Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c955IR // #c955Synthesis

A stock is the running total of everything that ever flowed in and out. Debt, trust, inventory, reputation: none of them are dials you can just turn. They're histories. > “A stock is the memory of the history of changing flows within the system.”

— In our words · Source: Thinking in Systems (Donella H. Meadows)

[Use when]

You're trying to change a level and it keeps snapping back. Stop pushing the stock; redesign the flows.

[Why it matters]

People treat levels like settings. They're not. Change the flows and the stock follows, on its own slow schedule.

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