Dave Delman

The idea of a "tipping point" probably originated with Hegel, as follows: 
In his book Science of Logic, Georg Friedrich Hegel remarked: “It is said
that there are no sudden changes in nature, and the common view has it
that when we speak of a growth or a destruction, we always imagine a
gradual growth or disappearance. Yet we have seen cases in which the
alteration of existence involves not only a transition from one proportion
to another, but also a transition, by a sudden leap, into a …
qualitatively different thing; an interruption of a gradual process,
differing qualitatively from the preceding, the former state”.

The example of liquid water turning into gaseous steam at 100C is often
cited, but the examples are everywhere to be found, in the physical world
and everywhere else including biology and human affairs.

Re the environment, those extra CO2 emissions from the additional tin
mining due to the RoHS ban on leaded solder may be the tipping point that
will lead to the inundation of Brussels and thereby sink the ban on lead
in solder.

Harvey Miller

Oh, by the way, if you look at the New Yorker, you will find Malcolm
Gladwell's byline under many excellent contributions.  


--- MA/NY DDave <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Again DavidS, Brian, EnviroNetrs,
> 
> David Thanks, I checked his bio and his web site. Malcom is in the
> Journalist 
> profession and is quite probably the source since journalists read each
> others 
> work.
> 
> Per his definition, I would agree that politically in the UK and in the
> US we 
> might have reached a temporary "tipping point" for abrupt political
> action. 
> Usually this means a band aide approach and lots of rhetoric with long
> periods 
> of do-nothing.
> 
> Brian also thanks for the piece about oceans. If I find the article
> about some 
> ocean organism that might have been involved in a huge climate change I
> will 
> post it. Right now I couldn't find the particular article.
> 
> 
> Yours in Engineering, Dave
>