not exactly a rationalist thing, but a lot of bay-area people will tell you that exponential growth exists, and it's everywhere
i can't think of any case where exponential growth actually happens, though. exponential decay and logistic curves are common enough, but not exponential growth
The rats I hang out with know the difference between exponential and logistic just fine.
Hmm.
Not sure if it matters, but I'd note logistic curves can be hard to distinguish from an exponential for long enough that the difference isn't always very consequential — a nuke exploding doesn't keep doubling in power every few microseconds forever, but for enough doubling periods that cities still get flattened.
