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Define complex and examine the behavior of complex systems

Blog 35. Complex Terrorism

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Terrorism doesn’t work, but fear of terrorism works very well.

 

Scientific American on terrorism.

The August, 2013 Scientific American offered an article,  “Five Myths of Terrorism,” by Michael Shermer.   Shermer says terrorism doesn’t work because the terrorists have reason to perpetrate violence; they aren’t under central control, they are not unique geniuses, and they are not deadly compared to the annual average of 13,700 homicides.  Shermer notes that most terrorist groups failed to attain their strategic goals.

Shermer is wrong because he ignores the effectiveness of the terrorist acts of 9/11.  Continue reading →

Blog 34. Ancient Greeks and Current Monetocracy

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When life gets chaotic

I have suggested that, when daily living becomes sufficiently chaotic, people will look for simple solutions and welcome dictatorial control that promises simplicity. There’s some ancient Greek wisdom to support this view, although the Greeks didn’t have our mathematical notion of complexity that emerged during the last thirty years. Continue reading →

Blog 33. A New Civil War or Only Old Chaos?

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Tea Party Rebellion

This month, the federal government was deliberately shut down by the Tea Party, a minor faction in the House of Representatives that controls the larger Republican Party. The objective was to stop implementation of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA” or “ObamaCare”), which had already been passed by Congress and declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. That’s extreme—to hold everything hostage to a particular narrow objective. Continue reading →

Blog 30. The Movie Inequality for All

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The Movie:  Inequality for All

When it comes to your theater, don’t miss it.

Robert Reich is a professor who teaches public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He was President Clinton’s Secretary of Labor. Now he’s also the witty star of an entertaining new film released this week to theaters across the country. The film was directed by Jacob Kornbluth.

In earlier blogs of this sequence, I outlined how the society and the economy are complex systems—and how, if you want to change a complex system, you must adjust one or more of the rules by which it operates. Reich expands on this in regard to the increasing disparity of wealth in our economy. Continue reading →

Blog 18. Social Anxiety Rooted in Inequality?

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Angst

In talking with people-including conservatives, liberals, the young adults, and especially the retirees-I detect an underlying tension, an angst, as though something is generally wrong, the world is decaying despite the visible affluence without a particular ill symptom or dissatisfaction. What’s going on? Continue reading →