Complexity & Humanity 2.0

The Discovery of Complexity

We humans are virtuosic pattern-spotters…

We learn through pattern recognition & storytelling

‘Those who tell the stories rule society’

[Plato]

We’re masters ofinductive reasoning

Drawing conclusions frompatchy information inambiguous environments

Our behaviour is the opposite

of perfect rationality

= Much of traditional economic theory is broken

So what?

Humans don’t operatewithin an equilibrium system

Our world is a complexadaptive system

…dependent on networks

If a system reaches a state of equilibrium it’s essentially dead

We no longer seek perfection,but agility

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Every organism needs toeliminate its waste products

or else it poisons itself[Drucker]

The more massive an objectthe more energy is required to change its direction

Simple rules > complex behaviour

Complex rules > stupid behaviour

New business models embraceour inherent sociability

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‘The internet and associated technologies are so powerful because they unleash our social souls....our

incredible desire and need to live our lives in the company of others, to be social creatures’

- Mark Earls

The amount of solar energy we’re creating is doubling every 2 years

That means we’re just 8 doublings away from meeting 100% of our energy needs

And there’s 10,000 times more sunlight than we need

There’s a direct correlation between GDP growth & mobile use

Technology makesthe invisible visible

Enabling everyday citizens to play a rolein protecting the planet

Giving voice to the people who arewilling to work to see a better world

Open data enables medical treatments to be made quickly

‘Pessimism is a luxury of good times… in difficult times, pessimism is a self-fulfilling, self-inflicted death sentence’[Evelin Lindner]