1) A 14 tweet story about a lake that exploded suddenly and mysteriously without warning... with important takeaways for education. (Some pictures inside this thread)
2) In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon erupted killing 1800 people + 3500 livestock in a 19 km radius. Bodies were burnt; survivors had eye lesions, neurological problems, paralysis of lower limbs. Similar events at nearby Lake Monoun on a smaller scale in 1984
3) Eyewitnesses of Lake Nyos disaster reported- very hard rain that stopped at 930 PM; rumbling sound & smell like gunpowder + rotten eggs; people ran around and dropped dead; many lost consciousness for 6-16 hours
4) What do you think could have been the cause for both these eruptions?
5)Popular theories about both eruptions- A former dictator sent a plane for an attempted coup that crashed into the lake; Cameroon govt said this was a terrorist attack- someone dumped chemicals into the lake
6)More theories- Evil spirits leave lake periodically and kill people based on legends; A neutron bomb exploded by US/ Israelis based on the nature of effect- damage to living things, and arrival of Shimon Peres and medical team within days of disaster
7)Took a team of international experts from different fields > 7 months to figure out what happened. The lake was heavily saturated with CO2 which was held in the bottom layers due to pressure from the top layers… 
8) Some disturbance (perhaps seismic) allowed CO2 to escape and huge volumes were released. Exceptional events occurring over a long time resulted in this- very deep lake, in an area with volcanic activity, layers of the lake not mixing, degassing not happening…
9) We think in terms of obvious & proximate causes, linear effects,and intentional agents, but like the Lake Nyos example, reality involves escalations, tipping points, distant and delayed effects...easier to think of terrorist attack than complex chain of unintentional agents..
10)So when we simplify reality beyond a point and become ‘simplistic’ like the man in the picture…and push one wall to make space..
11) It can bite back badly.... when we see only parts of a highly interconnected world.. connected in space and in time
12) Think DDT the super pesticide that saved millions of lives causing severe environmental damage; overuse of antibiotics leading to superbugs; use of biodiesel leading to burning rainforests in SE Asia
13) TAKEAWAYS- We have a tendency to think in simple/ disconnected terms but reality is often far more complex/ connected. Complexity needs to be appreciated for the sake of humanity’s future
14) Next thread will be on how our intuition can be educated to deal with complexity. Check out bit.ly/2RDRkQG to see the full presentation made at @UNESCO_MGIEP #TECH2019 conference
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