Complexity is Resilience — ?

The world today does realize that a lot of our activity, work, choices in consumption, production are very seriously damaging to us collectively. Indeed these kill millions, are wiping out species, warming the planet and destroying the ecosystem in ways that these negative outcomes will only scale and worsen.

Yet, because each thread is complex and spread out over thousands of little transactions and pieces, with many, many, many people whose livelihoods, earnings, roles in their careers and society depend on the success on that thread on an everyday basis, and who play a very very tiny part in one of those thousand transactions that make the thread up. The games go on at scale, even if a few decide to plug out, or change how it is done. Deep, directional change at scale becomes very tough.

A lot of this work is bullshit, contrived work. A lot many jobs are bullshit jobs. A lot of the value created, captured and represented in money is bullshit value that we have all just agreed to acknowledge for the safety it represents in terms of the continuation of the threads.

What if we use the same construct for regeneration, and for creating green jobs — create complexity, get many people involved and over time, it becomes a self perpetuating engine whose continuity people’s lives and livelihoods depend on. In this case, we at least know that the value produced at the end is net positive, and very very real. More people are involved in methods and work that grow and conserve forests, aquifers, rivers, soil, sensible packaging, circular production and so on.

Can we not use the games we have invented along the way that now clearly are known to destroy the foundations of what sustains us, and apply it in the opposite context? Most are human myths after all, and we should be able to become the masters of them.

No?