Thank-you 🙏 And we have more in progress on this. By the way if you like this you may also like the Second Renaissance white papers https://secondrenaissance.net/paper
Excellent overview! On p. 11 where you bring up the myth of progress and its relation to technology, I have found the following resource invaluable, and it might be considered as a reference for future versions: Development in Progress by The Consilience Project (https://consilienceproject.org/development-in-progress/)
Good points and links - I agree Consilience piece is excellent. 👏
My colleague Liam also explored the "myth of progress" quite extensively in our white paper (and then book): Collective Wisdom in the West: Beyond the Shadows of the Enlightenment (one of the shadows being "progress"): https://lifeitself.org/collective-wisdom
These are great and i would also emphasize this paper is still in a "for comment" stage so any suggestions for amendments or improvements are warmly welcome. 🙏
Multi-polar traps/race-to-the-bottom dynamics could perhaps be highlighted under the climate breakdown case study as well.
How the worldview of modernity, or worldviews in general, is normalized and promulgated through structures of upbringing, education and media might also be worth mentioning explicitly, though these are of course social and political structures (p 8)
Paradigm shifts usually occur from radically new ‘directions’, and not from within the box, which could be added as an observation in the discussion of paradigms, referencing Kuhn and/or Feyerabend.
Jevon’s paradox/rebound effect might bear mentioning in the context of industry, growth, technological advancement etc.
I’ll re-read next week and see if I can come upt with additional amendments or suggestions. Apologies if any of these are covered and I have overlooked them!
I just had a conversation with my doctor, who is also woman close to me in age (50s) about some similarities in the breakdowns of our medical and educational systems.
Yes, the medical/healing analogy is very helpful. The Buddha even used it in the "four noble truths" with the structure of: symptoms, source, cure, path to cure ...
We use this analogy again in the "Four Noble Beliefs of the Second Renaissance".
Excellent, am eager to explore your work. I have been thinking, despairing and writing about these things for a couple years now.
Sadly, I don’t see us addressing these issues on a societal or civilisational level. The root causes are simply too deep. And, crucially, we’re already out of time. I hope I’m wrong.
reading now...just want to say that in the bibliography Small Arcs of Larger Circles is attributed to J. Rowson but I believe it should be Nora Bateson.
I see now that you did credit her, but it's also mentioned again as a reference and then attributed to J. Rowson.
Checking the paper that reference has been duplicated: one entry does have it (correctly) attributed to Nora Bateson and the second to Rowson. We'll remove the second incorrect one.
This is really helpful, Rufus and Rose. Somehow, we need to weave this into public discourse. 🙏
Very helpful - the diagram clearly describes what I've been grasping to articulate for years!
I look forward to seeing where this goes next, especially how this can be simplified and made much more accessible and transmissable.
Thank-you 🙏 And we have more in progress on this. By the way if you like this you may also like the Second Renaissance white papers https://secondrenaissance.net/paper
Thank you. What’s missing in so much of our dialogue.
Two thoughts:
1. Structure generates behavior. Structures are on a continuum from tangible (architecture) to intangible (metaphor)
Hypothesis: the less tangible a structure the more power it has. Maybe why we never get to meta.
2. Polycrisis: The infinite ways we separate from each other and are threatened by diversity.
Metacrrsis: Failure to recognize diversity as the source of all life.
Hope that connects with your thoughts.
Super helpful. Rich. Ill be referencing it in my client work for sure
Thank-you 🙏 Really appreciate the feedback.
🐟 Uncle Dory says: “Tadpoles think it’s just bad weather. The old catfish knows the whole current’s shifting.”
Excellent overview! On p. 11 where you bring up the myth of progress and its relation to technology, I have found the following resource invaluable, and it might be considered as a reference for future versions: Development in Progress by The Consilience Project (https://consilienceproject.org/development-in-progress/)
As you know I’ve attempted my own breakdown, with similarities to yours, in a couple of essays (particularly https://tmfow.substack.com/p/the-metacrisis-analysis and https://tmfow.substack.com/p/merchants-of-belief-purveyors-of). These might provide additional further reading, and/or be sources for some more references. Again, excellent whitepaper!
Good points and links - I agree Consilience piece is excellent. 👏
My colleague Liam also explored the "myth of progress" quite extensively in our white paper (and then book): Collective Wisdom in the West: Beyond the Shadows of the Enlightenment (one of the shadows being "progress"): https://lifeitself.org/collective-wisdom
> As you know I’ve attempted my own breakdown, with similarities to yours, in a couple of essays (particularly https://tmfow.substack.com/p/the-metacrisis-analysis and https://tmfow.substack.com/p/merchants-of-belief-purveyors-of). These might provide additional further reading, and/or be sources for some more references. Again, excellent whitepaper!
These are great and i would also emphasize this paper is still in a "for comment" stage so any suggestions for amendments or improvements are warmly welcome. 🙏
Multi-polar traps/race-to-the-bottom dynamics could perhaps be highlighted under the climate breakdown case study as well.
How the worldview of modernity, or worldviews in general, is normalized and promulgated through structures of upbringing, education and media might also be worth mentioning explicitly, though these are of course social and political structures (p 8)
Paradigm shifts usually occur from radically new ‘directions’, and not from within the box, which could be added as an observation in the discussion of paradigms, referencing Kuhn and/or Feyerabend.
Jevon’s paradox/rebound effect might bear mentioning in the context of industry, growth, technological advancement etc.
I’ll re-read next week and see if I can come upt with additional amendments or suggestions. Apologies if any of these are covered and I have overlooked them!
This is timely. For me, at least.;)
I just had a conversation with my doctor, who is also woman close to me in age (50s) about some similarities in the breakdowns of our medical and educational systems.
Yes, the medical/healing analogy is very helpful. The Buddha even used it in the "four noble truths" with the structure of: symptoms, source, cure, path to cure ...
We use this analogy again in the "Four Noble Beliefs of the Second Renaissance".
https://forum.secondrenaissance.net/t/four-noble-beliefs-of-the-second-renaissance/161
“we commonly mistake the core ideas of modernity
for reality itself” 1st 🛎️
Excellent, am eager to explore your work. I have been thinking, despairing and writing about these things for a couple years now.
Sadly, I don’t see us addressing these issues on a societal or civilisational level. The root causes are simply too deep. And, crucially, we’re already out of time. I hope I’m wrong.
Thank-you. Whilst it is difficult to look at I'm happy to hear you have been delving into this.
Also, as you say we may well be headed for a dark renaissance ie. a "dark age" before the renaissance https://lexicon.secondrenaissance.net/Dark+Renaissance
If you want more please check out the first two Second Renaissance white papers at https://secondrenaissance.net/paper
reading now...just want to say that in the bibliography Small Arcs of Larger Circles is attributed to J. Rowson but I believe it should be Nora Bateson.
I see now that you did credit her, but it's also mentioned again as a reference and then attributed to J. Rowson.
Good spot 👏
Checking the paper that reference has been duplicated: one entry does have it (correctly) attributed to Nora Bateson and the second to Rowson. We'll remove the second incorrect one.
Thanks for flagging 👍