Systems & Loops
Feedback loops and counterintuitive behavior in everyday systems you live inside, traced with causal loop diagrams, and famous cautionary stories checked against the record.
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Systems & Loops
Feedback Loop Examples: Which Ones Have a Test on Record
Feedback loops in traffic, a steam governor, a thermostat, a bathtub and the beer game, each marked tested or untested, with CC BY loop diagrams and a CSV.
Published 2026-11-06
Picture credit
"Boulton and Watt centrifugal governor" by Andy Dingley — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boulton_and_Watt_centrifugal_governor.jpg — CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/); modifications: cropped
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Systems & Loops
Goodhart’s Law: Cited to a 1975 Paper on Monetary Policy
Later papers trace Goodhart’s law to a 1975 paper on UK monetary management. The line about a measure becoming a target came later; papers credit Strathern.
Published 2026-11-06
Picture credit
Illustration: Feedback & Forgetting. Generated schematic illustration — not a photograph or historical record. © Feedback & Forgetting, all rights reserved.
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Systems & Loops
Cobra Effect: Did People Breed Cobras? No Record Found Yet
Snake bounties in British India from 1869–1872 are on record. The cobra effect story of breeding cobras for a bounty has no period record found as of Nov 2026.
Published 2026-11-06
Picture credit
"Indian cobra, with 'spectacle' marking on hood. Watercolour" by Wellcome Collection — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indian_cobra,_with_%27spectacle%27_marking_on_hood._Watercolour_Wellcome_L0019950.jpg — CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)