24 ms·

Relative to an absolute viewpoint and habitat, there is a runaway though. Beings are not relativistic. Update: I guess this is a tangent on a tangent, pun inte

• adwn 6y ago
  > Relative to an absolute viewpoint [...] Any yet this "absolute" viewpoint is never really absolute, but always relative to the authors current position in time – as if by coincidence. EDIT: To clarify, when an author uses an exponential curve to make the "runaway" argument, they almost never justify why the current absolute value of the curve should have special significance over the absolute values at other points in time. For example, in forgotmypw17's original post, there's no explanation why the current status of free software is at a special threshold – or what "exponential curve" they're even talking about.
  • loopz 6y ago
    If your cellar is filling up with water exponentially, the last half could fill up in the last timeperiod. In a limited world, exponential changes are sometimes catastrophic.
• tolmasky 6y ago
  The “relativeness” comes from time, not from us. Judging the curve today, the past looks flat and the future looks steep. In 5 years the same will be true: today will seem flat and the future will seem steep — that’s the point of OP showing both of those ranges. It is this relative perspective that precisely creates the illusion of a runaway point, an “absolute” perspective gives you the fractal understanding that the graph is the same at every dimension.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  • ahartmetz 6y ago
    Most exponential curves are only exponential until they hit a limit and become an S-curve. These sort of have a runaway point. But in this article full of hyperbole and falsehoods, steelmanning its bad arguments might not be appropriate.
  • thewakalix 6y ago
    Perhaps this use of “fractal” is technically incorrect, which could spawn another, smaller, yet similar discussion in response...