Noon Star

Decision Theory: Compromise is Possible

The butterfly catastrophe has a single state variable [a public policy decision], with four control variables to interpret [the Popcycle]: for example, [ Joy / Sadness, or Reward / Punishment ] as conflicting variables in the normal-splitting plane. The compromise will be represented by points on the middle sheet, and since it is the butterfly factor which causes this sheet to appear we shall want to identify this factor with whatever we believe is chiefly responsible for making compromise possible. One plausible candidate is time .
P. T. Saunders, An Introduction to Catastrophe Theory.