Democrats and the Meta-Crisis

Senator Warnock (Dem from Georgia) gave a great speech at the Dem National Convention in Chicago.  Parts of it touched me deeply.  Nevertheless, I've seen nothing anywhere which convinces me that mainstream Democrats (Biden, Obama, Harris, Schumer, Walz, Pelosi, etc.) fully understand the ongoing Meta-Crisis or how to address it.  The very few Dems who do (still not fully, but way above the mainstreamers) are not mainstream, and have been marginalized to the hilt (Sanders, Warren, AOC, Omar, Jayapal, Barbara Lee, Ro Khanna, etc.).  And time is running out.

Do the Democrats understand the Crisis (in general) better than the Republicans?  Yes, apparently so.  Despite that, their grasp of the Crisis falls short of what's needed to navigate through it.  Such is the case mostly because of what appears to be a lack of Systems thinking on their part.  They tend to put each of the various aspects of our predicament into a separate "silo" (so to speak).  Deeply connected parts of the Crisis thus become separated when "solutions" are considered.  [An example is in the next paragraph.]  Most likely, the result will be a series of incomplete (or failed) responses.

Currently, the "Big Kahuna" being dealt with (barely) is Climate Change, a symptom of Ecological Overshoot.  For the most part, it has been placed in its own "silo".  Biodiversity Loss, also a symptom of Eco-Overshoot, is in another silo and is being given short shrift.  Its connection to climate disruption, soil degradation, preventing the spread of disease (pandemics) and more doesn't appear to be under consideration.  There's a lack of holistic thinking and synthesis in such a "silo-ing" approach.  Biodiversity Loss is every bit as important as Climate Change when it comes to responding to the human predicament.

The Green Party fully understands the Meta-Crisis, all aspects of it - sociological, ecological, economic, and ethical.  Those candidates should be elected, but won't be... mostly because Americans (in general) are ecologically illiterate.  [That statement is not an insult; it's an observation.  I'm illiterate about lots of things:  medical surgery, business management, particle physics, auto mechanics, etc.; there's no reason to be insulted about that:]  Plus, there's the unrelenting propaganda from most Republicans, Oligarchs, and Plutocrats.  

C'est la vie

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Holism & Reductionism REDUX

This is being reposted because understanding it is crucial to dealing with our current socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_kbt7h1YRw&list=WL&index=63

There's plenty of evidence indicating both public and private Powers-That-Be are, for the most part, relying strictly on the reductionist method of analysis when working on our current, worldwide problems.  It appears little thought is given to the holistic approach.  If such really is true, then efforts to mitigate or eliminate those problems most likely will fall short.

All the primary aspects of our Crisis are interconnected, and THE main problem is ecological overshoot.  Ocean acidification, excessive natural resource depletion, pollution of water, air, and land, soil degradation, food insecurity, famine, decreasing fresh water availability, drought, climate change, social unrest, and more are all caused by humans engaging in eco-overshoot.  This all means the problem is extremely complex, and that means addressing it must include a holistic synthesis.  "Systems thinking" is required.

Details are in the short video at the link above.

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Not only my opinion, Be Well

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

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