Structural Stability and Morphogenesis: An Outline of a General Theory of Models [pdf]

"It should be noted that the global stability of the universe depends on the law of compensation: when the catastrophes are frequent and close together, each of them, taken individually. will not have a serious effect, and frequently each is so small that even their totality may be unobservable. When this situation persists in time, the observer is justified in neglecting these very small catastrophes and averaging out only the factors accessible to observation."