Avalanche

The sudden, drastic appearance of an avalanche with enormous destructive potential is neither a random nor spontaneous event. Many factors cause them. These include climatic changes, types of snow, the sliding surface, slope, height and type of failure that triggers the change of status quo. Slab avalanches are responsible for 90% of fatalities. These typically start from an area of new snow shearing off from the mountainside and descending as a single block. These can measure up to six metres in depth, thousands of metres in width, and achieve speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour. The fundamental components of these events are a weak layer, lying below a cohesive slab. When a change disturbs this, a rupture occurs. As the material gathers speed downhill, it fragments into both fluid and airborne particles, which travel both faster and further than the main body. 

So it is with breakthrough technologies. Whilst they may not threaten lives the disruptive power is astonishing, as we’ve seen from the digital revolution which continues to gather speed, fragment and affect our lives directly and indirectly. A recession, which we typically see as an economic fault, prompts a rush for businesses to be more productive. Whilst it’s unpredictable, the search for new goods, production methods, markets, new sources of materials and ways of organizing industry, are all quests of both the inventors and entrepreneurs who combine to create revolutionary production. At such times as these, sudden change is inevitable and powerful.