Seeds of Change - Heiner Benking's Blog - quergeist.info
Welcome to the NewsLog or Blog of Heiner Benking. A kaleidoscope of insights and impulses collected first in the DaZiBao (Rio) process Seeds of Change Viewsletter of the Club of Budapest since 1995, continually updated ever since. Now available for broader distribution and comments in this blog - enjoy, and come again !
29 Jul 2012 @ 15:22
Thanks bulldozer. I found through your blog: Extrapolation, Abstraction, Modelling[link] how close my model-exponat from 1990 was well explained and thought-out by Powers in his book: “Behaviour: The Control Of Perception“. [link]
I called it a Whitebox/Blackbox. It had a bright lamp inside, so you could see illuminated frames windows into "mother nature" for inspection/introspection, we call now immersive virtual augmented realities.
Phantastic what this Bill Powers did already in 1973. I just checked Powers in the Encyclopaedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 15 entries ! quite extraordinary. I looked as his use of the concept of the white-/black-box is very close of my building a white box-transparent and back box-opaque exhibit in 1990. [link] Please check also here in the Encyclopaedia: [link] I just decided to write in my blog quergeist.info about this finding your nugget think-piece. Thank you very much ! When looking at your text the KYBERNIAK of Herbert Stachowiak comes to mind ! You should check it out. Maybe jointly !? Herbert did the General Model Theory and the Systematic Neo-Pragmatism (5 volumes). enjoy: [link] & [link]
I just did these Figures in 3-d or embodied, so we can spacially see, share, negotiate. Maybe some figures below can provide an idea what I mean and what was built: Maybe check "our view of Life is too flat" [link] Important here is not only to define another reference-space, but link it to the geographic/conventional "Nature-Space" locations, and to multi-lingual switching spaces for linking to for example multi-lingual library information-indexing/repositories. Check out: Concept and Context Mapping [link] and the Cognitive Panorama here: [link]
27 Jul 2012 @ 11:46
Cultural Transfers #4 ifa Galleries
Cube or Dome - Mosques. New Ways of Building [link]
"What makes a Mosque a Mosque? is the opening question.
The section entitled "(In)Visibility" is special interest to me.
In the "Encounters" section we see links between classical forms of building and ponders about opening up to other religions. There is a catalogue with 144 pages
check it out !
I had a long exchange with a former collegue who was also involved in the late 60ies and early 70ies in Mecca and Saudi Arabia and we discussed modesty and style. I will see to ahve his statement made available here. **** We also discussed about the expereinces I had in the mid 70ies about how to orient Mosques in view of the discussions in the web about mosques being build later not directed towards Mecca. A story I need to tell one day !!
TO BE CONTINUED....
TODAY we discuss and hear in the OPEN GOVERNANCE PANEL
check details and the programme. [link]
Dietmar Offenhuber [link] is sgtepping in for Carlo Ratti, Sensable City. Top panel and presenations The question is how we come to shared responsible decisions and actions !!!
I had a deja vue: we presented in 1985 Computer Graphics for management, marketing and and.... I have to revist my CAMP WCGA talsk and visual demagogy 1987 - interesting, I feel times changed and it needs some care on who says what when how ...
Presentation at TKE - also with Johannes Heinrichs comes to mind .. little has changed, and progress ... ?
19 Jul 2012 @ 18:19
deep day the last days before the "summer" holidays.
Many forget that our summers are paradise for others, as the Sheik who said "when the Oil came, the Water went" I cited below, was invited to Germany and said: this is Paradise, why he experienced humidity like in the orchard, like in a sanctuarity, like in paradise..
This as a prelude, I saw very intering film yesterday and the day before.
Check out: Voices of Transition, [link] the producer was with us at the BBAW at
I recommend Transition Towns: [link], http://www.facebook.com/Voicesoftransition - [link] and also the other contributions of F.FIZE: f.ize - Forum Internationale Zusammenarbeit für Nachhaltige Entwicklung: [link]
and the foundation helping with the event: futur2 - here another example of their well verses and deep support of relevant activities. Here the other WorldCafe "rounds" to learn "difference making". Murks Nein Danke!: [link], Initiative Möckernkiez: [link], Gemeinwohl Ökonomie: [link]
last minute we visited: Entrepreneurship Lab LIFE [link] enjoy!
but before I heard about the Summit of NewThinking - great names, but the people doing it, like RE:PUBLICA... check: newthinking.de and Claudia Brückner http://www.futur2.org/event/(x-treat-3-%E2%80%93-open-innovation-design
But what really turned me on was DESIGN & THINKING, I felt like at home. They shoed a great video interviewing many friends, ot least citing friends.....http://www.btk-fh.de/home/aktuelles/design-thinking/
So I recommed the video: [link] check it out and lets see what the possibilites and potentialities of reality creation are. by the way I am presntly listening into Storydealer in the German radio: [link] CHECK it out, as Constuctivism is Questioned about the means and the ends !! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!
I will check in here again and again - pls. come back !
16 Jul 2012 @ 08:38
I delivered my proposal/concerns to bold delegates and media at the closing press conference of the Petersberg Climate Dialogues III. Please check-out my 1-pager handout.
Press Conference: 13:00 hrs - Berlin, July 17, 2012
Petersberg Climate Dialogue III - Matching ambition with action
Based on the 2009 State of the Future Millennium Project and also relate to the MDG's see also MDG's identifies 15 Major Global Challenges for Humanity and justifies them with qualitative and quantitative argument. Used are approaches developed in the early years of the Club of Rome to address the Global Problematique by including participative, deliberative, normative Futures. See: tinyurl.com/Predicament-Humanity
* There is growing awareness that bicarbonate sequestration and the exploitation of natural and societal-agricultural processes in the SOIL-WATER-VEGETATION-ATHMOSPHERE Nexus and further consideration to consider life and thinking styles and diets can yield important results to counteract climate and degradation processes.
* There is an International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics done by a French and Spanish speaking Scholar and Diplomat which explains in Easy words the terms needed to grapple with systemic/holistic/cybernetics concepts and defines them in respective subject areas. The presentation of the Editor in Chief when introducing the Second Edition can be found here. The Message? We do not need to get perplexed any more in such vague subject areas. Let us go beyond shying away when we encounter mindboggling challenges! *Definitely, they are not only smart but intelligent solutions, as where asked for in the lobbies and in the casual sections of the informal gathering. I mean Mindprints description that have incredible Handprints ! maybe start with "Dolphin Solutions" as the Futurist Robert Jungk has initiated.
More to come in the online version as we might be to focussed on our footprint, just a thought, your remember the shaming and blaming game, killing any positive motivated responses, and too focussed on CO2 only, without having the scales, proportions, frames and contexts, and technological paradigms in mind ...
But here is also bad news: * We are still perplexed in view of the Complexity, Dynamics, Sectors, and Scales involved and try with single issue agendas to address inter-sectoral strategic dilemma.
Recommendations delivered annually by the Council on Global Issues and the Earth Focus Foundation in Geneva and Recommendations directly through UN diplomatic channels seem to not reaching international organisations, Science, Media and the public. Maybe it is too mindboggling…. Approaches and Studies to establish a public domain World Press Center (WPC) have been filed by the World Bank, but seemingly too early.
* Proposals in the UN-AMR 2008 process have not been really fully explored and translated to the Challenges we face after Rio+20. For example already in the process to prepare the CSD between 1989-1992 the intersecorial strategic dilemma where studied not only with interdependence voting as mentioned above, but also by creating tableaus to see interdependencies and how issues interrelate and single issue strategies like any one-eyed approach are doomed for failure. See the 3rd Volume: ACTIONS _ OPTIONS _ STRATEGIES. See the Rio+20 page below.
Press announcement: Climate dialogue to promote new alliances
[link]
Official final press Communiqué: [link] I propose to check ARTE television tonight, as it makes sense to talk about the same thing: "LIMAWANDEL oder nach uns die Sintflut?" - Climate Change, après-nous le Deluge? .... THE WHOLE EVENING Themenabend !!!! [link] we can not continue talking for 20 or 40 years about Environmental Change, we finally have to get our acts together !!!
Heiner Benking, Youth-Leader Magazine, co-founder and Freelance Journalist, YL is a project of Positive Nett-Works e.V. & Council on Global Issues, Toronto, Berlin, & EarthFocus Foundation, Geneva & IHTEC, ECOSOC Consultative Status, Toronto/Berlin, Associate to the Millennium Projects since the early 90ies. Three of these NGOs are official projects of UNESCO-ESD since 2005 & UN-DB 2012
by looking at today's ARTE TV Themes evening [link] (only in French and German) I am getting very concerned. All is known and extreme worsened the last 22 years when we were documenting it for the Global Change exhibition: landslides, forest dieback research, evacuation planning in Germany, Austria, Switzerland all well documented for the UN Year of the Mountains (2001) See also the article reflecting on UN-IYM 2002Summit, about Space and Spatial, flat and deep!!, Potential and "Emptiness" and how this evolved, or was created by developing the "chain of methods" TOPOGRAMM 1987 to make a difference, "dent the trend", but we failed utterly... - and worse the experts and academia around environmental research and communication did not even take note, see the "LEXIKON of Sustainability", those days and now !! They simply "forgot" the GLOBAL CHANGE exhibition 1990, THE LOCAL and GLOBAL CHANGE exhibition 1991, the Climate International Coordination exhibition 1995, Un Climate Summit 1995 in Berlin.... See the 1985-2012timeline. Why !?? May I guess? Maybe ignorance, fear, narrowness, jealousy, dumbing down creativity, narrow box-thinking, laziness, ... and what I wrote about mindboggling, shying away from anything perplexing, complex, and out of reach and touch... yes we need to explore not our diets and life-styles, we need to check how we think, communicate, learn !!! - our labelling, box-thinking, fixation and love of details, so we now more and more about less and less. Neglecting what is in-between and beyond, and what connects !! check: and maybe also Deep- and Flatworlds here.
Yes we did know all that, Yes we had even a poster of the UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS in the GLOBAL CHANGE exhibition in 1990 - 22 years ago. Yes we showed global episodic and epochal change and its causes and impacts ! In looking back: The head of the GLOBAL CHANGE Secretariat was "resigned". New national councils were founded, but when looking back, those days the experts knew more about the other "councils". These days I am getting very concerned, representatives of such Council in Europopean on International "Associations" - just maintain "we have not been informed" - strange days when Councils forget their Agendas, research is reinventing the wheel, drilling deeper in Specialization but has never the left the "box". The story behind is very moving, Politics want clear outlines and concrete "predictions", scientists what monies for their next toys or programmes. When a Director of a UN Environmental Programme says we know enough we need to act" (Elizabeth Dowdeswell) she is not there to stay.... If the mother of Stockholm 1972 and Rio 1992, Brundtland feels like to restructure a UN organization like the World Health Organization and goes on with it for years, she is called back to square one in her organizational reform towards a holistic, transdisciplinary organisation, and leaves the office.... all back to "normal"....
The expertise of Germany 25 years is lost, Germany was in 2012 at Rio +20 lobbying for another format of environmental administration - to become an organization - not a Programme - so to have a fixed budget and not having to always short-sighted and short-termed look for funds in the empty UN system or elsewhere...
Advisors who have seen the system evolve feel we should look at the source of the problem, not some symptoms and syndromes, not tipping points (only) but LEVERAGE POINTS (Donella Meadows). But what has happened? Little, nothing towards positive outlooks or trends if you keep the scales, proportions, consequences in mind.
This on the surface, if you look deeper, respected heads of national GLOBAL CHANGE Secretariats are now looking into Water in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Global Change - WELT IM WANDEL - Challenges to Sciences of Politics was about to be disposed.... fortunately we were able to save some of many elements, which show what we knew and did not act upon the last 25 years.... Fortunately, many boards of the exhibition have been saved - recently shown at an exhibition of Berlin of municipal environmental offices. Just for the record: have a look at: GLOBAL CHANGE retrospective inquiry The exhibition I am curating now was updated a few time between 1990 and 1997 - The Changes? Taking out some posters...., changing the picture of the President of the German Federal Republic riding a bicycle.., and always changing the YELLOW section: Research Devices, Equipmet, Programmes,.. maybe we should do a long term evaluation of research and management funding one day .
My concern, getting lost here in the middle of the night after watching the ARTE documentation: When are we going to see the patterns that conect, the frames and the details, and avoid selfish isolation!?? (I called "Positions and Identities in Global Contexts: Awareness of Self and Others with me, you, we, they and "others" models"in Paris at UNESCO HQ with Club of Budapest) and come to shared frames of references as requested by Noel Brown, Director UNEP-RONA in NYC and admin of Rio92 and presented for him in summing up the Rio exercise FIG, Melbourne 1994.
So in a nutshell, are we willing to collect the will and the wisdom of the people [link] and go beyond the need to agree or "win" to invest in collective efforts in view of "Big Pictures" ?? instead of perplexed, mindboogling dumbing us down and cultivating Ignorance [link] see also Mother Earth and Pelican: and so in avoidance or negligence putting our heads into the sands, play the blaming game, as is typical for the bargaining we experienced... and forgetting the fundamental Elements and Processes !!! we need for survival.
Whow - SORRY - this was tough, A "call to order and context" - but true! Let me sleep over it now.... More >
15 Jul 2012 @ 18:33
How far are we behind the Moon?? here in Berlin - even at a press screening?
Anyway all press takes are over and we can see the film hitting the street next week !
GLOBAL VIRAL - yes I feel we need to go deeper - remember grappling and mind boogling her in this blog !? So grappling, grasping and groping ! is what we need!
We played with the scales and proportions of scaling issues in metaphors and analogies, see about VIEWPOINT TRANSPORTATION systems and the impact of our mindsets for what we create for a Humane whatever: [link] See also: [link] One concern was always to be a ferment, lasting and seeding, and not as a catalyst, bringing and blowing-up for the surprise possible.... or not.
The film is using a hot topic, what if a Virus is and maybe more than a Megaphor?
The film is called GLOBAL VIRAL by Oliver Lammerts und Madeleine Dewald. It is not only about the evolutional potential and dimensions of cultural metaphors, and how we come to grips with them. Are we emotionally and intellectually "touched" or fall into ignorance or apathay ?? or do we speak up, caring about like wistleblowers not only about us, and maybe our kins, but the group, the nation, the world. We played with spatial-spacial metaphors not just for interface design, but to expand out thinking and shring and reasoning: [link]
As as sacrifying people saying NO - but speaking up nand taking risks: SHARING_CARING_DARING.... which I cite often... SCALES more than size, but pro portions and consequnces (Buzakot) ***
So we have a conflict not just of interests, but of levels !! and how they interact, ovelap, how fields, patterns, memes relate and react !! Somehow our CITYFLOW theme the last days ! I mentioned what is on the way for Michel Foucaults 30th death commemoration. About Values and Security and Trust ! check: [link]
WE need to care about the topologies, heterotopologies, the who what where why when where? in short the context ! I recall Aby Warburg !! and his library and community concerns and one of his students, Kim Veltman ! check him out, he is deep and across scales and cultures and ways to present: See WHO-WHAT-WHERE-WHEN-HOW-WHY? [link]
So is the invisibel less or more dangerous !? is it a global or glocal virus? even across issues and not just sectors? an in-betweener !?? and is he good or bad? doomed for the BAD or for the GOOD ? as cut-ups ! - gutartig (opposite to malicious) as William S. Burroughs, pointed out and made real for our imagination in movies. So there we are with Nietsche and challenges ! At this point I can only like to our ROBUST PATHS, but that meant to watch out, look-out, and consider testing in isolation and scaling. These recommendations from 1994 is really wht the film is about! Manage we all we can, eat we can, cause we can ?? Or do we need another awareness and policy sensibility? responsibel for what we cause, emotionally and intellectually ! as it can spread faster than we think, normally ..... but maybe this film is a wake-up call.
So what are the "ends" what is inflcited, by whom at which scale and with which power to penetrate, conquer, and survive.... and wher are we in here? I allways cite:: ART OF GOVERNANCE - Regierungskunst. Maybe new for you:http://panetics.org/
so what is open-waht is closed ? what is inclusige and exclusing and dangerous, incredible or helpful/healing?
In a nutshell WATCH YOUR WORDS AND METAPHORS and make your CONCEPTS REAL and SHARE CONTEXTS and ENVIRONMENTS.
12 Jul 2012 @ 14:51
“With its global economy, the information society will encroach deep into our cities”
innovation institute and City Council of a town ready for new capacities, targets, responsibilites, and horizons. A daunting task !
Check out my observations, concerns, outlooks, .....
MAPPING THE CITY - Datenströme !! - LEBENSWELTEN - The Informational City: Institutionen - RES PUBLICA - Interventionen im Stadtraum - .... a well designed format of thrilling topics - deep !! - but will we get to deep dialog and anticipation leading to common actions !? - maybe more tomorrow. Meanwhile check also Facebook STADT DER STRÖME: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stadt-der-Ströme/ and the tech and media backstager: http://hobohm.info/
I am at the CITY OF FLOWS in Potsdam. So many resonnating issues and things - I feel like being tele-ported back to my earlier life in the 70ies and 80ies. What they talk here about is more and more critical today. They speak about trust, values, media, isolation, values, presention ... These concerns have response in the last 40 years. Maybe I am 30 years too early in my work, but this is fatal in times of rapid technological change! SORRY - This preluede seems necessary for me as I suddenly realize why I am different and alien for most - but found kindred spirits making recall planning and vizualization times when I was young(er)...
How digital technologies are changing the perception of the city is critical. Initially, today’s conceptualisations, technologies and visualisations of a modern “mapping of the city” will be presented. The conceptualisations include web-based mapping projects (e.g. Google Mashups), projects centring on resident participation and agitation with the help of location-based services and interventionist artwork. The (continual) mapping combined with aesthetic, interactive-dynamic visualisation and the provision of urban data (flows) represents an important basis for discussion and decision-making processes in the city.
What I just listen in is Peter Conradie speaking about trust: peripheral, central and habitual. It the glocal scale, in this case from meso to makro-scale. Trust is central in social networks, and so researchers study the in-between rules, history and sililarity, and the social interactions, the similarity, attitudes, and the dispositional How we trust and share. Concerns were segregation, in-groups, the matching of this to communication protocol layers (ISO), and the loss of anonymity.
I spoke strongly from the floor on Thursday, urging for reconciling between scales, cultures, medias, times,.... as the emotions rang high between digital and non-digital others. I recalled the plasticity of ming change we were aware of 30 years ago, before large scale digital impact, AND that we need to maybe revisit Challenges and Opportunities of "Virtual reality and the Public Space" as we explored 20 years ago, and with some outlets here and there.... We called Sinn- oder Fluchtwelten - Potential oder Leere? -- http://www.inst.at/berge/virtualitaet/benking.htm Raum und Virtualität: Potential oder Leere? Die Bergwelt als Beispiel und Ursprung für den Zugang und die Auseinandersetzung mit "neuen" Welten. It all boils down to the simple question: Show or Schau? which I forgot to mention in my brief question and concern from the floor....
So it was good to set the stage for the Friday contributions: How go beyond labels and subject schools, reality or virtuality, embodied or disembodied, ... good or bad,. to concrete, differentiated, lasting and humane answers to the challenges at hand. I view of the 4 weeks ago UNESCO report of Sustainability I see hope on the horizon in perspective ..
Today we tried to bridge media, mind-set, scale, people, .... with much success - so let's see what Futures will bring.... My concverns from the floor were concerned and positively received in times where audiences like in TV stay calm, clap their hands on command ... Here we even had different positions in one room !
I cam to see in Potsdam the emminecte of town planning in Potsdam some time ago: Claus Baldus. But maybe he is already retired?
rushing .... more later... as I hope to go again Friday for the whole day.
Friday Nathalie Vallet, the strategic footprint of public libraries gets redefined by urban innovation strategies. Interesting talk to bridge communities and media I hear a lot about Castells Information Flows, but where are the information pattersn and fields across scales, sectors, magnitudes (she just mentioned glocal) times, languages,...
Lots of comments I have: which theoretical frameworks exactly? Did they visit / revist the MMI - Mastricht McLuhan Institute?, do they conseptualize footprints, handprints, mindprints ?
I recall the "New Encyclopedist" here as an late eulogy for Robert Jungk
I feel new "Dolphin solutions" go and find or create some more ! See Shared Mindprints and the book book invited by Roberrt Jungk from 1992 or so...
The question section has to be part of the panel discussion, ... again too little time for real deliberations ping-ponging back and forth....
Please check the programme !http://www.stadt-der-stroeme.de/en/programme/
and the Speakers !! we are getting very late...
Please check the tweets Twitter Hashtag #cof12 and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stadt-der-Ströme/ More below !More >
11 Jul 2012 @ 08:50
Have we got “the best and brightest in town“ to discuss the human and environmental dimension of repairing the mess of our Planet Earth, massive means to “engineer” complex, dynamic sytem? To be clear I mean the best and brightes stakeholder in the proper mix of expertise and experience. We come back to this later secure the requisite variety needed for last efforts.
What a special time, scientists from Santa Fe, Potsdam, Berlin, Harvard, Stanford, Delhi, … leading Geo- and Environmental Scientist worldwide discuss Global Sustainability and Engineering Global Sustainability Summer School 2012: RISK, UNCERTAINTY AND EXTREME EVENTS – CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS and find time to publically discuss tonight Geo-engineering - Blessing or Curse?"
PART I of this blog, a handout prepared beforehand. The first part is a discussion paper to be shared with some participants before the evening discussions – Below follows my report on the event, responses and outcomes.
The term the “best and the brightest” was used by Noel Brown, Director of UNEP in North-America in charge of steering the Earth Summit Rio 1992, and requested after the summit, in view of all the stuff that was going on before and after Rio and even before in view of THE PROBLEMATIQUE in 1969, that these leading scientists and policy-makers should do something very special: Establish Common Frames of Reference, develop a common understanding, harness our considerable scientific capabilities, initiate a more solid scientific foundation for the policies and strategies, and many more important proposals/requests.
But where are we 20 years later? We still have no “elevator” between the scales and sectors, we separate, segregate, and specialise more and more, avoiding the bigger picture and the necessary integration and holistic approaches requested, and that in view of alternatives already proposed more that already 22 years ago!
I am a concerned generalist who was “on deck” during these years, but have experienced and learned that the proposed ways to see and work more comprehensively have been ignored and single issues rule the agendas. Twenty years on, the new, embracing basics have not been learned. Every summit and convention sails under their own flag. Comprehensive proposals to investigate International Encyclopedia of World Problems, Human Potentials, Actions, Options, Strategies and for example Intersectoral Strategic Dilemmas should be revisited and we schould invest again into the Harmonization of Information, Common Terminologies and Repositories,concerted policy training and development.
Science policies today seem to be too focussed on syndromes and isolated issues, instead of the systemic deep drivers, root causes, and shared approaches for joint solid and scalable procedures and actions.
With this in mind and reading: RISK, UNCERTAINTY AND EXTREME EVENTS – CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS I immediately remember a very special book:AGAINST THE GODS, THE REMARKABLE STORY OF RISK The book presents that Humans can find tricks and strategies to overcome some risks for personal or few winners benefit. We have experienced this in the Global Finance Roulette these days. But all this is always one-eyed trying to avoid impacts and for personal gain.
When I now observe that we try to win over the “Gods” and start exerting influence over massive, dynamic, cross-scale and sector matters, untested, with episodic and epochal impacts, I wonder….
Have we at least started to find answers to the requests and mandates above? Have we looked into Dissipative Systems and revisted Ilya Prigogine?, have we looked carefully into the Soil-Water-Vegetation-Vapour Dynamics Nexus (Wilhelm Ripl), or possibilities of massive and large-scale natural carbon sequestation securing remedies for our mistreated soils and vegetations? (e.g. Terra Preta, Permaculture, Urban Farming, …) and what this means for interactions along and across scales and environmental-human-socio-cultural dimensions?
One important step would be for me also to look into public domains and free knowledge stored in deep and comprehensive proprietary encyclopedia repositories I mean for example an old shelved project worth to take up again as the question is who is concerend with the whole field as adressed here, at a table when General Systems research was founded, but scientist felt not been in charge, as the whole subject space was not their field ! aas only few where "Longing for unified knowledge".
I happened to be presenting with the Founding Editor of the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics Charles François the 2nd edition in 2008. François lectured about vague subject areas and in highly complex dynamic living environments and possibilities to avoid undercomplex answers, the trend to overclaims and oversimplifications, another trick or possible mindbug… as mentioned below. Here another text of much concern today by the Founding Editor of the Encyclopedia of Systems Charles François: Hidden long term systemic constraints in present day socio-economical global mutation of mankind (2000).
So what can we do in the face of scalable effects on the Grand Challenges mentioned above? Again, I feel much of what can be done is already at hand, it is all there and written and proposed, here only one example: Lynton Caldwells “Is Humanity Destines…” and the concern of the missing “Schau” in an an age of virtual, disembodied Show…
Improve soils and restore the vegetation, prevent extreme water run-off, desertification and the restore the natural capacities for carbon sequestration, avoid quick-fix single-issue “energy harvesting” and instead look into really self-sustaining not depleting sources like solar, wind; wave, geothermal, as already all covered in the Global Change exhibition from 1990. See for the recommendations: Global Youth Conferences GYC 2010/2011 (see here also the SDG/MDG issue from Rio+20 and the IHTEC / Council of Global Issues proposals over the years and presented at the EarthFocus Foundation GYC conferences. c-g-i.info
Look into Common Frames of References (see above) and SuperSigns and Superstructures (simple models) not only Global Commons ! A subject I fully agreed with Elinor Ostrom since long.
I have recently explored Mindbugs and Mindboggles, where ignorance, apathy, and fallacies are paramount, or where we are emotionally and intellectually overwhelmed. I feel this applies to the fields of Education, Cognition and Policy-making, … another avenue to follow. Please check below Dolphin Solutions from 1992 and an extract from the Mindprint.tv and the web-page footnote PS: Mindbugs & Mindprints - Mind-Fallacies and Mind-Ignorance/-Denial
When looking back, I was not only with Mandelbrot in 1993 around Future Studies where I already covered at the conference our topic today and with youth revisited our mindsets and rulesets. Later we made proposals for example about scale effects, socio-cultural impacts and technology assessment and implementation scales. The conference "Africa Beyond Poverty" in 1995, and beside our Robust Paths for Global Stability in the Economy and Futures Track need to be printed on day… Or we had Yehezkel Dror here in Berlin at the UN Climate Summit 1995. But who has read our Capacity to Govern Recommendations and the full version “Ist die Erde noch Regierbar” in contrast to the executive-summary like English version published years later. We also learned a lot from the Santa Fe Institute conferences on the study of the hindsight or later later learned form the Scientific American article by John Horgan: From Complexity to Perplexity ! Quite a research agenda to be revisited. But we have not learned yet answers to the concerns raised by Horgan and others not only in this article. So I am eager to learn from this session, let us see what will happen this evening.
PART II The event, questions, answers,...
PART III Outcomes and learnings of the Public Event
9 Jul 2012 @ 14:23
I was very angry and sensitive the last weeks. Rio+20 was happening as expected. You know I considered Copenhagen Climate Summit not so negatively as it allowed many interesting events on the sideline, see my Survival Academy contribution where addressed lifestiles, diets, believe-systems, modes of thinking....
So what I did the last days, I revisited our mind boogles - how and why we are emotionally and intellectually overwhelmed - and by lokoing deeper I remembered the collection of Dolphin Solutions. I was involved by the Robert Jungk Library 20 years ago. PLEASE see my MINDPRINT page were I since some time write on footprints, handprints and mindprints....
This is Heiner Benking's News Log, a private-public diary presenting events, symposia and happenings in Berlin and elsewhere - my farings, foci, issues and concerns.
PLEASE CONSIDER THIS PERSONAL BLOG an ARTISTIC and PERFORMATIVE MEDIA INTERVENTION !
The Log links to my work and interests and presents issues and special concern of maybe a very small group of "concerned, engaged generalist" - a Global Interest Group (GIG). This needs to be seen in contrast to the ubiquitous Specialized Interest Groups (SIGs), the "scientific" approach to organize subject areas and specialization and standardization and harmonization! of means, nomenclatures, and modes of thinking. My favorite stories in the WHOLENESS SEMINAR include:
BELA BANATHY: "GENESIS
OF GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY" and "IVAN HAVEL: Longing for Unified Knowledge" where a "specialist" runs into the founding session of the early foundations General Systems, mumbling "this is not my field" or where Ivan M. Havel expresses his search for other kinds of knowledge.
As a starter I also recommend to check my MINDPRINT site, where we add the need for HANDPRINTS and MINDPRINTS, as FOOTPRINTS are good to visualize and communicate numbers, densities or consumption per area, but are not sufficient to negotiate and "harmonize" across domains and communicate gains in different cultures, technologies, times,... in short: incompatible but relevant information and our work on dialog, peace, policy-making, and multi-modal, faceted issues and consequences.
What am I? This is a "well-packed" question for which I have not the or a single answer. Some called me an in-betweener, go-getter, facilitator, hub, marvel-hero, trim-tab, bricoleur, bricoleers??? - career designeer, .... Some even "hank" which I disliked or Story which I liked very much !!
I have no single answer as I feel we need to walk the talk and sing and dance Life ! in spectra and fields in multiple embodied spaces.
To nebulous an answer? I am sorry but I do not go for overclaims and oversimplifications, under-complex and over-simplistic approaches with clan-think mindsets about real issues in clear contexts!
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