This really is such an important and foundational read! Systems thinking teaches that efforts to manage or control systems will fail because controlling means focusing narrowly on parts, rather than on the relationships, feedbacks, and context that sustain the system as a whole. One could easily say that this is exactly what is going on right now with the global crises (environmental, social, etc.). Reductionist thinking (like human exceptionalism) creates blind spots in recognizing that human well-being, too, depends on vibrant, functioning ecosystems.
When I read this book a number of years ago, I felt it was a call to shift from seeing ourselves as separate caretakers (overlords? imperialists?) of the planet to active participants in a living, breathing, interdependent system. This means seeking change at the deeper leverage points – our values, our narratives, and the ways we relate to one another and to nature. It means acknowledging our both our relationships and our place in this vast and interconnected network we call life.
Ooh I like that way of looking at it: changing the emphasis from things/parts to relationships. The blindspot re non-humanity is spot on. It takes something like the climate crisis for the machine of modern life to pay attention to the non-infinite environment it is nested within.
Love the shift from separate to active participants. Seems more likely to snap us out of the spell of disconnection
Hum! I start to read the book and after reading your comments in this publication, I realize I missed an important thing because I don't have the knowledge you bring to this interaction. I completely overlooked this reductionist/system way of thinking. I'm looking for the last 4 or 5 years for someone able to integrate in his thoughts the ecology, the economy, the social impact, the geopolitical and political forces at play in order to find an holistic way to face our predicament. You may have find for me what I was looking for.
Therefore, in spite of my urge to read it from one cover to the other, I'll follow your lead and won't miss your understanding of what you ask us to read for next weeks. Thank you for your insight, because phylosophy is essential for me to really understand our complex world.
Great to have you on board Alain. I'm no expert in Meadows' systems thinking so I'm a student as well. I hope my little reflections throw a little extra light on certain parts of the book (and I'm sure I'll be getting the same from the comments!). I'm with you though: there's important stuff in here for understanding a very complex world
"It is not through sin that the Devil opposes God. the Devil's strategy for our times is to trivialize human existence. And to separate you from me, and us from them."
This really is such an important and foundational read! Systems thinking teaches that efforts to manage or control systems will fail because controlling means focusing narrowly on parts, rather than on the relationships, feedbacks, and context that sustain the system as a whole. One could easily say that this is exactly what is going on right now with the global crises (environmental, social, etc.). Reductionist thinking (like human exceptionalism) creates blind spots in recognizing that human well-being, too, depends on vibrant, functioning ecosystems.
When I read this book a number of years ago, I felt it was a call to shift from seeing ourselves as separate caretakers (overlords? imperialists?) of the planet to active participants in a living, breathing, interdependent system. This means seeking change at the deeper leverage points – our values, our narratives, and the ways we relate to one another and to nature. It means acknowledging our both our relationships and our place in this vast and interconnected network we call life.
Ooh I like that way of looking at it: changing the emphasis from things/parts to relationships. The blindspot re non-humanity is spot on. It takes something like the climate crisis for the machine of modern life to pay attention to the non-infinite environment it is nested within.
Love the shift from separate to active participants. Seems more likely to snap us out of the spell of disconnection
Hum! I start to read the book and after reading your comments in this publication, I realize I missed an important thing because I don't have the knowledge you bring to this interaction. I completely overlooked this reductionist/system way of thinking. I'm looking for the last 4 or 5 years for someone able to integrate in his thoughts the ecology, the economy, the social impact, the geopolitical and political forces at play in order to find an holistic way to face our predicament. You may have find for me what I was looking for.
Therefore, in spite of my urge to read it from one cover to the other, I'll follow your lead and won't miss your understanding of what you ask us to read for next weeks. Thank you for your insight, because phylosophy is essential for me to really understand our complex world.
Great to have you on board Alain. I'm no expert in Meadows' systems thinking so I'm a student as well. I hope my little reflections throw a little extra light on certain parts of the book (and I'm sure I'll be getting the same from the comments!). I'm with you though: there's important stuff in here for understanding a very complex world
"It is not through sin that the Devil opposes God. the Devil's strategy for our times is to trivialize human existence. And to separate you from me, and us from them."
Phillip Zimbrado