The Boiling Frog Theory

From centuries together, many theories have been put forward to evaluate human psychology. And the Theory of Boiling Frog is one such experiment. Some people call it as mere metaphor and some believe in it... but everyone feels that there is an important message to be learnt from the story.

The Theory

If you keep a frog in the boiling water, it would immediately jump out of the water. But if you keep in cold water and start boiling, the frog would not notice the danger. By the time it realises the danger, it gets succumbed by the heat. Several experiments have been done to decide the truth in this theory. In one such experiment, when the temperature was raised slowly at the rate of 0.002°C per second... the frog was found dead after 2½ hours.

The Reason

Humans try to maintain constant temperature irrespective of their surroundings. But frogs have the ability of changing their body temperatures according to the atmosphere around them. So, by the time frog realises that it is too hot to adapt to the boiling water, enough damage would be done to its reflexes which disable it to get out.

The Truth

Scientists in the past claimed to have proved the theory to be perfect. But modern naturalists have several objections to such claims. From temperatures to the behaviour of the frog... experts now have many doubts over the validity of the theory. Some conversationalists also allege that this theory would mislead people about nature.

The Lessons

The frog might jump out of the gradually boiling water or it might won’t. But this theory has some important lessons for us.

- The circumstances around us may not seem to be threatening, but we have to be watchful about the slightest of the changes.

- Any decision that is not taken in time might sometimes close the door forever.

- Most of our weaknesses are like the gradually boiling water. We may not feel the loss initially, and by the time we realise our mistake... we find ourselves neck deep in the trouble.

- We live in a complex society. And we have to decide when to adjust, when to adopt and when to quit? Such decisions guide the course of our lives.

- Some people around us are like boiling water. They keep exploiting us unless our strength gets drained off without our awareness. We have to be vigilant about such people.

- Nirjara.