1999 Leverage_Points Donella Meadows
Tip of the Hat to Venessa Miemis!
Below the Line: 12 Intervention Points in Ascending Order of Effectiveness
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards)
11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows.
10. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures).
09. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change.
08. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against.
07. The gain around driving positive feedback loops.
06. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to what kinds of information).
05. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints).
04. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure.
03. The goals of the system.
02. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system–its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters–arises.
01. The power to transcend paradigms.
Phi Beta Iota: The Meadows and Jorgen Randers fell prey to the illusion that government–and international organizations–could intervene in an Epoch A (top down command and control “because I said so” manner). The competing hypothesis, that one must focus on Epoch B bottom up multicultural consensus “because it makes sense to all of us,” was lost. Now we know the latter is the only one capable of producing sustainable change.
See Also:
1993: God, Man, & Information – Comments to Interval In-House (Full Text Online)
2008: Creating a Smart Nation (Full Text Online for Google Translate)
2011 Thinking About Revolution in the USA and Elsewhere (Full Text Online for Google Translate)
2012 Integrity, Reflexivity, & Open Everything
DefDog: Nurturing Innovation in Spite of Really Rotten Rote Education + RECAP
Graphic: Epoch B Swarm Leadership
Graphic: Preconditions of Revolution in the USA Today
Paul Fernhout: Open Letter to the Intelligence Advanced Programs Research Agency (IARPA)
Review: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Review: Evolutionary Activism by Tom Atlee
Review: Making Learning Whole–How Seven Principles of Teaching can Transform Education
Review: Philosophy and the Social Problem–The Annotated Edition
Review: Reflexive Practice–Professional Thinking for a Turbulent World
Review: The End of America–Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
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