Here are some animated gifs I’ve put together to help illustrate some ideas about hierarchical linking of subsystems at different temporal and physical scales.
1) A non-synched system hierarchy
Very slow, large top-level system (e.g., regional village network). Not at risk for fast change.
Slower, medium-sized, mid-level systems (e.g., villages). Non-alignment of small subsystems keeps these systems also un-synched.
Fast, small, low-level systems (e.g., households), maintaining resilience at the medium scale by non-alignment of temporal changes in each system's potential.
2) A synched system hierarchy
Very slow, large top-level system (e.g., regional village network). Now at risk for rapid change when all subsystems fail at the same time. Slower, medium-sized, mid-level systems (e.g., villages). Alignment of the small subsystems allows these medium systems to also align.
Fast, small, low-level systems (e.g., households) are now temporally aligned. System potential grows and crashes at the same time for all of these small systems, and so they no longer maintain resilience at the medium scale.
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