Catastrophism

Georges Cuvier is credited with the theory of extinction being a natural part of Earth’s evolutionary process.

He did so by establishing the theory of catastrophism, that stated how sudden, violent event shaped the structure and types of life on earth.

He cited Biblical events, like the flood in the story of Noah’s Ark, and explained that those types of catastrophes were responsible for eliminating many species of organisms. He thought that such events supported the theory of catastrophism and explained how organisms went extinct and how the Earth was changed.

On the other hand, Charles Darwin was a proponent of Uniformitarianism, that stated how Earth’s processes slowly change the environment over time through uniform and continuous processes.

Same or different

While Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism seem different to me, they seem to 2 sides of the same coin.

The slow and evolving situation getting aggravated by the sudden and violent event leading to a change in the landscape.

Think about, how post the 2008 crisis, the world got used to ultra-loose monetary policy and low to zero interest rates.

This combined with over 15% of world’s supply chain getting concentrated in 1 country.

And then Covid happened, where all the administrators wanted was to protect the financial interest of their populations leading to support being extended to businesses to individuals along with rates being slashed from zero to negative.

This extra cash in hand and savings due to work from home, etc., etc., led to some unusual behaviors:

• Savings went through the roof
• Individual and business balance sheets strengthened
• This led to demand exploding
• As re-opening came, people vent out their frustration by spending

Hey, but China wanted zero covid leading to closures and lockdown in 1 country that was supposed to provide a large proportion of these goods that were being demanded.

Supply chain disruptions led the world to recession.

Building up the Crescendo

This building up took time, but a sudden event tested the whole evolutionary process violently leading to disastrous consequences.

When the going is good, who cares about process.

Everyone is a genius.

When the chips are down, process becomes your friend.

But why can’t the process remain a friend whether the going is good, or the chips are down.

At-least it prepares you for the worst and stops you from making mistakes of getting carried away.

Remember, the slow evolution or the sudden event are both out of our control, however, he we react to them is in our hands, and that’s defined by our process.

Discipline, principles, and processes are the long-term friends that help you survive the worst and leverage the best.

You will still make mistake but probably will survive to see another day.

So-remember that and Stay the Course