N is for Nonlinear. Nonlinear systems are those where, most simply, input and output are disproportionate. Cause and effect don’t match in scale or speed. Audio feedback is a familiar example of a nonlinear phenomenon; the spread of pandemic disease is another. Nonlinear in the BANI usage refers to systems that see changes that don’t match expectations built on familiar reality. They’re common in nature, although often met by countervailing forces that keep the nonlinear aspects in check. The biggest (and most important) example of a nonlinear phenomenon is climate disruption, more precisely the hysteretic aspect of climate change. Hysteretic means a long lag between cause and effect, enough so that the connections are often functionally invisible. The connection between atmospheric greenhouse inputs and temperature/heat-related results is slow — potentially on the order of 20-30 years, although some more recent evidence suggests that it might be close to 10 years. Either way, the seeming disconnect between cause and effect means that (a) what we’re seeing now is the result of carbon emissions from one or two decades ago, and (b) whatever changes we make to cut carbon emissions won’t have any visible benefits for decades.

Jamais Cascio on BANI (Brittle Anxious Non-linear Incomprehensible) | Mindplex Podcast - S2EP4

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