Glossary

These terms recur throughout the work. They are marked in the running text and lead here.

Omegacene

The epoch in which the consequences of human action regularly exceed the time scales of human institutions. Not a verdict, but a statement of proportion.

Long present

A condition of simultaneously valid time scales running at different speeds, none of which can claim precedence.

Tipping point

A state of a system at which a small change triggers a self-reinforcing answer. The feedback is decisive, not the size of the effect.

Hysteresis

The property of systems whose outward and return paths do not coincide. The return regularly demands more far-reaching conditions than the departure.

Threshold

A transition between two states which, unlike a border, cannot be crossed symmetrically.

Discounting

The practice of weighting future values less in the present. Methodologically questionable where states are irreversible.