Temporal Buffering
Build products, assets, and structures designed for multi-generational longevity.
Longevity allows averaging across cycles rather than being destroyed by any single bad phase.
Some organisms survive cycles through sheer temporal buffering - living long enough to experience multiple cycles and averaging across them. Bristlecone pines live 4,000-5,000 years, experiencing 200+ El Niño cycles, 80+ Pacific Decadal Oscillation phases. A 100-year drought is merely a setback for a tree that will live 4,000 years. Long lifespan allows averaging across cycles, waiting for rare opportunities (successful recruitment may only occur once per century), and storing resources during good years to draw on during bad years. The cost is opportunity - bristlecones grow extraordinarily slowly compared to fast-growing species.
Business Application of Temporal Buffering
Build products, assets, and structures designed for multi-generational longevity. Long asset ownership allows companies to average across cycles - a mine uneconomic during a 3-year bust becomes highly profitable during the following 5-year boom.