Scientific Definition
The idea that material conditions and contradictions drive historical change.
Plain-English Definition
The idea that material conditions and contradictions drive historical change.
Feynman Explanation
Thesis meets antithesis; synthesis is never what either side expected.
Core Principle
The idea that material conditions and contradictions drive historical change.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
The idea that material conditions and contradictions drive historical change.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Market structures evolve through conflict and contradiction.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Thesis meets antithesis; synthesis is never what either side expected.
Examples
- Labor and capital tensions shape regulatory cycles.
- Market structures evolve through conflict and contradiction.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Map the contradictions in your industry before they resolve against you.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Map the contradictions in your industry before they resolve against you.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Combining substances to create a new material stronger than its parts.
A single constraint limits the throughput of an entire system.
A system's throughput is constrained by its single slowest step.
Small visible disorders signal that bigger ones will be tolerated.
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
Adding people to a late project makes it later.
A substance that speeds up a reaction without being consumed.
Nonlinear systems are highly sensitive to initial conditions.
Inputs combine under conditions to produce new outputs — sometimes irreversibly.
Software architecture mirrors org structure.
Working together has a cost that scales with the number of people.
The threshold at which a system becomes self-sustaining.