Why does exponential growth seem so surprising in its outcome to most people?

What will be an ideal response?


People are used to stability in their daily lives and change is often viewed as bad.
Most changes encountered are small ones, and because they are considered over the short
run, seen as linear changes (it's as if we humans were programmed to attend to linear
changes). Exponential growth catches us by surprise because it is so different, and because
the pace of the change seems so out of kilter to our usual perceptions.
Suppose that a certain region has experienced doubling over a decade, going from one
eighth to one-quarter filled. The idea that a valley that's only one-quarter filled with people
now, and which took many decades to reach that level, could double and redouble and be
filled in as few years from now as twenty seems incongruous, if not impossible.

Physics & Space Science

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Use energy conservation to find the mass of asteroid ?. You can neglect any effects due to the parent star of the asteroid. (G = 6.67 × 10-11 N ? m2/kg2) A) 4.582 × 1021 kg B) 9.164 × 1027 kg C) 6.112 × 1028 kg D) 4.582 × 1020 kg

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Marcia places a lead block and an iron block on the table, and hits both of them with the same force. The lead block is twice as massive as the iron block. The acceleration of the lead block is

A) half that of the iron block. B) a quarter of that of the iron block. C) equal to that of the iron block. D) two times that of the iron block. E) four times that of the iron block.

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How does the resistance of a thick piece of copper wire compare to the resistance of a thin piece of copper wire?

A. The resistance of the thin piece is greater than that of the thick piece. B. The resistance of the thick piece is greater than that of the thin piece. C. Both the wire and narrow piece of copper provide the same resistance.

Physics & Space Science