Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
What Valdis Krebs is describing here is a cascade effect - when a network cycles out of control. Some cascades can be beneficial, but generally they create excess that wrecks the network. This is what happened with the mortgage and debt crisis, as every player was happy to work the system while the system spun out of control. Krebs says there was no cause, but speculates, "Maybe the system itself is to blame? It was set up to generate positive feedback loops with no monitor of levels or cutoff when things get out of hand." Well, yes, it was set up this way deliberate;y - and that was the cause. We need cutoffs -- more commonly known as regulations and taxes - in order to constrain cascade effects. People who argue that we don's are arguing through their hands - they want to profit themselves, and don't care whether the network is wrecked.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024 06:04 a.m.

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