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Kenneth Davis's avatar

Thanks so much for that Dr. Rees. The driver of the eighteen wheeler, being drunk, has failed to notice that his truck is not fit for purpose and the owners of the trucking company have ordered him to proceed regardless of circumstances. The truck is now careening wildly down the road. It is not a question of it's crashing, only when it will.

William E Rees's avatar

Nice summary of the human predicament, and in so many fewer words...

Jack Alpert's avatar

Bill thanks for a brilliant presentation of ideas we have been sharing the last two decades.

Here is the next installment on predicaments and outcomes. See video:

Civilization's Predicament and its unwinding behavior

https://lite.evernote.com/note/ee411e1c-c69e-5e16-c340-c6d87c523fec

Jack Alpert PhD Director:

Stanford Knowledge Integration Laboratory http://www.skil.org

(C) 913 708 2554

jackalpert@me.com

600 word summary of Jacks work

https://www.evernote.com/l/AAmZY0Hicy9KbLmuRpZRVAjtdR3UQC_bhEE

William E Rees's avatar

Well, Jack, in you own inimitable way, you show that we are two strings on the same violin.

Unacceptable Bob's avatar

Mad truckers are a popular genre of simulation games.

Grant Symons's avatar

Thanks William. Having deployed Ashby's law in planning, strategy and projects for the past 25 years I completely agree with this piece. We are beginning to help organisations understand and respond better through www.switch-platform.com It is challenging work though, for many of the reasons you outline, people who have specific training and are less inclined to think in systems and over medium to long terms. In general, high levels of conceptual ability, awareness and motivation for proper action - seem rare.

William E Rees's avatar

I appreciate the resonance from your real-world experience. I've speculated that humanity's apparently low levels of "conceptual ability" have become so evident in recent decades because cultural evolution has vastly outpaced bioevolution. In effect, we have rendered our brains -- the highest level of control system we have -- cognitively obsolete for survival in today's environment. Hardly anyone thinks in systems terms; we cannot wrap our heads around almost any of the major problems confronting us today, from global heating to the role of AI. See: https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/JPS/article/view/855/522

Grant Symons's avatar

As discussed in the paper (and above) 'the how' to address this - is the challenge.