for - quote / insight - decreased resiliency due to tight network of elites - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - creative alternatives - liminal spaces - rapid whole system change

quote / insight - decreased resiliency due to tight network of elites - (see quote below) - The front-loop phase is more predictable, - with higher degrees of certainty. - In both the natural and social worlds, - it maximizes production and accumulation. - We have been in that mode since World War II. - The consequence of this is not only an accumulation and concentration of wealth, - but also the emergence of greater vulnerability because of - the increasing number of interconnections that link that wealth, and - those who control it, - in efforts to sustain it. - Little time and few resources are available for alternatives that explore different visions or opportunities. - Emergence and novelty is inhibited. - This growing connectedness leads to increasing rigidity in its goal to retain control, - and the system becomes ever more tightly bound together. - This reduces resilience and the capacity of the system to absorb change, - thus increasing the threat of abrupt change. - We can recognize the need for change but become politically stifled in our capacity to act effectively.

to - quote - we are now in a back-loop of a planetary adaptive cycle - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds - Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - https://hyp.is/FTRDoJFuEe-rsvdKeYjr0g/www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss1/art11/main.html?ref=ageoftransformation.org

comment - These ideas are quite important for those change actors working to emerge creative alternatives - liminal spaces - rapid whole system change

for - quote - we are in a back-loop phase - From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds - Crawford Stanley Holling - 2004 - creative alternatives - liminal spaces - rapid whole system change

comment - This is important for discussion for change actors working in liminal spaces attempting to give birth to creative alternatives

• for: transition, uncertainty, uncertainty - neuroscience, ingroup, outgroup, letting go, lifetime student
• paraphrase
  • Uncertainty brings
    • immune system deterioration
    • brain cells wither and even die
    • creativity and intelligence decrease
  • We often go from fear to anger because fear is a state of certainty.
  • We become morally judgmental, an extreme version of oneself.
    • conservatives become ultra-conservative
    • liberals become ultra liberal.
  • because we retreat to a place of safety and familiarity.
  • The problem is that the world changes.
  • Since we have to adapt or die, if we want to shift from A to B,
    • the first step is not B.
    • the first step is to go from A to not A
      • to let go of our biases and assumptions;
      • to step into the very place that our brain evolved to avoid;
      • to step into the place of the unknown.
      • to step into a liminal space
• comment
  • Uncertainty is uncomfortable
  • and can drive us into our familiar, accepted, insular ingroup
  • In other words, lead to greater social polarization.
  • Adaptation requires us to step into the unknown.
  • Big changes in our lives therefore require us to go
    • from the familiar and comfortable space,
    • to the unfamiliar and uncomfortable
      • movement away from our comfort zone, as is happening as the polycrisis we face gains traction.

During the 16th century there was a transition in educational centers from using the natural and artificial memories to the methodical use of notebooks and commonplace books as a secondary memory saved by means of writing.

This allows people in some sense to "forget" what they've read and learned and be surprised by it again later. They allow themselves to create liminal memories which may be refreshed and brought to the center later. Perhaps there is also some benefit in this liminal memory for allowing ideas to steep on the periphery before using them. Perhaps combinatorial creativity happens unconsciously?

Cross reference: learning research by Barbara Oakley and Terry Sejnowski.

Dave Gray's great screencast. Here it is as a vialogues video: https://vialogues.com/vialogues/play/27163/