{
  "id": "unstable.condition",
  "term": "unstable",
  "sense": "condition",
  "pos": "adjective",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "system",
  "domain": "emergent",
  "style": "window",
  "definition": "drift accelerates toward a wall on its own",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "wall.range-end",
      "toward.spatial"
    ],
    "interaction": "The unguided change intensifies in the direction of a boundary.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "self-intensifying drift",
      "directed acceleration",
      "proximity-driven change"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The Tacoma Narrows Bridge oscillated wildly in 42 mph winds before collapsing on November 7, 1940.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "A spinning ice skater wobbles uncontrollably when angular momentum shifts beyond balance.",
      "domain": "physics"
    },
    {
      "text": "The 2008 financial crisis accelerated as mortgage defaults fed cascading bank failures.",
      "domain": "economics"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "unstable"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "retrofit:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.8,
    "sources": [
      "Sample/hundred-words-six-terms.md"
    ],
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Removed 'parameter.condition' (L4) as it is not fundamentally involved in the definitional mechanism; retained only components directly involved in motion, direction, and boundary. Added 'toward.spati"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-unstable.condition"
}