sandpile
The Math of the Amazing Sandpile - Issue 107: The Edge
One country going Communist was supposed to topple the next, and then the next, and the next. The metaphor drove much of United States foreign policy in the middle of the 20th century. But it had the wrong name. From a physical point of view, it should have been called the "sandpile theory." Real-world political phase transitions tend to happen not in neat sequences, but in sudden coordinated fits, like the Arab Spring, or the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
Country:
- North America > United States > Wisconsin > Dane County > Madison (0.04)
- Asia > Middle East > Jordan (0.04)