人类规模的系统的能量

The self-sustaining flame is a way to think about the properties of intrinsic self-reinforcing forces within ecosystems. But what is that force? It turns out that the engine at the core of ecosystems helps us understand the engines at the core of all human-scale systems: individuals, teams, and ecosystems. The core factor is energy.

自我维持的火焰是思考生态系统内固有的自我强化力量的特性的一种方式。但这种力量是什么呢？事实证明，生态系统的核心引擎有助于我们理解所有人类规模系统的核心引擎：个人、团队和生态系统。这个核心因素就是能量。

Newton’s first law tells us that objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. We can understand the actions of humans and human-created systems via a parallel to these fundamental laws of the universe.

牛顿第一定律告诉我们，静止的物体倾向于保持静止，运动的物体倾向于保持运动，除非受到外力的作用。我们可以通过与宇宙的这些基本定律相平行来理解人类和人类创造的系统的行动。

In the idealized world of physics, the underlying substrate is a perfect, frictionless, infinite plane. In the plane of human existence, on the other hand, it’s more akin to a viscous swamp of molasses. Things only happen with movement, and movement takes a constant influx of energy to overcome the friction. More concretely, you can imagine an object having a force continuously applied to it to move it to a given goal state.

在理想化的物理学世界里，底层基质是一个完美的、无摩擦的、无限的平面。另一方面，在人类生存的层面上，它更类似于一个粘稠的沼泽糖浆。事情只有在运动时才会发生，而运动需要不断涌入能量来克服摩擦。更具体地说，你可以想象一个物体有一个不断施加在它身上的力，使它移动到一个给定的目标状态。

An object moving towards a desired goal state

一个物体向一个期望的目标状态移动

That intrinsic energy can come from individuals, teams, or whole ecosystems. In some cases these sources of intrinsic energy have their output multiplied with a self-reinforcing feedback loop. At that point the system can be thought of as an engine.

这种内在的能量可以来自个人、团队或整个生态系统。在某些情况下，这些内在能量的来源通过一个自我强化的反馈循环使其产出成倍增加。在这一点上，该系统可以被认为是一个引擎。

Once you recognize these engines, ideas that previously seemed like no-brainers will become obviously unworkable because of hurricane-force headwinds, and ideas that previously seemed unremarkable will turn out to be powerful because of having strong winds at their back. Discovering t...