This isn’t a climate emergency, or a biodiversity emergency, or a pollution emergency, or a soil emergency.
It's a full-spectrum assault on every aspect of the living world.
And our only means of stopping it is to level down.
My column.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
It's a full-spectrum assault on every aspect of the living world.
And our only means of stopping it is to level down.
My column.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Systems thinking helps us to edge a little closer to what Kant called the ding an sich: the world as it is, rather than the world bounded by our perceptions. Of course, we will never progress beyond a certain point, because our senses shape this thinking too. But ...
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The highly simplified model of the world projected by politics and the media makes moral idiots of us all.
In science and mathematics, extraordinary advances have been made in the understanding of how complex systems work. But these are not reflected in public discussion.
In science and mathematics, extraordinary advances have been made in the understanding of how complex systems work. But these are not reflected in public discussion.
Complex systems are entirely different, in properties, functions and outcomes, to simple ones. The world's composed of interlocking complex systems. Yet we insist on discussing and analysing it as if it were a series of simple ones. It's like using kitchen scales to measure light
In other words, in public life we use the wrong measures in trying to understand the wonderful, fascinating, amazingly complex planet on which we live.
And its living systems.
And human society.
A complex system is as different from a simple one as a river is from a swimming pool
And its living systems.
And human society.
A complex system is as different from a simple one as a river is from a swimming pool
Because we profoundly misinterpret our situation, everything we do to improve it has perverse consequences.
Mistaking complex systems for simple ones opens the way for an extreme individualism, that now governs political and economic thinking.
People claim to be "self-made", to "go it alone", to "stand apart". But only because they have no understanding of the world that shaped them.
People claim to be "self-made", to "go it alone", to "stand apart". But only because they have no understanding of the world that shaped them.
Look at the language we use. "Individuals" is now widely used as a replacement for "people". We now attach the redundant prefix "personal" to almost everything.
I mean, how can you have an impersonal friend?
And how can you speak impersonally? ("Personally speaking ...")
I mean, how can you have an impersonal friend?
And how can you speak impersonally? ("Personally speaking ...")
It's as if in everything we do and say, we have to separate ourselves from everything else, to cut the cords that connect us to the world.
But that's just my personal opinion.
Otherwise known as my opinion.
But that's just my personal opinion.
Otherwise known as my opinion.
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