Compounding loops have balancing loops that create an asymptote.

They bring a runaway effect into balance.

If there weren't a balancing loop, then the compounding loop would quickly go to infinity and swallow the whole universe.

A balancing loop often shows up for proasic, even automatic, reasons, like exhausting the supply of inputs.

This compounding loop + balancing loop is what gives the familiar s-curve that shows up in almost every context.

It's easier to extrapolate out a compounding loop into the future, just draw a line through the existing dots.

It's much harder to imagine the balancing loop, especially at the early stages of the s-curve where the balancing loop isn't yet powerful.

Another reason it's hard to imagine a balancing loop is the balancing loop is often not a context-free thing; it is specific to a particular compounding loop.

This is one reason why almost all trends, extrapolated forward, seem to end in dystopia: we can extrapolate the trend easily, but can't concretely imagine the balancing loop that will almost certainly kick in at some point.