Contribution And Legacy

Whole systems considerations on what’s worth doing What do we leave behind? What are we contributing? And to what? Does it matter? These questions come to mind as I contemplate this image. Irrespective of the bird’s unconscious act of fluffing off a feather, it served as a contribution by triggering my aesthetic appreciation. And by […]

The Noosphere

Outside and above the biosphere there is a field of mind. ”Because satellite dishes look skyward, I sometimes imagine lines of light, like coherent laser beams, streaming out of them toward their satellites. If those beams could somehow become visible at night, globally and simultaneously, the resulting web of crisscrossing lines and waves would be […]

VIII. Emergent Properties (In Systems)

This is the eighth in a series of postings on whole systems thinking. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT I invite you to check out my new blog on the ancient Maya. A description follows at the end of this posting. ______________________________________________________________________________ Life is an emergent property—a property that is not present in the parts and originates only when […]

Evolutionary Transformation

  These wind turbines speak to me of innovation and progress in the field of energy. They also stand as testament to the values of adaptation, ingenuity, determination and collaboration. One of the lessons of systems science applied to social evolution is that once established, a system’s curve of development increases with time until the […]