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The point of no return, or the Rubicon, is the point beyond which someone, or some group of people, must continue on their current course of action. Either they physically cannot turn back, or doing so would be prohibitively expensive or dangerous.
A particular irreversible action (e.g. setting off an explosion, or signing a contract) can be a point of no return, but the point of no return can also be a calculated point during a continuous action (such as in aviation).
Origins
The term point of no return originated as a technical term in air navigation to refer to the point on a flight at which, due to fuel consumption, a plane is no longer capable of returning to its airfield of origin. After passing the point of no return, the plane has no option but to continue to some other destination. In this sense, the phrase implies an irrevocable commitment. The principles of air navigation are the same for all aircraft, big or small. ...
In mountain aviation, the phrase is sometimes used in a completely different way to refer to the point at which the grade of the terrain "outclimbs" the aircraft-- that is, the point at which a crash is inevitable, being a parallel in common usage. The phrase can also be used to mean inevitable disaster.
In its metaphorical sense, passing the point of no return can be used synonymously with crossing the Rubicon — taking a course of action with significant and irreversible consequences. In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ...
Look up Synonym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The use of crossing the Rubicon derives from the crossing of the river Rubicon by Julius Caesar in 49 BC, who thereby violated Roman law and rendered armed conflict inevitable. As Caesar said at the time: "alea iacta est" ("the die is cast"). Presumed course of the Rubicon The Rubicon (Rubico, in Italian Rubicone) is an ancient Latin name for a small river in northern Italy. ...
GÄius JÅ«lius Caesar (IPA: ;[1]), July 12 or July 13, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in world history. ...
Consuls: Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, Gaius Claudius Marcellus Maior. ...
Alea iacta est (Latin: The die is cast) [ˈaËlÉ›a ˈjakta É›st] is what Julius Caesar is reported to have said on January 10, 49 BC as he led his army across the River Rubicon in Northern Italy out of the province assigned to him by the Roman Senate. ...
Typical role-playing dice, showing a variety of colors and styles. ...
Causes Points of no return arise because many actions are not reversible. If a property developer decides to demolish a tower block to make way for a new stadium, the act of setting off the explosives is a point of no return. Once the tower block has been demolished, it cannot be undemolished (except by re-building it, which is expensive and time-consuming).
Points of no return can arise because of sunk costs. Consider the act of travelling from Paris to Moscow by air. If the traveller decides to buy a non-refundable air ticket, then the cost of the ticket becomes a sunk cost. If the traveller subsequently discovers that it would have been cheaper to travel by rail, he or she cannot take advantage of that new knowledge without losing the cost of the air ticket and can only regret the earlier decision of choice. In economics and in business decision-making, sunk costs are costs that have already been incurred and which cannot be recovered to any significant degree. ...
City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région Île-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area...
Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area - City 1,081 km² Population - City (2005) - Density 10,415,400 8537. ...
In economics and in business decision-making, sunk costs are costs that have already been incurred and which cannot be recovered to any significant degree. ...
False Rubicons In human behaviour, individual as well as collective decision-making, point of no return have become a popular metaphor denoting a stage in an undertaking, project or the like, where the person or people involved are unwilling to stop and think about what they are doing. Instead, they hasten to continue on their chosen course of action while ignoring counter-arguments or evidence that would suggest a change. This process of self-deception, in which a "false" point of no return is assumed, thus typically results in a "real" point of no return and irrevocable commitment to the cause in question. In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ...
Self-deception is a process of denying or rationalizing away the relevance, significance, or importance of opposing evidence and argument. ...
The flaw in the analogy concerns the inevitability of having to go on in the same direction. Whereas the pilot really has no sensible alternative to carrying on, generally humans at critical points in their lives are still free agents and thus do have the power to change their course of action. If they decide not to do it, it may be because they are afraid of doing it and are trying to avoid exposure, criticism or ridicule. If one turns back to where one started, one admits that most of the things one has been doing since departing have either been wrong, too difficult or too terrifying to proceed with. Accordingly, changing one's mind and one's course of action is the more difficult of the two options, even when that would be the better decision. What is more, the farther one has already proceeded, the more difficult it is to return. This phenomenon leads many people to believe that for them, a complete change of course is impossible. Analogy is either the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), or a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. ...
Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ...
However, although this definition isolates and highlights the human tendency to continue onward in the face of accumulating jeopardy, there is also an antithesis to the case in that people alone or as groups will tend to continue to repeat a mode of action or proceed without changing direction only when the perceived cost of altering course outweighs the benefit of implementing a change. The proviso to the main clause is that the cost of implementing fundamental change does not always or even usually come for free.
Ultimately humans will tend to adopt whatever course of action they perceive will benefit them or the causes they identify themselves through.
Other uses In American slang, the "point of no return" is often used to refer to a situation where a couple gets so intimate that the male can no longer hold off sexual intercourse. With the growth of such phenomena as date rape, its use in this context has become extremely controversial and is usually discounted [citation needed]. Coition of a Hemisected Man and Woman (c. ...
The title Date Rape is a very general term which has come to represent some very different situations. ...
During sexual intercourse, it can also refer to the moment at which stopping the act (as used in coitus interruptus) does not prevent ejaculation in the male. The point of no return comes after the orgasm is already underway yet has not yet fully climaxed [citation needed]. Coitus interruptus, also known as withdrawal or the pull out method, is a method of contraception in which, during sexual intercourse, the man removes his penis from the womans vagina just before he reaches orgasm. ...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
// Orgasm is the conclusion of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, shared by males and females alike. ...
In The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, "Point of No Return" is the title of a song in the final act, first sung by the Phantom and Christine in an Opera. In this version of the song, it refers to the inevibility of the sexual relationship between the characters Christine and the Phantom (in disguise) are playing. Later, the song is reprised by the Phantom as he forces Christine to choose between loving him or having Raoul, her real love, killed. The Phantom of the Opera is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. ...
Andrew Lloyd Webber (publicity portrait). ...
The point of no return, or the Rubicon, is the point beyond which someone, or some group of people, must continue on their current course of action. ...
Some video games contain a "final area" in which the player(s) cannot revisit previous areas of the game once the boundary is crossed. Final areas usually contain a final boss, final dungeon (often capped by a final boss or final series of bosses,) or some similarily game-ending encounter. Attempting to cross such a boundary is usually met with a warning informing the player. Such instances of a point of no return typically occur in single-player role-playing games, such as "EarthBound" and "Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time". This article is about computer and video games. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
This article is about traditional role-playing games. ...
EarthBound (Japanese: MOTHER 2 ギーグã®é€†è¥² MÄzÄ TsÅ« GÄ«gu no GyakushÅ« Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back) is a role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. ...
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