Shifting the Burden

A system trap, also called addiction or dependence, where a symptomatic fix relieves a problem in the short term but undermines the system's own capacity to solve it, so reliance on the fix grows and each round needs a larger dose for the same effect.

Why it Matters

The quick fix is attractive because it works immediately, but it lets the underlying capability atrophy while the real problem keeps growing, deepening the dependence until the system cannot function without the intervention.

Signals

• The problem returns whenever the fix is removed.
• Ever-larger doses are needed to hold the same ground.
• The system's native ability to cope has withered.

Benefits

Recognizing it argues for prevention and for fixes that rebuild the system's own capacity rather than substitute for it.

Risks

Mistaking symptom relief for a cure; removing the prop abruptly after dependence has set in, when the weakened system can no longer cope on its own.

Tensions

Short-term relief versus long-term capability: the humane immediate fix can be the very thing that traps the system, so the harder path of rebuilding capacity is often the durable one.

Examples

Subsidies that prop up an industry until it cannot survive without them; a hero developer who personally resolves every incident, so the team never builds its own resilience.