Positive Feedback Loops

I've been thinking lately about feedback loops. Feedback loops, according to a GMTK video on the subject, "are systems where the output is fed back into the system as an input." This means that past results will affect future results, either positively or negatively. Positive feedback loops increase the likelihood of getting the same result, whereas negative feedback loops decrease the likelihood of getting the same result.

For example, I invented a game I call Five Dice Clash, and I designed it to have a negative feedback loop, so the winner of one round would be less likely to win the next. In Five Dice Clash, each player starts with one die. At the start of the round, everyone rolls their dice, and the person with the lowest result wins the round. If two or more players are tied for the lowest number, those players "clash" or reroll their dice until the tie is broken and a winner is chosen. The winner of each round gets another die, and they roll both of their dice next round, trying to roll a lower number than those who are only rolling one die each. This goes on for several rounds, until a player wins a round with five dice. However, since each player gets another die to roll every time they roll the lowest number, low numbers get harder for those players to roll, giving the other players a better chance to catch up.

Five Dice Clash has a negative feedback loop. Each victory makes the next victory less likely, and each loss makes the next loss less likely as your opponents load up on dice that raise their totals. If I had instead wanted to give the game a positive feedback loop, I could have decided that whoever rolled the highest number would win the round and another die, making that player even more likely to win the next round.

In life, and particularly in spirituality, there are also positive feedback loops, where each victory makes the next victory more likely, and each loss makes the next loss more likely. For example, when we break a commandment, we drive away the Spirit, so we're less likely to have His help the next time we're faced with temptation. Without the help of the Spirit, the temptation may be harder to resist, making it more likely that we'll continue to drive the Spirit away, forming a "positive feedback loop" with unfortunate results.

Fortunately, positive feedback loops can also work in our favor. When we keep the commandments, we attract the Spirit, who can help us resist temptations and maintain the companionship of the Spirit.

The blessings that come from keeping the commandments make it easier for us to keep the commandments, and the results that follow from breaking the commandments make it easier to fall into sin. Both righteousness and unrighteousness form positive feedback loops that make it easier for us to stay on whichever path we're on. That's part of why it's so important to keep the commandments as much as possible and to resist temptation as strongly as we can. Each little victory makes the next victory that much easier, and each loss makes the next loss that much more likely.

It's important to know about positive feedback loops because this knowledge can help us use positive feedback loops to our advantage. We know that each time we do what's right, that helps us build momentum in the right direction, and each time we do something wrong, we lose some of that momentum and might start building up momentum in the other direction. This all strongly reminds me of the principle of spiritual inertia, which was one of my earliest blog posts. The principle still stands.

Making good decisions makes making good decisions easier, and making bad decisions makes making bad decisions easier. So, try to make some good decisions, even small ones. Those little victories will make it that much easier to earn a few more.