Hacker News
points by abtinf 1 day ago | 0 comments
Off topic: I’ve never seen a flywheel analogy that actually understands what a flywheel is. People love to use it to describe a forever growing thing, when it’s actually just a buffer.
[–] stackbutterflow 1 day ago
I was about to comment on this too. Isn't what the parent comment describes a virtuous circle?

A quick online search returns mostly business related articles so I guess it's some corporate analogy.

[–] NekkoDroid 1 day ago
> Isn't what the parent comment describes a virtuous circle?

I'd rather call it a positive feedback loop.

[–] antisthenes 1 day ago
In this case, the flywheel analogy only demonstrates is that there is low friction in the legal system aspect.

If we are talking about a flywheel as an energy storage, low friction is a key component of its ability to store energy as a buffer. If this was not the case, the flywheel would lose its energy quickly on its own and the buffer would be gone.

> People love to use it to describe a forever growing thing, when it’s actually just a buffer.

A thing has other characteristics other than its intended purpose. Your assumption that you need to use intended purpose for a successful analogy is false.

[–] abtinf 1 day ago
The parent was not making an argument about low friction.
[–] tylermk04 1 day ago
Ah yes, I too have noticed the "prevalence of flywheel-analogy-misuse" flywheel.