25 giugno, matteo tonoli: “forward thinking and new models of sustainability” (seminar held in Italian, thx to the ‘neocybernetic crew’)

Forward Thinking and New Models of Sustainability

Matteo Tonoli

25 giugno 6pm

LINK TO THE MEETING

I will start with a symbolic episode, “raining stones,” from Douglas Rushkoff’s book Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus.

Throwing rocks and protesting require a second-order view of the future (Wiener and Rosenblueth), on a generational scale. This vision is difficult to acquire because crushed by presentism (a consequence of the information and digital noise explosion of the 2010s), it flattens our temporal perception, limiting it to instants of eternal present under the banner of the “disposable.” This phenomenon impoverishes the vision of a possible future and, in some ways, makes us unable to glimpse its real implications.

I will argue that sustainable leadership must overcome presentism and adopt a generative, auto-poietic relationship with time in its dimensions of memory, present and future. Specifically, the tool that allows one to “prune the crown of the tree of possible futures” is accountability: knowing how to model the future to understand the consequences of actions on a generational time scale. As a result of these predictions we then act on the present, in a retroactive process.

A central aspect of this reflection is the retrieval of la parole (Grothendieck), a fundamental tool for imagining the future accurately and consciously, and then communicating it effectively to the actors involved in the sustainability chain. Linguistic sustainability then becomes a key element: a clear, unambiguous language that leaves no room for bad faith (Sartre), or that tendency to deceive ourselves (as happens when we reduce global warming to climate change, confusing cause and effect). In this sense, pertinence, which for Augé is the ability to “understand an epoch and speak to an epoch,” is essential for responsible communication.

I will conclude by emphasizing how a leadership that can retrieve the deep sense of the word and communicate it, succeeds in speaking with a political language. A language that, nourished by a highly informative past breaking into a dense and lived present, works every day to expand the horizon of possibilities (von Foerster).

An engineer first and sociologist later, Matteo Tonoli translates his many interests and passions into reflections on several issues that include complexity, innovation, the relationship between science and society, design and music. He is an education consultant and his latest work has been published within the collective volume Communication and Scientific Uncertainty in the Knowledge Society (Cerroni and Carradore, Franco Angeli, 2021).

 https://neocyberneticcrew.org/

#CommunicationAndScientificUncertaintyInTheKnowledgeSociety #complexity #disposable #eternalPresent #ForwardThinkingAndNewModelsOfSustainabilit #Grothendieck #innovation #laParole #linguisticSustainability #MatteoTonoli #NeocyberneticCrew #ouglasRushkoff #presentism #sustainability #temporalPerception #theDisposable #ThrowingRocksAtTheGoogleBus #vonFoerster #WienerAndRosenblueth

25 giugno, matteo tonoli: “forward thinking and new models of sustainability” (seminar held in Italian, thx to the ‘neocybernetic crew’)

Forward Thinking and New Models of Sustainability

Matteo Tonoli

25 giugno 6pm

LINK TO THE MEETING

I will start with a symbolic episode, “raining stones,” from Douglas Rushkoff’s book Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus.

Throwing rocks and protesting require a second-order view of the future (Wiener and Rosenblueth), on a generational scale. This vision is difficult to acquire because crushed by presentism (a consequence of the information and digital noise explosion of the 2010s), it flattens our temporal perception, limiting it to instants of eternal present under the banner of the “disposable.” This phenomenon impoverishes the vision of a possible future and, in some ways, makes us unable to glimpse its real implications.

I will argue that sustainable leadership must overcome presentism and adopt a generative, auto-poietic relationship with time in its dimensions of memory, present and future. Specifically, the tool that allows one to “prune the crown of the tree of possible futures” is accountability: knowing how to model the future to understand the consequences of actions on a generational time scale. As a result of these predictions we then act on the present, in a retroactive process.

A central aspect of this reflection is the retrieval of la parole (Grothendieck), a fundamental tool for imagining the future accurately and consciously, and then communicating it effectively to the actors involved in the sustainability chain. Linguistic sustainability then becomes a key element: a clear, unambiguous language that leaves no room for bad faith (Sartre), or that tendency to deceive ourselves (as happens when we reduce global warming to climate change, confusing cause and effect). In this sense, pertinence, which for Augé is the ability to “understand an epoch and speak to an epoch,” is essential for responsible communication.

I will conclude by emphasizing how a leadership that can retrieve the deep sense of the word and communicate it, succeeds in speaking with a political language. A language that, nourished by a highly informative past breaking into a dense and lived present, works every day to expand the horizon of possibilities (von Foerster).

An engineer first and sociologist later, Matteo Tonoli translates his many interests and passions into reflections on several issues that include complexity, innovation, the relationship between science and society, design and music. He is an education consultant and his latest work has been published within the collective volume Communication and Scientific Uncertainty in the Knowledge Society (Cerroni and Carradore, Franco Angeli, 2021).

 https://neocyberneticcrew.org/

#CommunicationAndScientificUncertaintyInTheKnowledgeSociety #complexity #disposable #eternalPresent #ForwardThinkingAndNewModelsOfSustainabilit #Grothendieck #innovation #laParole #linguisticSustainability #MatteoTonoli #NeocyberneticCrew #ouglasRushkoff #presentism #sustainability #temporalPerception #theDisposable #ThrowingRocksAtTheGoogleBus #vonFoerster #WienerAndRosenblueth

Part Smart | Whole Stupid
The Relevance and Value of Cybernetics-Systemics in the 21st Century

William Reckmeyer

 today: October 22 at 7pm

LINK TO THE MEETING

Expectations about the rosy future of humanity in the 21st century have changed profoundly over the past 35 years, since the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the World Wide Web ushered in a new era of hyper-globalization that has raised important philosophical and practical concerns about the nature of human progress writ large. Humanity’s increasing cybernetic capabilities and activities have produced exponential improvements in living conditions for people in a relatively short period of time, but they have also precipitated a runaway combination of challenges that are jeopardizing the systemic well-being of both our species and our planet as whole. I’ve found that cybernetics (a universal meta-paradigm about purposeful phenomena) and systemics (a universal meta-paradigm about all phenomena) jointly offer a rigorous and powerful way to address these matters. In this session, I will discuss some of the critical lessons I’ve learned about the relevance and value of the cybernetic-systemic field for helping humanity transcend its historic myopia (part smart | whole stupid) about all sorts of complex issues. Key topics will include the early focus of the field on purposeful behavior in general; how it has evolved over the past 60 years into an emphasis on technology-centric cybernation rather than on people-centric / planet-centric cyberneticity, and some initial results from a substantial research project I’ve been conducting – Homo Cyberneticus: Creating, Understanding, and Managing the Anthropocene – that examines the science, history, and impact of humanity’s rapidly-evolving cyberneticity over the past 500 years and its significant implications for our collective future.

Dr. William J. Reckmeyer is Professor of Cybernetics & Systemics in the new School of Cybernetics at the Australian National University, where he is providing strategic support for reimagining cybernetics in the 21st Century, establishing SoCy as an innovative center for helping people learn how to navigate and shape major societal transformations, and connecting SoCy with the broader community of cyberneticians and systems scientists. He is also Visiting Professor of Systems Studies at the University of Hull; Professor Emeritus of Leadership-Cybernetics-Systemics at San José State University; Kellogg Global Fellow at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation; and Residential Global Fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar. Prior to joining ANU in 2022, Bill spent his 50-year career as a professor and practitioner based in Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. His work has focused on developing and applying integrative-collaborative approaches to enhance strategic change, leadership, public policymaking, and technology management in a variety of organizational, community, national, and international settings. His primary expertise and experience are in the areas of cybernetics-systems, leadership, global affairs, and national security. Norbert Wiener Gold Medal, Life Fellow, and Trustee of the American Society for Cybernetics; Life Fellow of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetics Sciences. 

https://slowforward.net/2024/10/22/today-22-oct-online-talk-by-william-reckmeyer-part-smart-whole-stupid-the-relevance-and-value-of-cybernetics-systemics-in-the-21st-century/

#000000 #BrunellaAntomarini #complexIssues #cybernetics #ff0000 #ff6600 #hyperGlobalization #neoCyberneticCrew #peopleCentric #planetCentric #systemics #technology #technologyCentric #WilliamReckmeyer #WorldWideWeb

Part Smart | Whole Stupid
The Relevance and Value of Cybernetics-Systemics in the 21st Century

William Reckmeyer

 October 22 at 7pm

LINK TO THE MEETING

Expectations about the rosy future of humanity in the 21st century have changed profoundly over the past 35 years, since the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the World Wide Web ushered in a new era of hyper-globalization that has raised important philosophical and practical concerns about the nature of human progress writ large. Humanity’s increasing cybernetic capabilities and activities have produced exponential improvements in living conditions for people in a relatively short period of time, but they have also precipitated a runaway combination of challenges that are jeopardizing the systemic well-being of both our species and our planet as whole. I’ve found that cybernetics (a universal meta-paradigm about purposeful phenomena) and systemics (a universal meta-paradigm about all phenomena) jointly offer a rigorous and powerful way to address these matters. In this session, I will discuss some of the critical lessons I’ve learned about the relevance and value of the cybernetic-systemic field for helping humanity transcend its historic myopia (part smart | whole stupid) about all sorts of complex issues. Key topics will include the early focus of the field on purposeful behavior in general; how it has evolved over the past 60 years into an emphasis on technology-centric cybernation rather than on people-centric / planet-centric cyberneticity, and some initial results from a substantial research project I’ve been conducting – Homo Cyberneticus: Creating, Understanding, and Managing the Anthropocene – that examines the science, history, and impact of humanity’s rapidly-evolving cyberneticity over the past 500 years and its significant implications for our collective future.

Dr. William J. Reckmeyer is Professor of Cybernetics & Systemics in the new School of Cybernetics at the Australian National University, where he is providing strategic support for reimagining cybernetics in the 21st Century, establishing SoCy as an innovative center for helping people learn how to navigate and shape major societal transformations, and connecting SoCy with the broader community of cyberneticians and systems scientists. He is also Visiting Professor of Systems Studies at the University of Hull; Professor Emeritus of Leadership-Cybernetics-Systemics at San José State University; Kellogg Global Fellow at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation; and Residential Global Fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar. Prior to joining ANU in 2022, Bill spent his 50-year career as a professor and practitioner based in Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. His work has focused on developing and applying integrative-collaborative approaches to enhance strategic change, leadership, public policymaking, and technology management in a variety of organizational, community, national, and international settings. His primary expertise and experience are in the areas of cybernetics-systems, leadership, global affairs, and national security. Norbert Wiener Gold Medal, Life Fellow, and Trustee of the American Society for Cybernetics; Life Fellow of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetics Sciences. 

https://slowforward.net/2024/10/14/22-oct-online-talk-by-william-reckmeyer-part-smart-whole-stupid-the-relevance-and-value-of-cybernetics-systemics-in-the-21st-century/

#000000 #BrunellaAntomarini #complexIssues #cybernetics #ff6600 #hyperGlobalization #neoCyberneticCrew #peopleCentric #planetCentric #systemics #technology #technologyCentric #WilliamReckmeyer #WorldWideWeb