Rube Goldberg effect

Logically, if a response has an effect on some other system, then it must be a factor of that other system. It is not at all unusual for variables to have this dual identity as response and factor. In fact, most systems are seen to have a rather complicated internal subsystem structure in which there are a number of such factor-response elements (see Figure 1.4). The essence of responses as factors is illustrated in the drawings of Rube Goldberg (1930) in which an initial cause triggers a series of intermediate factor-response elements until the final result is achieved. 

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