago. If you keep it invested, your money doubles in 14.4 years. This is an example of a reinforcing loop, where the output , the interest, adds back to the principal and is reinvested for a series of iterations.
A reinforcing feedback loop leads to either growth or decline with every passing iteration, culminating in something much bigger or smaller than the base. From a social perspective, viral trends on social media demonstrate reinforcing feedback. As more people share a video, it gains visibility, prompting even more shares. This phenomenon can elevate a message or idea to prominence swiftly, showcasing the power of reinforcement in modern communication.
A few weeks back, I spoke to a dear friend who had gone through something difficult during the pandemic. Now that he is out of that mental space, he wants people to understand what leads to severe depression so they can avoid that dark place. It starts with something bad, some kind of minor or major trauma. Then every now and then, something external triggers a trauma response, followed by overthinking, followed by self-pity and realization that you can’t escape the problem you’re in, leading to this cycle repeating over and over again. That right there is a negative reinforcing feedback loop, eating up your psyche.
Unsurprisingly, all the self-help books and their advice aim to break this loop. If you feel hurt and sensitive, maybe meditate or solve a puzzle; if you feel low on energy, maybe work out; if you feel overcome by the aftermath of an incident, maybe read some classics and works of literature to gain a wider perspective on life and change your narrative. Every single piece of advice here is an attempt to break the loop and help the agent escape that dark place.
Balancing feedback loops encourage stability and moderation, values that are essential for long-term success and equilibrium. Reinforcing feedback loops, on the other hand, highlight the power of positive and negative spirals. They show us that while positive reinforcement can lead to significant advancements, it is equally important to be wary of the snowball effects of negative actions. Whether investing in markets or developing personal habits, recognizing when to encourage growth and when to stabilize is the key decision in most contexts.
If you need some inspiration, you can look at nature. Which loop does it prefer for your lungs, which one does it prefer for pain and which one does it prefer for forest fires? And why? As Bob Dylan eloquently put it,
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind — Bob Dylan
Amogh Mahapatra's Writings 