“What we see is not nature itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning”
― Werner Heisenberg
This statement is as relevant in the realm of human self-organisation and social sciences as it is in the natural sciences.
We need new tools to overcome our blind spots, see new possibilities and identify the forces that are holding us back from realising our potential as individuals and as a society.
“Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge”
― Winston S. Churchill
“There is only one thing stronger than all the armies of the world: and that is an idea whose time has come”
- Victor Hugo
“Virtually every major global threat is the product of a serious governance failure.
Global attention is more focused on the dramatic manifestations than on the hidden underlying causes.
This is similar to directing a fire hose at the smoke escaping from a burning building rather than at the fire in the basement.
Strategies that focus exclusively on symptoms will not extinguish the blaze - i.e. governance failure - that is the real cause of the problem.
In the meantime, time and scarce resources are consumed chasing receding targets.
Tackling the fire directly by solving for acute governance failures is the most effective way to get traction on the most pressing global threats facing the world today.
We may be surprised how quickly the smoke vanishes once the fire is extinguished.”
― Cambridge Governance Labs