{
  "handle": "ShapeMassInformation",
  "ref": "ShapeMassInformation#0b9e",
  "stub": "0b9e",
  "semaId": "sema:ShapeMassInformation#mh:SHA-256:0b9e0ab984495e4958bb5a66b8e5062dd3123d4dc78140944a19b2c43c6e9266",
  "layer": "Mind",
  "category": "Strategy",
  "gloss": "Growth risk is the balance of controlling shape, adding mass and adding information",
  "mechanism": "Any growing organisation, from a gene to a firm, is steered along three interacting dimensions. Shape is the form or target being held, such as a plan, a blueprint or an objective. Mass is any investment of action, money or energy that scales the organisation. Information is what is added to it as it grows. A decision is one corner of this space: shape is frozen, then mass is added. Mass and information pursued for their own value loosen control of shape, so risk comes from a bad combination of the three for the conditions, not only from a wrong decision. Human practice favours shape control, while Nature adds information as it adds mass through {{meta_modularity}}.",
  "invariants": [
    "Adding mass or information for its own value reduces control of shape",
    "A decision is a special case of organisation growth, not its general form"
  ],
  "failureModes": [
    "Treating every risk as failure to hold a shape and missing failures to add enough mass or information",
    "Reading an exponential growth curve as a shape to hit rather than as a sign of shape deformation",
    "Treating the three dimensions as independent objectives instead of interacting forces"
  ],
  "ring": 1,
  "tier": 2,
  "aliases": {
    "meta_modularity": "MetaModularity"
  },
  "buildsOn": [
    {
      "handle": "MetaModularity",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "meta_modularity",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/MetaModularity/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/MetaModularity.json"
    }
  ],
  "usedBy": [
    {
      "handle": "MassAmplifiedError",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "shape_mass_information",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/MassAmplifiedError/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/MassAmplifiedError.json"
    }
  ],
  "sources": {
    "research": [],
    "works": [
      {
        "kind": "book",
        "label": "On the Origin of Risk",
        "note": "(Timlett 2025), Introduction and ch. 2-3",
        "url": "/research/on_the_origin_of_risk/"
      }
    ],
    "homePage": false
  },
  "url": "/knowledge-graph/ShapeMassInformation/",
  "graphUrl": "/knowledge-graph#ShapeMassInformation",
  "directory": "/knowledge-graph/patterns.json"
}