Scales and Sustainability

9th International Conference of Sociocybernetics

Space
Time

Space and Time scales of Human Perspective and Sustainability
Tools for modeling daily life dynamics

Luciano Gallón ( l.gallon@ieee.org )

Colombia España

Urbino, 2009.07.03

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

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

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 -


Space and Time Scales
Human Perspectives

World

Race,
Nation
Space

Business,
City,
Neighborhood

Family

Next Next Children’s
lifetime
week few yeas lifetime

Time
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).


Space and Time Scales
Sustainability
∞
“Brittle” Systems Expected
life span

Longevity:
System Sustainable Systems across
a range of Time and Space Scales
Life Spam

Unsustainable Systems

0
Cell Organism Population Economic system Planet

Space and Time Scale
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

Context
Wisdom
independence
Laws

Understanding

Principles

Knowledge

Patterns

Information

Relationships

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


Complicated & Mundane & Complexity

Complicated-Complexity
border
Context

independence
Wisdom
Complicated
Laws
Understanding

Principles Mundane-Complexity
Knowledge border

Patterns
Information Mundane

Relationships
Data
Discovery
Figure 4. DIKUW Hierarchy and Complexity.
level
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 synchronization
between observer and observed system
space and time scales
• New social media is based on
interactivity
– some advanced sort of synchronization
emergent capability


Flow
Anxiety
High

Flow

Challenges

Boredom
Apathy

Low
Low High
Skills

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


Daily life activities

High
Arousal Flow
Learning Favorite
Anxiety activity
Working
Studying

Worry Control
Challenges Hassles Driving

Apathy Relaxation
TV Boredom Reading
Eating
Chores
Low
Low High
Skills

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


Flow and Complexity

High

Complicated

Differentiation Flow

Mundane

Low

Low High

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


From apathy to flow
Flow

Complicated
- Worry Wisdom
- Anxiety
- Arousal Laws
Context
Understanding
independence
Challenges Principles
Differentiation Knowledge

Patterns Mundane
- Boring
Information
- Relaxation
- Control
Relationships
Data
Discovery level
Apathy
Skills
Integration
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


Thank you !


Scales and Sustainability

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