David Ing @daviding@qoto.org

While institutions are incorporated to live beyond the lifetime of a single human being, perhaps fulfilling its mission can lead to a conclusion that the best course is to wind itself down. Courage at the #IveyFoundation , led by #BruceLourie

> One of Canada’s largest and oldest philanthropic organizations has decided to wind down and distribute its entire endowment – $100-million – to expedite efforts to align the economy with net-zero emission targets.

> The Ivey Foundation has determined that the need to transform industrial policies to meet climate goals is too acute to keep funding projects at its current rate, said Bruce Lourie, the foundation’s chief executive officer. The money will be dispersed to its slate of economic and environmental partner organizations over the next five years.

> Dr. Lourie said slashing carbon emissions by 40 per cent to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and getting to net zero by 2050, as per Ottawa’s international commitments, are only getting tougher to achieve. [....]

> From the foundation’s perspective, the two biggest risks facing the country are failing to adequately deal with climate change and missing related economic opportunities, such as electric vehicle and battery manufacturing and transforming the power grid, as other countries establish dominance in those areas. “So, in our philanthropic work, we’re really trying to integrate those two things – Canada’s competitiveness and prosperousness, together with the need to address our emissions,” Dr. Lourie said.

"Ivey Foundation will distribute $100-million endowment to causes aimed at accelerating progress on climate change" | Jeffrey Jones | Globe & Mail | 2021-11-29 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-ivey-foundation-endowment-climate-change/

Researching #Contextualism, online archive of "#RootMetaphor: The Live Thought of #StephenCPepper" from Paunch 1980 magazine is helpful. Philosopher of aesthetics a follower of #JohnDewey, contemporary of #KurtLewin, senior to #ThomasKuhn, #EricTrist

https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2022/11/26/root-metaphor-the-live-thought-of-stephen-c-pepper-1980/ #SystemsThinking

#Autopoiesis, as coined by #HumbertoMaturana, is in the #Contextualist #RootMetaphor of #StephenCPepper, rather than the organismic root metaphor, say #HowardMancing and #JenniferMarstonWilliam #PurdueLibArts

https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2022/11/23/autopoiesis-as-in-the-contextualist-root-metaphor-mancing-marston-william-2022/

#SystemsThinking

Refugees from birdsite missing QT Quote Tweet might reflect on conscious design decisions made in Mastodon core, that could be modified in a specific instance. This means that if a poster REALLY wants QT, he or she has the option to move to an instance where that is supported.

Original 2018 Design Decision at https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2018/07/cage-the-mastodon/#design-decisions

Pointer from discussion thread from 2000 on Quote Toots https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/12753

Just because birdsite declares a unitary design approach doesn't mean that Mastodon developers haven't thought about a feature.

‘leverage points’ .... should be read as part of #DonellaMeadows' transition to a post-mechanistic view of the world ... : http://donellameadows.org/dancing-with-systems/

"What does ‘the power to transcend paradigms’ mean?" @antlerboy https://antlerboy.medium.com/what-does-the-power-to-transcend-paradigms-mean-306be913ff2a

Responses at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_what-does-the-power-to-transcend-paradigms-activity-6997453125057949696-XjXv

#SystemsThinking

Birdsite refugees may have to learn protocols of symmetric follow of friends, or else they may get muted in Mastodon.

In 2008, the contrast with asymmetric follow was surfaced. #BenjaminEllis wrote:

> Asymmetric follow is a hack in social software to enable ‘relationships’ to scale. It is broadcast, not conversation”

@timoreilly responded:

> Not so. I follow 400; am followed by 16,000. But I respond to lots of people (like you) who I didn’t know before. Not just broadcast.”

"Asymmetrical Follow: A Core Web 2.0 Pattern" | James Governor | Dec. 8, 2008 at https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/2008/12/05/assymetrical-follow-a-core-web-20-pattern/

Web video of "Reifying Systems Thinking towards Changes" for #SystemThinking Ontario reused slides from #UBarcelona seminar for #RyanCArmstrong one week earlier. Rhythmic shift, (con)texture and propensity are main ideas by year 4 of 10-year journey.

https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/reifying-systems-thinking-towards-changes-st-on-2022-10-17/

Audio + slides introducing basics "Knowing Better via #SystemsThinking: Traditions and Contemporary Approaches" in lecture for
#RyanCArmonstrong to #UBarcelona business school students, covering variety of schools of thought, mainstream approaches, systems changes.

https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/knowing-better-via-systems-thinking-u-barcelona-2022-10-10/

With #CodeForCanada , a presentation + workshop guide for #CanadianDigitalService on "#SystemsThinking through Changes: An #ActionLearning guide" is available CC-BY-SA

https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/systems-thinking-through-changes/ .

A milestone release by #SystemsChanges Learning Circle for practitioners, alongside publication in review

For those who are critical about "design thinking", #KarelVredenburg makes the strong distinction between design and pseudo-design.
https://www.karelvredenburg.com/home/2021/10/9/cr2h7dllvanrttb1tn8cfx1zjuhqol

Authentically appreciating "causal texture" from the Emery and Trist (1965) article leads us through the meanings of contextualism and contextural, texture, causal, and transactional environment c.f. contextual environment.
http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/causal-texture-contextural-contextualism/ #systemsthinking

A 1989 book celebrating "#EricTrist in Canada", with a chapter by David Morley (Dean, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University (Toronto), 2001-2004), filled in gaps between 1965 #FredEEmery "The #CausalTexture of #OrganizationalEnvironments" to current day #SystemsThinking on organizations.

http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/trist-in-canada-organizational-change-action-learning/

While many outside of the field of architecture like the #ChristopherAlexander #PatternLanguage approach, it’s not so well accepted by his peers. A summary of criticisms by #MichaelJDawes and #MichaelJOstwald #UNSWBuiltEnv is helpful in appreciating when the use of pattern language might be appropriate or not appropriate.
https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2020/05/15/christopher-alexanders-a-pattern-language-analysing-mapping-and-classifying-the-critical-response-dawes-and-ostwald-2017/

With the distinction made between #PatternLanguage and form language by #NikosSalingaros, a broader vision of the "life" sought by #ChristopherAlexander has led me through #GeneralSystemsTheory and #RobertRosen into the R-theory of #JohnJKineman.

http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/pattern-language-form-language-general-systems-theory-r-theory/

The #GlobalBusinessNetwork has been temporarily reformed including #PeterSchwartz and
#StewartBrand in a report released by #PunitRenjen at #Deloitte and #Salesforce. https://discuss.openlearning.cc/t/a-world-remade-by-covid-19-scenarios-as-the-passing-storm-good-company-sunrise-in-the-east-lone-wolves/107
.

A young man stares out a window and the caption reads “Bus windows: the ultimate philosophy school.” writes #MarkKingwell

All the canonical philosophers of boredom have believed that boredom was eventually edifying – a painful experience that, like mortality itself, educates and enhances the mind. Because we’re all addicts of our own desires for stimulation, the therapy here may be hard. There may be withdrawal, and the DSM and medical models of clinical addiction won’t help. This is philosophical work.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-in-coronavirus-quarantine-use-boredom-as-a-window-to-wisdom/

Lecture on "Are Systems Changes Different from System + Change?" at #OCADU_SFI #SystemicDesign master's, web video and digital audio now at http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/are-systems-changes-different-from-system-change/ .

Lecture of 1h18m covered 37 of 55 slides, all online for #SystemsChange #SystemsThinking #theoryofchange

The 2019-2020 fires in Australia are associated with a slow history of human activity.

> Three hours north, in Sydney, the air quality was worse than in Jakarta. [....]
> There is no doubt that the fires are growing more ferocious. Even without the changing climate, it would be inevitable; 250 years of land mismanagement have changed the way in which Australia’s bushland reacts to a spark.

"Mourning a disappearing world as Australia burns" | Jessica Friedmann | Jan. 2, 2020 | Globe & Mail at https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-mourning-a-disappearing-world-as-australia-burns/

As a mature adult, is a bad cycle of sleeping poorly impacting your cognitive function?

> Dr. Lim, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Toronto ... suggest[s] microglia play a role in the link between poor sleep and cognitive impairment and dementia. Microglia normally help fight infections and clear debris from the brain. But dysfunction of microglia appears to be involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Lim said. [....[

> Dr. Liu-Ambrose, the Canada research chair in physical activity, mobility and cognitive neuroscience at UBC, said good-quality sleep is believed to allow the brain to clear itself of toxic beta-amyloid protein, the buildup of which is one of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease. And, she said, there is also good evidence to suggest an accumulation of beta-amyloid can further contribute to disrupted sleep.

> “It’s a vicious cycle,” she said.

"Study finds link between dementia and lack of sleep" | Wendy Leung | Dec. 11, 2019 | Globe and Mail at https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-study-finds-link-between-dementia-and-lack-of-sleep/

Does "the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago and the second best time is now" date back further than 1988? #GaryMoll
@AmericanForests .
Christmas tree 2019 prices, says
@ChrisAReynolds , trace to financial crisis of 2008
https://ingbrief.wordpress.com/2019/12/12/the-best-time-to-plant-a-tree-was-twenty-years-ago/