systems

“[y]ou never change something by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Life emerges from the realm of the non-living as a new kind of organization of matter . Life is not distinguished by what it is made of, but by how it is put together, and how it behaves.

Sustainable living and regeneration can only be understood in this wider context. Not only is the persistence of an individual rooted in its own constant regeneration, but the entire eco- system depends on the antifragile absorption and adaptation that results from the constant and rapid turnover of its components.

Interconnectedness is one of the basic principles of life. Transience is another. They both go together to form a multileveled dynamic web of connections between living processes. What results is an emergent and persistent higher-level order from constantly changing lower-level interactions. The singers change, but the song remains the same.

As Fritjof Capra says: a machine can be controlled, a living system can only be disturbed. At best, we will find ways of carefully nudging a living system. According to Donella Meadows, we must find its leverage points, those pivots that allow us to influence system behavior. Most importantly: after each cautious inter- vention, we must patiently o... See more

There are three distinct ways in which a system can react to perturbations (stress, shocks, noise, volatility, faults, attacks, or failures): it can be

1. fragile , unable to withstand even small perturbations,

2. robust , keeping its structure intact even under large perturbations, or

3. antifragile , improving its behavior under (certain kinds/amoun... See more

A program is a building of thought. It is costless to build, it is weightless, and it grows easily under our typing hands. But as a program grows, so does its complexity. The skill of programming is the skill of building programs that don’t confuse yourself. The best programs are those that manage to do something interesting while still being easy ... See more

8. How can principles learned from living systems inform our approach to solving contemporary societal crises, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and lack of sustainability?

Two aspects are central to our move from dominion to stewardship :

1. We must pay close attention to the rates of change in our social-ecological system.

2. We must shift... See more