Bubbles: A Universal Metaphor for Transformation

Recently, I had an unexpected insight while making soapy water. When I add detergent to water and stir vigorously, a mass of bubbles forms on the surface. If I stir more gently, there are far fewer bubbles—sometimes none at all.

Yet, regardless of how many bubbles appear, the end result is the same: the water is no longer just water. It has become soapy water—a new substance, with new properties and possibilities.

This simple process reflects a profound truth about both the physical world and human economic activity. In finance and innovation, rapid influxes of capital, talent, or belief often generate “bubbles”—transient surges of excitement, speculation, and sometimes distortion. If the pace is gentler, the transformation is subtler, less showy, but it still occurs.

Ultimately, bubbles are not merely anomalies or errors. They are a natural byproduct of transformation—evidence that energy is being injected, that something new is forming. The foam may dissipate, but the essential change remains. The market, society, or system is never the same as before; it has new structure, new potential.

The lesson? Don’t fear the bubbles. See them as signs of transition, of energy in motion. What matters most is not the froth, but what endures after it settles: the emergence of new foundations, new value, and new forms of life.

AI is clearly the bucket of soapy water being rapidly stirred.

DI, on the other hand, is the other bucket we are slowly stirring now.