The Source of Social Change & Planetary Application
(Chapter 7)
If we look at the whole human network in lack of systemic solutions, quantitatively it is only a small percentage of that network who are actively responding to the challenges of the emergent era with violence, hate, and unwavering blame, and guiding and consuming the whole network’s potential. By developing an app that provides continuous quantified evaluation of the quality of performance within an individual’s body network, we could monitor the linear modeling that currently dominates the relationships throughout their body in order to observe the shift to systemic modeling and relationship that supports the whole body network. This same app and its systemic evaluation could then be applied at scale to any process or organization, be it political, economic, environmental, corporate, social, and so on. In this way this technology could be used to guide individuals, larger organizations, and even guide the stock market towards more sustainability and certainty. It could potentially also be used to hold our political representatives accountable in their adherence to the guidance of the greater system.
As we previously discussed, when a hub of a network (such as the brain, or a small number of people leading the rest of the group) acts with linear relationship, the whole network will perform as a whole that is less than the sum of its parts. Similarly, when hubs within the global network of nations take a linear approach to internal and global challenges, the entire international network of nations becomes an unsustainable sum that is performing at less than its highest potential. There are several countries and country networks that act as hubs in our global systems, such as the US, the EU, and China. We can examine the behavior and influence of each hub within its own borders and as part of the greater international network in order to identify where we can shift behavior within these hubs to facilitate our journey through this chaotic, emerging process.
As one of these hubs, the United States serves as a model of a powerful, industrialized, democratized nation for the rest of the international network. With its current linear approach, the US is acting as an inefficient hub within the nation itself and abroad; and its short-term gain policy and actions are negatively affecting its own citizens and the rest of the world. In this way the US is also a model of how the short-term gain of domination and competition is inhibiting the whole network’s ability to build a hopeful future.
Within the US, its citizens are dogmatically divided by binary political factions (liberal vs. conservative, progressive vs. traditionalist, etc.) and misinformation, viewing value systems that are different from how each individually identifies as the enemy, thus amplifying defensiveness and inhibiting cooperation. This counterproductive division is modeled by its political representatives as well, as one party (of essentially a two-party system) achieves something for the benefit of that party’s fixed values and certainties, and the other party then goes and undoes whatever its counterpart instated. This “undoing” does just that—reverses any action or attempt at progressing towards the values and goals of either party, leaving no possibility of continuity within the political system, as each party is focusing on their differences rather than shared values, and countering the other’s progress towards any kind of policy change. This linear relationship greatly reduces the political network’s overall potential, and creates a whole system that is less than the sum of its parts, as is the case when hubs in the body act similarly linearly.
As we observe the global economic systems, we see several elements that are showing signs of limitation and an inability to sustain as the stock market is currently modeled on gross consumption. This gross consumption model is reaching limitations in terms of Earth’s resources that support it and our linear expectation for its ongoing growth. Additionally, we are seeing a dramatic decline in the spending power of the population that is responsible for 70% of consumption, the middle- and low-income populations. As uncertainty in the stock market economy increases in this emergent era, money is rapidly shifting from the middle and lower populations to the minority of the highest earning population, increasing the inequality gap. This is happening as the rapid rate of change in technology (such as artificial intelligence, gene therapy, 3D printing, etc.) is simultaneously leading to the elimination of service and manufacturing jobs across industries, which all in combination could bring social unrest and further division.
Though the linear perception that has developed out of linear thinking is reductive and arguably an incomplete model of our universe and any nonlinear network within it, the process of us developing this left-side, judgmental thinking has not been a wasted effort. Through this process we not only developed an awareness of the domination of this model (as we are speaking on it now), we also created detailed knowledge of how this self-organizing process works universally. And in this way, this detour can be observed as a necessary step in the expansion of consciousness for the whole human network.
One of the most powerful properties describing this shared simplicity of self-organizing networks is universality, as it allows the familiarity of one network (such as the human body) to lead to an understanding of the properties of any other network at scale. Now that we are able to become aware of this process as self-organizing, our next step is for us to move beyond our exclusively linear, liability-based perspective and apply what we have learned from our observations of the human body to develop systemic approaches to our current challenges. And we can do this by focusing on solutions we are capable of implementing by acknowledging, sharing, and synchronizing our assets.
The systemic approach equips us with nonlinear perception, allowing us to create systemic solutions by acknowledging that we are participants in this greater, emerging, self-organizing process. With nonlinear perception we are able to redirect our fixed focus from liabilities to the appreciation of the assets we’ve achieved thus far. If hub nations were to shift to a nonlinear approach by aiming for long-term gain by investing in (and expanding) their assets through cooperation and partnership between currently competing systemic structures, this would facilitate newfound certainty by permitting new uses of established industries and technologies. Instead of focusing on one-upping each other they could each find their place within a nested system that is working together for a greater whole. By synchronizing our actions and assets, we will be able to more easily and creatively participate in this inevitable, emerging process and become conscious participants who are in sync with the systems larger than ourselves.
As one would not favor a map that purposefully leaves out life-saving waypoints, we are updating our understanding of our mapping of our universe, planet, and ourselves in order to traverse further through human history with greater collective ease. Guided by the nonlinear assessment of an app that monitors members of the human network and greater societal networks, we could implement policy that is quantitatively evaluated and continuously verified based on how closely the individual parts of networks are performing with nonlinear values. This app could provide guidance for all systems at all scales, and help manage any organization by reevaluating, reorganizing, and then reallocating its assets to perform more efficiently as an economically and ecologically minded entity. It could also guide linearly separate systems and industries currently competing through various models of planned obsolescence and sync them to focus on assets and resources that are in regenerating demand: clean energy, water, information processing, and food.
Consider the US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community as a hub within the government network’s assets, as they collectively consume a significant portion of the US government’s total annual budget. Collectively, this defensive hub is made up of many of our most intelligent and highly trained personnel, people of discipline and of high physical and mental ability creating the world’s most advanced technology and devising and implementing advanced strategy throughout these defense-driven sectors. But as the US continues to invest in defense technologies and use this technology to dominate other countries, the government is not directly netting a return on its investment. As this hub performs with linear relationship to the rest of the system, each individual is taking on the high cost of high-stress environments involving combat and domination mentally, emotionally, and physically, which they each then must grapple with to some extent when they leave their work environment and re-enter their familial networks at home. In this way, this hub within the US government is not performing at its highest potential for its members, nor is it performing efficiently for the nation as a whole or as a part of the international network.
However, with a shift towards systemic relationship, if the defensive hub were to introduce the information and technologies to entrepreneurs of national and international markets, it could gain a return on its investment and eventually pay back the government’s deficit. This convergence of innovation could also bring certainty to the stock market during this uncertain time by permitting the public the use of these technologies and thus financially incentivizing further development of such tech. Instead of “sticking to our guns” and fighting this inevitable accelerating rate of change by limiting our use of our highest technological achievements exclusively to defense, this would allow for these achievements to be used for advancements focused on improving assets beyond just our defense systems. The intelligence and discipline of those whose careers are currently being used to defend assets via war could be applied towards building a better world, and those currently profiting from war-making could profit from peace. The profit from taking this tech to market could then be used to invest in finding solutions to domestic challenges, improving social services, and creating a sustainable cycle of life-supporting systems, rather than one that is fueled by violence and war.
This would change the US from a hub of linear modeling into an emergent, model nation of systemic relationship to the rest of the world. As we are witnessing a rapid change of intensity and frequency of severe weather and natural disasters around the world causing major disruptions and migration of people from south to north and east to west, this currently defensive hub could be mobilized to focus on finding and implementing solutions to these challenges. By shifting to systemic values of cooperation, we can use our assets of intelligence, discipline, and technology that this hub possesses to focus on the development of resources in regenerative demand. This would allow this hub to develop models of sustainable, green cities in countries that have been destroyed by war, and then use this modeling to scale to systems around the world.
This is but one example of how a hub within a government can work more systemically and efficiently to serve its citizens and the world. Just imagine: when the military network of the world becomes self-aware of their assets, will they continue to fight and suffer the consequences of warfare? They may realize how we humans have invested so much time, money, and intelligence into technology we never wish to have to use (e.g., nuclear weaponry); and then they might choose, rather than fight and compete, to apply their assets to systemic relationships of peace and build a more sustainable world.
So where do we begin this process?
If we look at the Earth as a network, human beings are the hub that uses the most resources of the Earth and has the most domination over the rest of the inhabitants of the whole network, even though we are but a small portion of the entire network of our planet. Like any hub of any network, when acting with linear perception and relationship, it causes unsustainability of the whole network. But by shifting to a systemic relationship, we will bring stability to the whole network of Earth.
Within the human network, only a small percentage of the entire network is living within circumstances where they can think beyond their daily needs for survival. This network is the one that can become the hub of the human intelligence network. Within this network there is a further hub: those who are already aware of the emergent, self-organizing process. Those who are intuitively aware of this happening make up a network of spiritual thinkers; and those who are able to understand intellectually are the hub made up of systems thinkers and network theorists. Among these systems and spiritual thinkers, there is yet another hub: those who are highly connected with greater networks and also possess higher levels of knowledge and understanding of this emergent process. They are the thinkers who have already communicated these understandings of how our planet is a living, self-organizing system, and identified the essential behaviors of a living system. So these thinkers are the ones who now must apply nonlinear relationship amongst themselves to create a community of attuned systems thinkers that is greater than the sum of its parts by enriching, distilling, and delivering this knowledge collaboratively to the whole systems thinkers network worldwide. Then by bridging the conversation with the hubs within the greater spiritual network who already have an intuitive understanding and belief in this emerging process we are experiencing, we will be able to synchronize networks, and create a whole that is greater than the sum of its otherwise separate parts—and eventually this knowledge we develop will become an essential part of the collective consciousness of the human network and our planet.
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Hopefully system thinkers and network theorists will consider and find some value in this discussion. And then we can start this process by having open discussions that further our collaborative understanding.
In further discussion, we will go more into detail of how these linear models are unsustainable. If we are able to shift these systems into systems of nonlinear relationship and values, this will lead to greater success individually, collectively, and ecologically. Eventually, we will add other media such as animation and other visualization to this explanation and discussion in order to communicate the message to a wider audience who might not be as familiar with the terms and subjects. And then we will be better able to offer this knowledge to younger generations and women-led networks, to empower them to bring change based in hope, peace, love, and collaboration.
