# vicious cycle (stacked)

*Ordinarily means:* a situation where one problem leads to another, which makes the first problem worse, repeating endlessly

a pattern where each outcome becomes the cause that drives the same outcome again, tightening the same boundary until no change can happen without crossing a wall

- Computed level: L16 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: social systems  ·  Arena: human behavior

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [cycle](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-cycle.loop), [dependence](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-dependence.condition), [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition)

**Through:** self-reinforcing

**Novel properties:**
- feedback loop
- irreversible entrapment

## Examples
- The Aral Sea shrank by 90% after Soviet irrigation projects diverted rivers feeding it, reducing rainfall and increasing salinity in a feedback loop. *(environment)*
- Chicago's 1995 heatwave killed 739 as power failures disabled cooling systems, worsening the grid load in a cascading outage. *(infrastructure)*
- Greece's public debt exceeded 180% of GDP by 2013 after austerity reduced growth, forcing further borrowing to cover shortfalls. *(economics)*

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