Title: The Principle of Cumulative Advantage
Headings: The Principle of Cumulative Advantage
The Principle of Cumulative Advantage
How the principle affects large social problems

Content: A similar graph could be drawn for every case where the Principle of Cumulative Advantage is at work. All social agents, from people to families to corporations to nations, seek to maximize their competitive advantage. If they don't they are gradually weeded out by the law of survival of the fittest. The greatest advantage a social agent can have is a reinforcing feedback loop that increases (cumulates) their competitive advantage. All social interaction is ultimately an attempt to increase one's competitive advantage directly, or increase it indirectly by strengthening the loop. If there are any delayed adverse repercussions, then loop growth will overshoot its limits and then collapse as system self-correction occurs. This is precisely what has caused the sustainability problem. It's a side effect of the growth loops dominant social agents have built for themselves to maximize their competitive advantage. The Race to the Bottom among Politicians of the Dueling Loops is one example. It's also what caused the two problems of authoritarian rule and widespread poverty.