CorporateNature No 148
If water stops flowing, it turns into a swamp.
If a city stops developing, it turns into ruins.
Both of these "end states" have their role in nature and society: swamps are important habitats for wetland species; while ruins can evolve into tourism hubs or degenerate into quarries for construction material.
Neither of these would ever be completely still: there will be movement in the swamp when a frog or a bird disturbs the surface; and tourists will shuffle around the columns and arches of city ruins. Yet, these disturbances do not equal progression in a determined direction, as in when a river flows and a living city develops.
Roman ruins (image source: Wikipedia)
