What does it mean that positive feedback loops amplify?

Some loops reinforce themselves — success breeds more success or failure breeds more failure.

Example: A developer writes a useful open-source library. Downloads attract contributors. Contributors improve the library. The improved library attracts more downloads. Within two years, a weekend project has become critical infrastructure — not because it was inherently superior on day one, but because a reinforcing loop converted a small initial advantage into an insurmountable one.

Try this: Identify one reinforcing loop currently active in your life — positive or negative. Map the cycle explicitly: What is the initial condition? What does it produce? How does that output feed back as input? Write it as A -> B -> C -> A. Then ask: is this loop amplifying something I want more of, or something I want less of?