Your graph also illustrates perfectly why I find this an example of semistable equilibrium as explained in this article. It even looks like a cliff face, although it is inverted. There is a point at which the lag phase changes and becomes the exponential phase. As long as the correct action is taken before this point, the exponential phase can be avoided; e.g. take the petri dish out of the incubator and put bleach in it. This would be equivalent to the chicken player stopping his car before the cliff edge.
1. Drilling a hole in glass. I was at a class learning glass fusing (just for fun) and we each had to drill a hole in float glass. The drill is a vertical bit, about 3mm diameter, and coated with an abrasive. 8 of the 9 of us in the class followed the instructions as to the angle at which to hold the glass, and to cool it with water frequently. We all cut neat little holes. The 9th person was in a hurry, and at the moment the drill broke through the surface of his piece of glass, it caught and violently span out of control, shattering.
2. This idea of
Less Wrong is all about rationality, which is a vital component of our thinking, but there is evidence to suspect our brains have useful functions beyond this. For example, the placebo and nocebo effects, which demonstrate the physical results of our positive or negative beliefs. Because of this it is necessary to do double blind trials on medicines, so that not even the person administering the treatment knows who is receiving the trial drug and who is getting the sugar pill. There is the "white coat effect" which causes raised blood pressure due to being... (read more)