• ramblinguy@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    A frog that is slowly boiled will jump out. However, if it’s dropped in boiling water, it’ll die because it doesn’t have time to jump out before the proteins in its body get destroyed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

    Relevant because I don’t think slow change is as irreversible as fast change, and might actually be more manageable

    • wikibot@lemmy.worldB
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      10 months ago

      Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:

      The boiling frog is an apologue describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of sinister threats that arise gradually rather than suddenly. While some 19th-century experiments suggested that the underlying premise is true if the heating is sufficiently gradual, according to modern biologists the premise is false: changing location is a natural thermoregulation strategy for frogs and other ectotherms, and is necessary for survival in the wild. A frog that is gradually heated will jump out. Furthermore, a frog placed into already boiling water will die immediately, not jump out.

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