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p.1 I have taught human systems dynamics through models, methods, demonstration, and practical application. In all these approaches, I assume a particular view of reality... The purpose of this essay is to describe my view of reality as clearly as I can... I assume a mechanism for being, acting, and being acted upon that is different than the long-held atomistic or mystical views.
p.2 I believe that I am not the first to strive to see and describe this world view in which patterns and their transformation explain the unpredictable and emergent behavior of physical, conceptual, and social systems.
p.3 I intend this statement to be helpful to those who wish to expand the field of HSD as well as those who with to compare and contrast HSD to other approaches to social interaction, including others derived from complexity science.
p.3 Reality... involves many differences that make a difference. We can say, then, that it has unknown and potentially unbounded number of dimensions... human beings tend to focus on a small number of dimensions at any given time. Those are the ones we consider to be relevant to a particular purpose or perspective - the differences that make a difference. [JLJ - elsewhere (by others) called "critical success factors"]
p.3 We are aware of dimensions of reality... we recognize similarities, differences, and connections among various dimensions
p.4 We acknowledge a collection of differences, similarities, and connections as a pattern, and we make meaning of patterns across space and/or time... We can... compare and contrast patterns with each other and make meaning of the patterns formed by relationships among patterns across space and/or time. When we do this, we are aware of patterns at different scales... the patterns... make no significant distinction between physical and non-physical substrata.
p.6 When tension develops, if the components are free to shift, the similarities, differences, or connections that constitute the pattern change spontaneously to adjust and resolve the tension. If one or more of the components is constrained from movement, then the tension will continue to accumulate until it can no longer be sustained by the other connections, and an adjustment occurs somewhere in the pattern to release the tension.
p.6 a release of tension in one pattern will tend to change tension in other patterns, which in turn will move to resolve tension and/or build it elsewhere.
This accumulation and release of tension applies to all kinds of change... it also applies to meaning making and learning.
p.6 When both knowing and change depend on tension and resolution of tension between and among patterns at multiple scales, any system... meet[s] the criteria of complex adaptive systems, and... will exhibit complex, nonlinear behavior.
p.7 Change in these systems is... driven from conditions in a given moment, not from some intention or future goal (except in so far as that intention or future goal contributes to a tension in the here and now). We say, therefore, that change is emergent.
p.7 The accumulation of tension, which ultimately leads to change, may generate no externally observable evidence until it reaches a critical point... indications of rising or reducing tension may be observed or otherwise discerned at lower scales before the higher scale reaches the critical point... change exhibits self-organized criticality.
p.8 Regardless of the systemic conditions, responsible humans strive to understand and interact intentionally with both the physical and metaphysical patterns that surround them. For that, we need to articulate the implications for action that arise from the pattern-based understanding of knowing and change.
From an HSD perspective, this... accumulation and release of tensions across multiple scales is how change happens in all systems... Tensions accumulate between or within dimensions. Tensions among dimensions manifest as tensions within and among patterns. At critical points, the patterns are not able to sustain the accumulated tension, and shifts result in one or more dimensions to rebalance similarities, differences, and connections in many related patterns simultaneously.
p.8 When we understand both the process of change and the process of knowing to result from accumulation and release of tension in the patterns (similarities, differences, and connections), then a whole range of questions about seeing, making meaning, and influencing change in the real world emerge.
p.8-9 In a world of pattern-based evolution such as the one described by HSD, the answer to "why?" is always the same - tensions accumulating and resolving. Tension and its release are the purpose for change, the mechanism for change, the substance of change, and its motivation.
p.9 When one sees clearly the differences in a system, the tensions that emerge from those differences and the similarities and connections that hold the tensions until release, then one can see clearly a wide range of meanings and options for action. One is free to observe with minimal bias and to act with optimal intent.
p.9 In a pattern- and tension-driven reality, one can never be certain of certainty... In the absence of certainty, inquiry becomes the only path toward learning. A cycle of Adaptive Action (What? So what? Now what?) shapes the iterative process of observing, deciding and acting that connects the knower/actor with the known. What is the current pattern? So what are the tensions within this pattern and between this and others as same of similar scales? Now what can/should I/we do to shift conditions and change the patterns? As soon as any action is taken, new patterns emerge with new and accumulating tensions, and the Adaptive Action process begins again.
p.9-10 HSD's pattern thinking and Adaptive Action dissolve the boundary between observer and observed. Any observation is extracted from the reality of the thing itself. [JLJ - still a constructed reality, in my opinion - "In a constructivist perspective, there is no reality that can be known independent of being constructed. All reality is constructed reality." Jeffrey Ford, Organizing Change as Shifting Conversations]
p.10 The HSD pattern-based model of knowledge and change has far-reaching consequences for how one observes, makes decisions, and acts to influence emerging patterns... it also releases a variety of constraints and creates the potential to consider knowing and action in a system that is open, high dimension, and nonlinear.
p.11 Complex adaptive systems provide a model and method for establishing coherent action in the midst of uncertainty without over-constraining the players - [a] short list of simple rules.
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