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The “attractor” is not the thing that “attracts”. It is the pattern of relationships that emerge over time in a complex system.
When I first encountered attractors—strange and other kinds—I thought they were cool. Even more than that, I thought they were the key to the next generation of change paradigms. I still think that may be true, but I seldom talk about them anymore. I almost never teach them because it is so hard to understand them well and very easy to understand them badly. The only reason I am talking about them now is that I cannot think of a better way to explain what I see in this emerging present. So, here goes.
May 4, 2023
Children’s conversations often end with, “Yes, it is!” “No, it isn’t!” “Yes, it is!” The stakes can be much higher when adults fall into such a pointless exchange. The more power and privilege the people hold, the more distressing and destructive such “discussions” become. What is the alternative?
In HSD we depend on Four Truths to help us navigate the turbulent waters of completing claims. Drawn from the 20h Century philosophy of Jurgen Habermas, the Four Truths open options for individual reflection and shared understanding to escape the traps of competing perspectives.
Watch this Live Virtual Workshop to see how the Four Truths can help you get and stay unstuck from old habits of thinking, talking, and acting.
Build Adaptive Capacity
Any new paradigm challenges fundamental assumptions and beliefs. Old habits make it difficult to step across the line into new ways to think and act. For 20 years, the HSD community has built bridges from the closed-system paradigms of the past to the open-system opportunities of the future. We have tried our best to be gentle, patient, and subtle in our invitations, but time is running out! The challenges are urgent, and we are impatient! So, we are engaging in two initiatives to break through into the future: Dragons of Complexity and Adaptive Action for Sustainability!
April 6, 2023
In General Systems Theory, Von Bertalanffy laid the foundation for the field of systems science. He focused on closed systems. They were bounded, complex, sometimes unpredictable, but ultimately knowable. Under some circumstances, such closed system models give us insight into human systems from the individual to the global scales, but not always. Sometimes, humans—alone or in groups—transcend their boundaries. When they do, their natures and their futures can become unknowable. Human Systems Dynamics was developed to inform understanding and action in human systems that work outside the bounds of Bertalanffy’s traditional systems logic.
Watch this webinar and explore how HSD gives options for insight and intentional action, even when the system and its future are essentially unknowable.
Build Adaptive Capacity
This is the third in a series of blog posts that follows up on Margaret Mead’s famous statement, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
In Week 1, we talked about ways people come together in an emergent process to work toward a shared goal. (HSD tool: Complex Adaptive Systems)
In Week 2, we talked about competing forces that decision makers must balance as they move toward shared action. (HSD tool: Interdependent Pairs)
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