# good enough (threshold)

*Ordinarily means:* Acceptable without being perfect.

The nearness of a wall where maintenance has stopped because the model assumes the current state will persist, though drift is already narrowing the window.

- Computed level: L16 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: everyday language  ·  Arena: emergence theory

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [narrow](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-narrow.spatial)

**Through:** model and drift

**Novel properties:**
- emergent window

## Examples
- The Fukushima Daiichi reactors required continuous cooling even after shutdown, but backup batteries lasted only 8 hours when external power failed. *(engineering)*
- The Aral Sea shrank by 90% after Soviet irrigation diverted rivers that once sustained its water level. *(environment)*
- Windows XP remained in use on 25% of PCs a decade after support ended, exposing systems to unpatched vulnerabilities. *(computing)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-good-enough.threshold*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-good-enough.threshold.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*