Accessing ‘complex human adaptive intelligence’ to seed new economic behaviour

With complex human adaptive intelligence you are not an observer of the problem-space - you are central to it. 

The yachtswoman renowned for breaking the record for the fastest solo-circumnavigation of the globe in 2005 is also the founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Whilst this personal feat has much to do with her complex adaptive intelligence, her foundation also strongly promotes the introduction of circular economy. In this posting we describe our participation in a systems theory conference were we promoted the application of complex adaptive intelligence to implementing a circular economy. For a description see: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/21-century-challenges-demand-adaptive-intelligence-claudius-van-wyk/

Background

In February 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from prison. I met him in 1992, before he was became President of South Africa. On that occasion he poked me and a colleague firmly in the chest challenging us how an economy could be developed in South Africa that worked for all people. Now, more than a quarter of a century later, South African sadly languishes in the economic backwater. It has not only been crippled by corruption, but, we believe, by the very limitations of the prevailing counter-arguments presented in prevailing economic dogma, namely; it’s either to be capitalism or socialism.  

At the time I had no answer for Mandela. I too was trapped in that economic dichotomy. Hadn’t the global collapse of socialism settled the debate for once and for all? Still Mandela’s challenge burned in my awareness and that same year, 1992, I registered the close corporation, Transformation Strategies. The answer, I concluded, lay with people’s perceptions and consciousness. 

Sustainability

Ten years later in 2002 Transformation Strategies was privileged to work with the organisation ‘Towards Gondwana Alive - Stemming the Sixth Extinction’ to assist in developing a presence at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. Some of the talk at that stage was that the very notion of sustainable development might be a contradiction in terms.

A little more than ten years further on we were privileged to offer a short course at Schumacher College in Devon: ‘Leadership and Holism - Transforming Organisational Praxis’. A short while later I was able to offer some classes to economic students at Schumacher College on complexity science approaches to social and economic challenges. I challenged the view of economic science being determined by fixed, scientifically verifiable laws. It was fundamentally wrong - not a fixed machine - a organic living system.

Evolutionary economics

I had discovered that already in 1898 Thorstein Veblen had coined the term ‘evolutionary economics. This was the study of the processes that transform economy for firms, institutions, industries, employment, production, trade and growth, within and through the actions of diverse agents from experience and interactions.

Supporting the holistic and organismic view already some scholars considered the evolutionary approach to be the holistic theory in economics. They were prepared to share certain language from the biological evolutionary approach that considered how an innovation system evolves over time. Especially important was that Harvard Professor Joseph Schumpeter (1883 - 1950) had tried to integrate sociological understanding into his economic theories. But Schumpeter’s ideas on economic development could not be captured in the mathematics of his day - they apparently needed the language of non-linear dynamical systems (complexity) to be partially formalised. And herein lay the problem.

Conspiracy

Ironically Marilyn Ferguson, in her ground-breaking work ‘The Aquarian Conspiracy’ (1981), had quoted Jan Smuts’ introduction of holism and offered a helpful synopsis of the features defining what she saw as an emergent and holistic world-view of economics:

? The recognition of uncertainty in economics

? The need for co‐operation with nature and an organic view of work and wealth

? Economic value being measured both qualitatively and quantitatively, with intangible assets, made wholesome through creativity, fulfilment and being values‐driven

? The importance of being ecologically sensitive to ultimate costs ‐ with the notion of stewardship

? A combination of both rational and intuitive insights, with the development of a non‐linear (holistic) sense of pattern

? The recognition that long‐range efficiency must also consider a harmonious work environment, with employee health etc.

? The desirability of the decentralised operations to human scale

? The appropriate use of technology

Complexity economics

So the insights and understandings were already beginning to emerge concerning the need for a transformed view of economics and its critical impact on people and planet - but somehow the economic ‘bull’ continued to barge on in the fragile eco-systemic china shop.

Then complexity theorist Brian Arthur implicitly endorsed the evolutionary view of economics in ‘Science’ (2 April 1999):

“After two centuries of studying equilibria—static patterns that call for no further behavioural adjustments — economists are beginning to study the general emergence of structures and the unfolding of patterns in the economy….More often they are ever changing, showing perpetually novel behaviour and emergent phenomena. Complexity portrays the economy not as deterministic, predictable, and mechanistic, but as process dependent, organic, and always evolving.”

Bad economic theories

Given these emerging insights management theorist Sumantra Goshal attempted to identify why business practice continued to perpetuate bad economic theory. In his paper ‘Bad Management Theories are destroying Good Management Practices’ (2005) he said:

“The challenge in management sciences lies in...a 'double hermeneutic'. While bad theories in physics don't change the path of electrons, bad theories in the social sciences (of which 'management' is one) are absorbed by practitioners and turned into practice.”

Not long thereafter Brian Arthur’s organic perspective quoted above was further endorsed by complexity theorist, Edgar Morin in his book ‘On Complexity’ (2008) when he declared:

Self-organising beings...are self-eco‐organising beings, which leads to this fundamental complex idea; all autonomy constitutes itself in and through ecological dependency.

Complex Human Adaptive Intelligence (CHAI)

It is from this background on emergent economic theory and practice that we accepted the invitation to present a paper to the UK Systems Society’s conference on circular economics at Bournemouth University. Our paper was entitled: ‘Complex Adaptive Intelligence (CHAI) - catalysing an evolutionary economic transformation.’

Building on the organic principles of the circular economy we presented the case that ‘Complex Human Adaptive Intelligence’ (CHAI), as an inherent capacity of all living systems, can assist the shift from an extractive to a sustainable economy. We suggested it could further enable systems thinking to be applied to attempts to introduce a circular economy.

Autopoiesis

Arising from the original insight when Transformation Strategies was formed back in 1992, and coupled to the powerful influence of human connectedness of the group, Evolutionary Connections, we joined to form The Evolutionary Transformations Group: WWW.EVOLUTIONARYTRANSFORMATIONSGROUP.COM.

Now we argue that the pressure of our technological and ecological footprint demands a transformation in consciousness. With the incremental impact on our prevailing economic assumptions, the shift must be from the mechanistic and linear, to an organismic and non-linear viewpoint. Autopoiesis, as self-organisation, characterises all living systems and ultimately defines ‘complex human adaptive intelligence’ (CHAI). This could inform a new economic epistemology supportive of sustainable approaches such as the circular economy. Locating the problem directly with oneself, along the lines argued by Morin, namely that we are self-eco-organising beings, we suggest that ‘CHAI’ enables agile response to those subtle signals that indicate where conventional approaches have become dysfunctional. 

We believe it is possible that by re-accessing this inherent quality, humanity could be poised to co-evolve with the technological advances of the fourth industrial revolution. Currently this economic emergence tends to compound the effects of the Anthropocene (the era of human impact on the greater ecology) as a function of human induced social and environmental pressures. We believe that ‘CAI’ might yet enable the reapplication of technology into an instrument of sustainable economic praxis.

We stressed that ‘CHAI’ requires the capacity to differentiate between ‘complicated’ and ‘complex’ situations, and especially demands recognition of our personal contribution to the problem-space. Then we need to develop the capacity to ‘map’ the multidimensional and complex dynamics informing economic activity. Ultimately, we agree with Ferguson, re-accessing ‘CAI’ includes collaborative efforts to greater creativity and the continuous integration of learnings, especially at the micro level from which the macroeconomic environment emerges.

Technology

Whilst we were unable to attend all the sessions at the conference we were particularly fascinated by the introduction of HRV technology into systems thinking territory recently reported - see: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/human-values-heart-value-generating-economy-claudius-van-wyk/

We agreed with keynote speaker Prof. Mario Angelopoulos that there could be appropriate use of technology in a circular economy, especially with a focus on the ‘key enablers’ of transformation. This resonates with our complex problem-space mapping in the six phase ET process.

We particularly appreciate the RESOLVE acronym quoted from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, namely the importance of Regeneration, Sharing, Optimising, Looping, Virtualising, and Exchanging

With ‘CHAI’ it is also clear, as the Foundation attests, that we need to assess a country’s circular economy starting position, define its ambition level, and then select focus areas. Systematically screen, sector-by-sector, circular economy opportunities, identify barriers that limit these opportunities and analyse policy options to overcome these barriers. This latter idea was convincingly presented by Toni Burrowes-Cromwell who demonstrated opportunities in food distribution in the UK. Importantly, and in accord with the ET process, we need to assess economy-wide implications.

Ultimately, however, we argued that a circular economy begins at the micro level. And that means that rather than locating the problem outside of ourselves, we position ourselves right at its centre. Just observing our own waste is a good start!

David Cole summed it up in his comprehensive presentation when he showed that what we need is a living systems view. And that is the essence of the holistic view.

‘Being with’ a wicked problem, rather than ‘solving it’ transforms the challenge into a growth opportunity.