Ironically, real physical sandpiles do NOT follow power-law avalanche distributions at all, violating Bak's model; Bak responded by saying 'self-organized criticality only applies to the systems it applies to,' showing indifference to whether his model matches actual sandpiles because he was interested in universal mechanisms, not literal sand.
factualpending
Evidence Quote
“Per Bak, naturally, gets a chance to reply to the criticism, and he says, I'm pretty close to quoting, he says, 'Self-organized criticality only applies to the systems it applies to.'”
Created: 8/11/2026, 6:45:34 AM
My Notes
Loading notes...