The Ecosystem of Wicked Problems – ECOSYSTEMATIC

As we’ve seen, it’s also a cultural, psychological, political, social, economic, spiritual, philosophical, and indeed civilizational problem. It can’t be “fixed” in any simple, straightforward engineering-y way.

Our professional and technological capabilities have been increasing exponentially, but our ability to use them wisely has not. We are building vast, complex civilizations, but that very complexity is in danger of overwhelming us, creating huge and unintended consequences for the planet and all those that inhabit it.

Both good news and bad news reinforcing loops accelerate so quickly that they often take people by surprise. A French school-children’s jingle illustrates the process. First there is just one lily pad in a corner of a pond. But every day the number of lily pads doubles. It takes thirty days to fill the pond, but for the first twenty-eight days, no