4.2.1.1 Similarities between ESTPs and PTPs

Any sufficiently complex adaptive system, whether it is based on geophysical, ecological, or human elements, can exhibit a tipping point that leads to transformative change (Lenton et al., 2022). For this reason, many of the same terms and concepts used to study normatively ‘negative’ tipping points in the Earth and social system can be adapted for normatively ‘positive’ tipping points in human systems. The prime example is the tipping point concept itself – a critical threshold at which an additional input into a system triggers a disproportionately large, often abrupt and irreversible change, which leads to a qualitatively different system state (Lenton, 2008; Milkoreit, 2018). Both normatively ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ tipping point systems also have the following in common:

• Stable states that are resistant to change.
• Internal, reinforcing (positive) feedbacks that speed up change, and dampening (negative) feedbacks that slow down change (Lenton et al., 2022). These are mathematically positive or negative feedbacks, not to be confused with normatively positive or negative tipping points. 
• The potential for tipping cascades, whereby the tipping of one system triggers the tipping of at least one other system, which can start a domino effect of change across multiple systems (Lenton, 2020).
• A loss of resilience or stability when approaching a tipping point. For some human (social) systems this may manifest as critical slowing down (CSD) – the time taken to recover from a shock/disturbance. CSD can be detected as early warning signals (EWS) for climate tipping points, or as early opportunity indicators (EOI) for PTPs.
• Path dependence, in which past states or events constrain future states or events.