{"id":2025,"date":"2012-09-24T11:22:35","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T15:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.synapse9.com\/signals\/?p=2025"},"modified":"2013-09-11T09:46:32","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T14:46:32","slug":"spooky-theory-helps-with-wicked-probelms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/spooky-theory-helps-with-wicked-probelms\/","title":{"rendered":"“Spooky theory” helps with wicked problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

A way\u00a0to respond to experience we’re unable to articulate.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

There are lots of cases when what attracts us to a theory is its sort of “spooky” truth. “Urban myths” often contain them, and science can often be the source of them, as well as cultural sayings and religion too, of course. \u00a0 The value is that they give you,\u00a0a way\u00a0to respond to experience we’re unable to articulate.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

For applying them to real world problems, however, it’s rather important to “do the work” of finding real examples you <\/strong><\/em>can <\/em><\/strong>study and articulate. <\/strong> What’s NOT needed is “spooky\u00a0action” for real problems… ;-) \u00a0So here are a couple notes on how to find \u00a0real examples to help you apply curiously attractive\u00a0metaphors\u00a0and “spooky theories” to decision making about the real problems, such as our groping with finding our place on earth. \u00a0 \u00a0jlh<\/em><\/p>\n

“spooky theory” then becomes a metaphor for something real you understand well enough to use as a guide.<\/em><\/h3>\n
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Piercing the Veil: Markovich. Painting In Oil On Wood, 2006<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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    1. Spooky “biomimicry” \u00a0 Sep 2012<\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. Spooky “Q.M.” \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Sep 2012<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
    3. Spooky “chaos” \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Sep 2012<\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
    4. Steering for the organizational Lagrange Point<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> Jul 2012<\/a><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n
    5. Now real steering at the tipping points\u2026!<\/a> Jun 2009<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      1. for Greenleap 9\/23\/12 – “Spooky biomimicry” as “what to do”<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Richard – \u00a0Ultimately \u201cwhat to do\u201d is a communal process somehow, as we\u2019re in communal trouble.\u00a0\u00a0 Lots of people are seeking new directions of learning, but I can tell are often still using the blinders of the past to guide them\u2026 and not wanting to hear about it at all.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0All you can offer them a more authentic way to search for new learning, hoping they\u2019ll see it as fun.<\/p>\n

      Natural systems are the complexly organized and behaving “creatures of nature” that\u00a0by definition\u00a0operate without\u00a0our thinking about them, or knowing anything about them, or doing\u00a0anything, and are largely invisible to us. \u00a0 That’s by definition “spooky nature”. \u00a0 It’s also the source of all our mysterious stories about unanswered questions, and all our mysterious experiences. \u00a0 What we can do with “spooky ideas” that situations suggest to us is then find an example that isn’t spooky, that we can then use as a real guide to how complex systems work and how to interact with them. – ed jlh<\/p>\n

      Accepting that we\u2019re part of nature can let one notice that nature presents a great variety of systems design experiments for us to study, both on-going ones and in the records of the past. \u00a0\u00a0Many seem to present different versions of our own growth dilemma, for example, showing how nature responded in each case and what effect it had.\u00a0 \u00a0People should study them for more insight into who we are, and let the fascination with it help overcome the blinders of textbook science telling us not to. \u00a0 Systems are events in life and science doesn\u2019t include a study \u201cevents\u201d, actually.\u00a0\u00a0 (That was one of my first major discoveries!)<\/p>\n

      That makes \u201csystems biomimicry\u201d more like watching a great events of nature as how a great architect builds things, to understand her \u201ckit of parts\u201d, and the problems solved or not solve by them.\u00a0 \u00a0So the first step is to identify complex natural building processes, systems like our own that work by accumulative design, for a whole network of parts.<\/p>\n

      The \u201cgreat architect\u201d of course is the system itself, not an external force, exercising \u201cits nature\u201d, by adding new parts according to how they fit somehow.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s why I suggested we look for systems in nature that seemed to exhibit the \u201cPriocracy\u201d characteristics of responsibility and caring, to see how such natural systems developed.<\/p>\n

      General examples are individual business growth and adaptation stories and the great transformative events of history, but also any other kind of lasting change that begins with a \u201cviral\u201d process.\u00a0\u00a0 Such explosions of new relationships and energy use are the sign of an internally animated network exercising \u201cits nature\u201d as if searching for new connections. \u00a0\u00a0To discuss them as natural phenomena you talk about their natural steps of accumulative change (rather what social symbols the might offer, for example). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a matter of \u201cnoticing things that go zoom\u201d and \u201cthen asking both how the zoom worked, and how that worked for it\u201d.<\/p>\n

      One dramatic example is the change of heart exhibited by the people of Russia in the 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 The people lost faith in the Soviet Union as an institution, discrediting its authority and losing their allegiance to it by an unmentioned smaller scale social process not normally observed as being powerful.\u00a0 \u00a0As a result the USSR was disbanded instead of coming to an end in war.<\/p>\n

      How to discuss whole system contagion events like that as natural phenomena of \u201cgreat living machines\u201d might seem to require new science and new language.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I get a lot of my insights from a natural source, \u201cmining natural language\u201d for natural meaning, like the phrase \u201cpushing it\u201d as referring to the limits of some system of relationships.\u00a0 So when \u201cpushing it\u201d is perceived I then ask \u201cWhat\u2019s being pushed?\u201d as a way to begin studying the relationships involved and what\u2019s happening.\u00a0\u00a0 Prefixes and suffixes also often reflect observations on complex natural relationships.<\/p>\n

      For a popular short blog post connecting some other things, also mentioning the collapse of the Soviet Union as phenomenon see #3 in Four comments \u201cthe world\u201d liked\u2026<\/a><\/span> I also have a blog post category of \u201cwhat to do\u201d discussions<\/a><\/span>, for understanding what\u2019s happening to us as quite natural, and how to steer and adapt to it.<\/p>\n


      \n<\/strong><\/p>\n

      2. for Systems Thinking World 9\/23\/12 \u00a0– Spooky Q.M.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      @Angela \u2013 I think the inventive side of Q.M. theories are fine for generating metaphors of \u201cspooky\u201d reality, but Q.M. per se really only has application to the particle and sub-particle scale phenomena, and not at all directly by any means to what we call \u201csystems\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What you have to do to make use of them is study natural system phenomena to see where they might apply, and use them to help stretch people\u2019s minds to recognize the otherwise invisible real behaviors of the systems we\u2019d have to come to understand anyway to engage with them.<\/p>\n

      That said I\u2019d say well over half of popular Q.M. philosophy is way too spooky\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019d say 90% or more is for the excitement of describing the universe as a direct projection of human thought.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The real corollaries to that are perceptual, of course, not physical, such as having a disturbing dream and then watching it come true.<\/p>\n

      Intuition does indeed anticipate some things in a kind of magical way, but in systems terms it\u2019s indicative \u00a0hidden kinds of organization and untraceable kinds of thinking you can\u2019t do on command.\u00a0 Deep levels of \u201chappening\u201d of lots of other kinds are similar is the more important systems point, as all complex systems rely on and may be changed by events on hidden scales of organization.<\/p>\n

      One easy example is the \u201cspooky\u201d way the people of Russia kind of just said, in unison, \u201cOh forget about it\u201d and the mighty USSR was promptly forgotten about.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0That represents a kind of collective disillusionment with that failing experiment, a impromptu \u201cchange of heart\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Shared moments of disillusionment are not so uncommon, in other kinds of personal and social affairs.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s just rare to see them transforming gigantic nations.\u00a0\u00a0 We could possibly see a change of heart regarding our question for prosperity now destroying our future as well, perhaps, though it still seems as secure a belief as any there is today.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      2. for Systems Thinking World, “the spooky limits of chaos theory” 9\/24\/12<\/strong><\/p>\n

      @Lewis – You\u2019re quite right about the need to \u201cpush yourself\u201d to confront traps created by your own dogma.\u00a0\u00a0 One of the mental tricks I\u2019ve found for helping with that is reading the emotional \u201cpush-back\u201d or fearful doubt I get from testing a new idea.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s not just positive\/negative issues that one can learn from.\u00a0 You also get different responses for hitting a wall of rigidity (that might be shattered, tunneled under or patiently followed to an opening\u2026) versus an inflammatory response that increases or decreases in sensitivity by testing.\u00a0\u00a0 Because trying to \u201cshatter\u201d or experiment with \u201cinflaming\u201d thinks is dangerous, I sometimes make little \u201csafe rooms\u201d where I can experiment more freely.\u00a0 I might play with exaggerating them to the point of ridiculousness, for example, so neither my feelings nor reasoning feel threatened.<\/p>\n

      The idea of creativity at the edge of chaos is demonstrated for the equations of chaos theory, yes, and can be a useful metaphor.\u00a0 The actual edge of real chaos for physical systems is the point of unleashing turbulence and spontaneous disordering.\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s not a smart place to play at all and there are way more safe ways to play with new arrangements of curious parts than by threatening yourself with disaster if you don\u2019t come up with something! ;-)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0So I think the \u201crisky experiment\u201d aspect of real creativity depends more on whether you know, in your heart, to be on the path of truth and not really in danger.\u00a0 To the appearance of others, of course, \u201crisky experiment\u201d of any kind is likely to seem frightening and irresponsible.<\/p>\n

      I don\u2019t actually think mathematical chaos as a subtext of reality exists as a phenomenon in nature at all.\u00a0 The theorists persistently cite the same totally irrelevant examples as characterizing the whole universe, for example. \u00a0One needs a \u201cbullshit factor\u201d alert device to help with things like that.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I just don\u2019t get why they seem unaware of saying that there are timeless unchanging equations defining the behavior of radically changing environments of systems.\u00a0 There\u2019s simply no conceivable recordkeeping facility other than the changing systems themselves is there?<\/p>\n

      So, it seems rather clearly a computer toy, represented as a idea about environments not run by a computer as if operating in a computer.\u00a0 \u00a0In nature there is no such relationship anywhere in sight.\u00a0 They treat that as an insignificant difference, as if it never occurred to them that a difference between conceptual and physical systems is that conceptual systems need a physical one to express them, but not the reverse.<\/p>\n

      Your friend Stan, as have many others, has found it \u201codd\u201d that we don\u2019t control in the world the things spawned by what we control in our minds.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0For some reason neither popular nor intellectual culture took that to heart as an interesting property of nature.\u00a0\u00a0 Those I know of who responded to that difference produced only \u201cflash in the pan\u201d kinds of moments of thrilling insight that were quickly extinguished by the mainstream culture\u2026 so far.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A way\u00a0to respond to experience we’re unable to articulate. There are lots of cases when what attracts us to a theory is its sort of “spooky” truth. “Urban myths” often contain them, and science can often be the source of them, as well as cultural sayings and religion too, of course. \u00a0 The value is … Continue reading “Spooky theory” helps with wicked problems<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6,8,15,1,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-among-best-2","category-teaching","category-mail","category-theory","category-trans","category-uncategorized","category-whattodo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2430,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions\/2430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}