Complex Systems appear to be a complete puzzle to almost all Powers-That-Be

 Elected politicians, appointed administrators, business leaders, and other policy-makers seem to have little to no knowledge of the concepts in this short video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp8v2Udd_PM&list=WL&index=88&t=1s

An understanding of complexity, synergy, feedback loops, emergence, etc. is necessary if Homo sapiens is to survive and thrive in the Anthropocene.  Currently, Spaceship Earth appears to have way too few people in power who grasp these crucial concepts.  To compound the problem, those in power usually have as advisors mainstream economists, attorneys, and other linear thinking specialists.  Perhaps there are some, but I've not seen or heard of any advisors who think comprehensively on the level of, let's say, Bucky Fuller, Carl Sagan, Barry Commoner, Jeremy Lent, Suzanne Simard, Richard Heinberg, Jennie M. Ratcliffe, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne Ehrlich, Brian Czech, Nate Hagens, William E. Rees, and many others.

Without embracing nonlinear complexity, I'm afraid those who "run the world" are doomed to continue tinkering around the edges of the solutions to our ongoing socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.  The good news is that in many places, peaceful pressure from the ground up is beginning to nudge our Leaders out of their dogmatic, stuck-in-the-past slumber.  Let's hope that continues.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Message from Right Livelihood Laureates and members of the World Future Council to COP 27

 If we as a species are to significantly address not only the climate problem, but other eco-socio-ethical existential threats as well, then governments must adopt these eight policies.

https://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Save-the-Planet-Statement.pdf

This is what it will take to avoid catastrophe.  Stop-gap measures and tinkering around the edges of the problem will not suffice.  So say those identified in the title of this essay.  They are correct.

All previous Climate Conferences have accomplished little to nothing regarding implementing real solutions to the Crisis.  Let's hope this one is different.  One of the hindrances to effective solutions continues to be the popular view of mainstream economics.  Its supporters appear to see it essentially as a secular religion.  As such, it is promoted and promulgated as faith-based, a "given".  Any challenges to it are treated as sacrilegious.

Governments must overcome that obstacle.  Science does not support such a view.  Mainstream economists in general are dead wrong in their belief that economics is larger than and separate from the natural world.  Reliance on linear mathematical equations and linear thinking has led them to such an erroneous conclusion.  Our Earth System is nonlinear.  As such, it has emergent properties either not accounted for or ignored by the bulk of today's economists and many business leaders in various industries.

Massive problems have arisen regarding our atmosphere, soil, water, wildlife, forests, prairies, the spread of disease (not only in humans, but also in other animal life and in plants, including crops), cities, and more.  Either directly or indirectly, neoclassical (AKA, neoliberal) economics and linear thinking largely are responsible for these problems.  [Over the last fifteen years, I've posted details of such causation throughout this blog and here:   https://ecologicalliberalism.blogspot.com/ .  Even more details are in my book, which I published in April.]

Hopefully, COP 27 will not drop the ball.  If they do, any further such conferences probably will be way too late.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

More on Emergence, Synergy, & Complexity Theory, and Why Study of Them is Necessary to Avoid Total Catastrophe

The relevant video link is at the end of this brief essay.

Complexity theory is a relatively new approach to scientific inquiry, and is characterized by systems thinking, AKA, synthetic holism.  [The adjective here, "synthetic", refers to "synthesis" rather than "artificiality".]  The traditional method of scientific inquiry, analytical reductionism, has served us well (and continues to do so); however, it has severe limitations when it comes to analyzing complex systems, e.g., ecosystems or financial networks.

Any complex system has as a key component the phenomenon known as synergy - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Thus, synergy produces emergent properties in the system, new properties not detectable by reductionism with its linear mathematical equations.  Emergence is nonlinear.  Emergent properties, the understanding of which is key to solving problems in a complex system, cannot be identified and dealt with by analyzing individual parts or the sum of those parts.

We must use reductionism where appropriate, but then go beyond it with systems thinking.  That's the best hope for avoiding total devastation regarding our ongoing socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.  For a brilliant visualization of emergence, synergy, etc., view the short clip at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6SaRmF_8c&list=WL&index=94&t=440s

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well