Goldilocks principle

The Goldilocks principle states that something must fall within certain margins, as opposed to reaching extremes. It is typically an ideology, rather than a logical principle and closely related to the theory of equilibrium. When the effects of the principle are observed, it is known as the Goldilocks effect.

The Goldilocks principle is derived from a children's story Goldilocks and the Three Bears in which a little girl found a house owned by three bears. Each bear owned a separate copy of many things, such as food, beds, etc. After testing each of the three, Goldilocks determined that one was always too much in one extreme (too hot, too large, etc.), one was too much in the opposite extreme (too cold, too small, etc.), and one was "just right".

It is applied across many disciplines, particularly biology, economics and engineering.

Applications

In astrobiology, the Rare Earth hypothesis uses the Goldilocks Principle in the argument that a planet must neither be too far away from, nor too close to a star and galactic centre to support life, while either extreme would result in a planet incapable of supporting life. Such a planet is colloquially called a "Goldilocks planet".

In medicine, it sometimes refers to the ideal dosage of a drug, and the extremes which may result in death of a patient.

It is also applied in econonomics. A Goldilocks economy sustains moderate economic growth and a low inflation allowing for a market friendly monetary policy. A Goldilocks market is when the price of commodities sits between a Bear market and a Bull market. Goldilocks pricing is a tactic marketing, that although doesn't directly apply the Goldilocks principle, uses in product segmentation to offer three versions of a product to corner different ends of the market - a high-end version, a mid-end version and a low-end version.