When this phrase is used it is maybe implied that the equilibriating happens much faster and further than the actor (usually a democratic regulating body) expected, and that they are too slow to “evaluate medium term, make corrections”.
One other potential benefit of an unstable mechanism is that there is no energy loss that comes with damping, in other words the many possible errors are not rejected as heat. Instead, the error can be measured with a much smaller energy cost, and then a reversible correction can be made that on average costs no energy. In concrete terms this can be pictured as replacing a dashpot or a shock absorber with a finely controlled quick response linear electric motor (one that can reproduce and correct any error that occurs). Of course a dashpot-like solution is usually simpler and more reliable. I have come to appreciate reliability even more as I’ve grown older.
Oh, there are absolutely correct places to use the phrase and correct places to benefit from reliable simplicity! My main argument is against mindless usage that I unfortunately witness nowadays a lot. Understanding why and when we need to solve for the equilibrium in evaluation replaced by the simple belief in a rule that we should—always and for everything.
When this phrase is used it is maybe implied that the equilibriating happens much faster and further than the actor (usually a democratic regulating body) expected, and that they are too slow to “evaluate medium term, make corrections”.
One other potential benefit of an unstable mechanism is that there is no energy loss that comes with damping, in other words the many possible errors are not rejected as heat. Instead, the error can be measured with a much smaller energy cost, and then a reversible correction can be made that on average costs no energy. In concrete terms this can be pictured as replacing a dashpot or a shock absorber with a finely controlled quick response linear electric motor (one that can reproduce and correct any error that occurs). Of course a dashpot-like solution is usually simpler and more reliable. I have come to appreciate reliability even more as I’ve grown older.
Oh, there are absolutely correct places to use the phrase and correct places to benefit from reliable simplicity! My main argument is against mindless usage that I unfortunately witness nowadays a lot. Understanding why and when we need to solve for the equilibrium in evaluation replaced by the simple belief in a rule that we should—always and for everything.