This book by the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, is one of the most compelling on the subject of science and religion that I have read in a long time.
Systems Thinking
Understanding Backwards
It was Søren Kierkegaard who said that (and I paraphrase) life can only be understood backwards however we must live it forwards. Although I have been aware of that quote for quite some time it is only recently that I have begun to understand the real nature and truth of it.
Systems and Things
Living in Parallel Worlds
Reading the book Anathem by Neal Stephenson has got me once again thinking about the many different worlds that we each live in. I have briefly mentioned this in a previous post, however now is a good time to expand on some of those ideas as well as to pull together what that means in terms of some of the other aspects of friendship and mental models that I have talked about.
A Top Ten List
There is a tendency in this “Information Age” to assume that everything we need to know has been written/created in the last couple of months. This is, of course, patent nonsense however in some subjects there is a rather unfortunate tendency to forget all of the huge wealth of knowledge and wisdom we have from times before … well before 2012!!
I came across an article written in 2001 (which I know isn’t that old) which is actually in a style that is currently very popular – i.e. “N things you need to know about……” – often not a terribly useful way of addressing a subject, but just occasionally someone will get it right. This particular one is called 10 Useful Ideas on Systems Thinking and is well worth a look.
A Long Hiatus
It probably was not the plan to have a brief flurry of activity in this blog followed by quiet for months – but that is how it has turned out – almost echoing what was one of the first posts in the series which stated Prediction is difficult – especially about the future.
Hopefully things are now back on track and I have a number of topics that I want to ponder in coming posts – especially regarding systems thinking and a number of extremely interesting discussion taking place in the Systems Thinking World group of LinkedIn. I would certainly recommend that if you are interested in the concept of thinking in systems that you visit, join and contribute to that group.
Time To Make A Decision Redux
It is always difficult to determine in advance what things that we say (or don’t say), what things we do (or don’t do) will have the most effect – and that is leaving aside the fact that a significant number of effects we will never be aware of at all. I have written a lot of things in notes, emails, letters and it is sometimes surprising how they come back later to surprise me!
Mein Weltanschauung
Although a few of my previous posts have hinted at this subject I think that now that I have got the initial burst of activity on the blog out of the way it is time to make a clearer statement of where my thoughts are coming from and, therefore, put some context on to the content of the blog.
Of course, in keeping with the overall theme of the blog I should stress that this is work in progress and “feeding my ignorance” remains the main aim – trying to identify the context for this is important, but it does not mean that the context is fixed. As my learning increases, so the context may shift.
A Hidden Agenda Paradox
Following on from the need to understand that others have their own worldview that will be difficult for any of us to get inside it is necessary to spend just a short time looking at things from the other way round.
Where Are We Going
Found this presentation through LinkedIn. Certainly worth a viewing.