scales and sustainability

Space and Time scales of Human Perspective and Sustainability

Tools for modeling daily life dynamics

9th International Conference of Sociocybernetics

Luciano Gallón ( [email protected] )

Colombia España

Urbino, 2009.07.03

Space

Time

mailto:[email protected]

Luciano Gallon / RC51 / 9thICS / Urbino / 2009 2 de 24

Agenda

• Context, Definitions, Questions

– Space and Time Scales

– Better & Worse & Faster

– DIKUW Hierarchy

– Complicated & Mundane & Complexity

– Social media and synchronization

• From apathy to flow

• Discussion


Context

• Observer

– Electronics Engineer (1993)

– MSc Management of Technology (2004)

– PhD Sustainability (2010 planed)

• Re-search

– Part of theory framework for the PhD Thesis

“Regional Sustainability Model, System Dynamics to fight poverty in South America”


Definitions (askoxford.com)

• Scale (Latin scala)

– a graduated range of values forming a standard

system for measuring or grading something

• Space (Latin spatium)

– the dimensions of height, depth, and width within

which all things exist and move

• Time (Latin tempus)

– the indefinite continued progress of existence and

events in the past, present, and future, regarded as

a whole


Questions

• What relationship can be found between

– the scales of space and time of• the human perspective

• the sustainability

– and the dynamics of• the “new” social media technologies?

• It helps to understand the behavior of

– social systems

– humans?

• Is it related to sustainable development?


References (Main)

• Russell ACKOFF– USA, 1919.02.12 -

• Robert COSTANZA– USA, 1950.09.14 -

• Dennis MEADOWS– USA, 1942 -

• Donella "Dana" MEADOWS– USA, 1941.03.13 - 2001.02.20

• Aurelio PECCEI– Italia, 1908.07.04 - 1984.03.14

• Mihaly CSIKSZENTMIHALYI– Fiume, Italy - now Croatia

– A Hungarian emigrated to the USA, 1934.09.29 -

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/images/csik200.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/csik.html&usg=__qPWmgT8KmQIZre4lyXNqGB3E-f4=&h=200&w=167&sz=9&hl=en&start=9&tbnid=JkdyRsHwKza_xM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCsikszentmihalyi%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff


Space and Time Scales

Human Perspectives

Figure 1. Human Perspectives.The majority of the world’s people are concerned with matters that affect only family or friends over a short period of time. Only a very few people have a global perspective that extends far into the future. (Meadows et al, 1972).

Time

Space

Next

week

Next

few yeaslifetime

Children’s

lifetime

Family

Business,

City,

Neighborhood

Race,

Nation

World


Space and Time Scales

Sustainability

Space and Time Scale

Cell Organism Population PlanetEconomic system

Longevity:System

Life Spam

0

∞

Unsustainable Systems

“Brittle” Systems

Sustainable Systems across

a range of Time and Space Scales

Expected

life span

Figure 2. Sustainability as scale (time and space) dependent concept.Indicates this relationship by plotting a hypothetical curve of system life expectancy (Longevity)on the y axis vs. time and space scale on the x axis. (Costanza & Patten, 1995).


Better & worse & faster

• We live in a time in which

– the human perspective

– the sustainability

• have evolutionary processes with dynamics in

– position

– direction

– speed

– acceleration

• in scales of space and time

– beyond the human perception and experience


Better & worse & faster

• Now

– it is not the change that matters

– not even its velocity

– the problem is its acceleration

• There is a law that try to explain that

– The Law of accelerating returns

– by Ray Kurzweil


DIKUW Hierarchy

Discoverylevel

Data

Information

Knowledge

WisdomContext

independence

Understanding

Patterns

Principles

Relationships

Laws

Figure 3. Data Information Knowledge Understanding and Wisdom (DIKUW) Hierarchy.Following Bellinger et al (2002) and Betts (2003).


Complicated & Mundane & Complexity

Data

Information

Knowledge

Wisdom

Context

independence

Understanding

Discoverylevel

Patterns

Principles

Relationships

Laws

Mundane

Complicated

Mundane-Complexity

border

Complicated-Complexityborder

Figure 4. DIKUW Hierarchy and Complexity.Following Bellinger et al (2002) and Betts (2003).


Social media and

synchronization

• How to explain the symptoms of well-being and discomfort caused by the emerging social media technologies?

– By the type and degree of synchronizationbetween observer and observed system space and time scales

• New social media is based on interactivity

– some advanced sort of synchronization emergent capability


Flow

Low

High

Challenges

Skills

Apathy

Flow

Boredom

Anxiety

Low High

Figure 5. The “Flow” channel.(Farmer, 1999)


Daily life activities

ArousalLearning

WorryHassles

BoredomChores

ControlDriving

Low

High

Challenges

Skills

ApathyTV

FlowFavorite

activity

RelaxationReadingEating

AnxietyWorking

Studying

Low High

Figure 6 + 7. Feelings of daily life dynamics + activities.(Farmer, 1999)


Flow and Complexity

Low

High

Differentiation

Integration

Flow

Mundane

Complicated

Low High

Figure 8. Flow and Complexity.(Bellinger, 2004)


From apathy to flow

Discovery levelSkills

Integration

Flow

Data

Information

Knowledge

Wisdom

Contextindependence

ChallengesDifferentiation

Understanding

Patterns

Principles

Relationships

Laws

Mundane- Boring

- Relaxation

- Control

Complicated

- Worry

- Anxiety

- Arousal

Apathy

Figure 9. DIKUW Hierarchy and Flow Channel fusion.(Following Bellinger et al (2002; 2004), Betts (2003) and Farmer (1999)


Discussion

• Alternative activities to Apathetic situations – Autotelic: the ones people do for its own sake

because to experience it is the main goal

– Exotelic: the ones motivated by an outside goal

• The question is– the space and time scales of human perspective

depends on autotelic capabilities, or

– autotelic capabilities are the ones that define the space and time scales of human perspective?

• Either one or another– new social media seems to enhance the perspective

via the autotelic side


Discussion

• Key scales for sustainability seems to be– Time: children’s lifetime

– Space: world (i.e., the planet Earth)

• on the first and second order

• Key human activities to reach them as a “normal” human perspective depend on– autotelic capabilities

• It could be argued that– exotelic mediated development is not sustainable


Discussion

• So the problem here is that

– the first order approach tells us that

• space and time scales

• are changing in the observed system

• while

– a second order approach tells us that

• for the majority of humans

• observer capabilities are not changing

• not only for will but because inherent system capabilities


Discussion

• When Scott (2002) indentifies the sociocyberneticians human perspectives as– ones with an agreement on problems faced

• as global

• to be tackled holistically

– addressing both• the first-order complexity of interconnected observed

systems and

• the second-order complexities of communities of observers

• the call is for– a DIKUW Hierarchy plus Flow Channel based, new

social media mediated, sustainability revolution


Open discussion


A final thought

• Every minute of this presentation (even every minute of this conference!)

– Population on “developed” countries added 4 more humans to planet Earth

– Population on “developing” countries added 152 more humans to planet Earth

– Humans on planet Earth today: 6,800,000,000

– Humans on planet Earth in one year: 7,000,000,000 ?

Source http://www.prb.org/Articles/2008/WorldPopulationClock2008.aspx

http://www.prb.org/Articles/2008/WorldPopulationClock2008.aspx


Thank you !

http://www.unizar.es/sociocybernetics/

http://larica-virtual.soc.uniurb.it/

http://www.uniurb.it/

http://www.isa-sociology.org/

http://www.ais-sociologia.it/

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