The Ignition
How to break the symmetry of a stalled system? The beginning is never a gentle will, but always a breaking-in.
Metastability
The Supercooled Water
Inertia is not emptiness; it is a saturation of potentials. Like supercooled water that remains liquid below 0°C, the system is in "suspended civil war". It holds too much energy to move. To trigger the phase change (ice), one must not add energy, but introduce an impurity (a shock, a grain of dust).
Irritability
The Membrane
Life begins with the ability to be disturbed. The membrane is not a wall, but a selective filter that reacts to the "Non-Self". Vitality is measured by the speed of the startle response. To be alive is to refuse indifference.
Curiosity
The Grip
Attention slides on smooth surfaces. To think is to create friction. Curiosity is not a passive interest, but an active "Grip" (Tribology). It grabs the asperity, the error, the detail that does not fit. Without roughness, there is no traction for the mind.
The Switch
Amplification
The technical gesture is disproportionate. A few grams of pressure on a button release tons of kinetic energy. The "Switch" is the master operator of the Anthropocene: it transforms a micro-decision into a macro-effect.
The Scandal
Criticality
In a society under tension (Self-Organized Criticality), the event is not caused by the size of the trigger, but by the slope of the pile. The "Scandal" is the grain of sand that triggers the avalanche. It reveals the invisible structure of the system.