Mind, Self, and Society is a book based on the teaching of American sociologist George Herbert Mead‘s, published posthumously in 1934 by his students. It is credited as the basis for the theory of symbolic interactionism. Charles W. Morris edition of Mind, Self, and Society initiated controversies about authorship because the book was based on oral discourse and Mead’s students notes.[1]
In a meeting this year, Angus Doulton remarked ‘the concept of situation is a deepy cybernetic one’. This resonated so strongly with my thinking and provided such a powerful set of concepts that I am currently trying to include it properly in my writing, and having a kind of crisis of discovery at how much good stuff there is in Dewey (and next post coming on Mead and Symbolic Interactionism). Mind blown…
Situation and inquiry For Dewey (1938/1991), situation is not something we enter into, nor does it exist independent of inquiry. It is a dialectical event of which we are participants, not spectators. We change a problematic situation and are changed in turn through our actions. In his classic reflex arc paper, Dewey (1896/1972) shows how under this view, conventional distinctions between organism and environment, stimulus and response, body and mind, or cause and effect need to be reconsidered.
Kumu’s suite of network mapping/weaving tools – and how they may help your network of improvers (Zoom)
Cofounder and CEO of Kumu Jeff Mohr will share their suite of network mapping/weaving tools – showing how each might help your network and how to determine which is right for you (including a real-world example of an NHS integrated care system (ICS) network).
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Report: The role of improvement during the response to COVID-19
Supporting local learning
6 Oct 2021
16:00 – 17:00
This is the abstract of a paper I have in draft form. I’m looking for critique on any or all parts of it. If you are interested please send me email and I’ll send you a copy. Thanks in advance to all.
Abstract
This article presents a case for more rigorous application of Complexity Science in our efforts to evaluate activity that seeks to bring about transformative change. It builds on the work that is already going on in the evaluation community. The argument begins by explaining the value of traditional if –> then logic and then shows why such logic is not appropriate for evaluating large-scale transformation change activities. Three constructs from Complexity Science are employed – sensitive dependence, emergence, and social attractors. The paper concludes with an explanation of why if –>then logic is recommended for small-scale change within transformation efforts, but that to…
Interoception: The Secret Ingredient
Your brain keeps you alive and well by running a metabolic “budget” for your body. Our authors, who co-direct the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory at Northeastern University and Massachusetts General Hospital, explain how these budgetary activities, and the bodily sensations they create, suggest surprising connections between brain, mind, body, and world.
Published: July 15, 2021
Authors: Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D. , Karen S. Quigley, Ph.D.
Allostatsis, interoception, exteroception and the continuum betwen them, prediction, mental vs physical and the continuum between them.
A brilliant introductory piece – it would have been utterly wonderful for me if:
some of the links were to Robert Rosen, biological systems theory, Daoism or other slightly older roots (the piece if well-referenced through hyperlink and I didn’t click them all, but I think not), and
if there was room for a bit of self-reflection on the reductive ‘brain circuitry’, elements of the brain, and ‘neurochemical effects’ compared to the story they were telling
Nevertheless, brilliant as an introduction and explanation with depth (and what do I know compared to Lisa Feldman Barrett?)
Social media, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and the data economy are coming together in a way that transcends how humans understand and control our world.
In the beginning of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, an ape, after hugging a strange monolith, picks up a bone and randomly begins playing with it … and then, as Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra rings in the background, the ape realizes that the bone it is holding is, in fact, a weapon. The ape, the bone, and the landscape remain exactly the same, yet something fundamental has changed: an ape casually holding a bone is a very different system than an ape consciously wielding a weapon. The warrior ape is an emergent cognitive phenomenon, neither required nor deterministically produced by the constituent parts: a bone, and an ape, in a savannah environment.
Postcognitivists challenge tenets within cognitivism, including ontological dualism, representational realism, that cognition is independent of processes outside the mind and nervous system, that the electronic computer is an appropriate analogy for the mind, and that cognition occurs only within individuals.[1]
Register now – SA Book Launch | 14 October 2021 View in web browser Book Overview
The issues of poverty, inequality, racial justice, and climate change have never been more critical. The current approaches to social change are not helping.
In The Systems Work of Social Change book, Cynthia Rayner and François Bonnici draw on two hundred years of history and stories of committed social change-makers to uncover principles and practices for social change that radically depart from traditional approaches.
Rather than delivering “solutions,” these principles and practices focus on the process of change itself. Through storytelling and analysis, Rayner and Bonnici show that connection, context, and power sit at the heart of the change process, to create social systems that are responsive and representative in a rapidly changing world. Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe Guest Speaker
Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe is a businesswoman and philanthropist who started her career in medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. She worked in various public hospitals in South Africa as well as at the Medical College of Virginia in the United States.Together with her husband, Dr Patrice Motsepe, she founded the Motsepe Foundation in 1999, and in 2013 they became the first couple from Africa to join The Giving Pledge.
She holds an MBChB and a diploma in child health from Wits, as well as a diploma in women’s health from Stellenbosch University. Dr Moloi-Motsepe authored a resource guide for women across South Africa, The Precious Little Black Book, and has produced the Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative South Africa.
Her professional associations include the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women’s Leadership Board and Centre for Public Leadership Council, the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council, and the Cancer Association of South Africa (past president). Extract Chapter 2: Complexity, Scale, and Depth
To move away from this straightforward view of social change can feel disorienting. While the “long arc” of social change has become compressed, it can often feel that we are back in the same place that we started, or, worse, that we’ve unleashed unintended negative consequences, leading to even greater problems. Our traditional guideposts for progressive change have been largely tangible: the end of apartheid; winning the vote; the passage of marriage equality; substantial increases in longevity, literacy, and living standards.
Complexity Weekend
Online Community of Practice
Register now to join our next global cohort, as we come together before and during the November 12th-14th weekend to learn Complexity Science by doing.
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Systems Community of Inquiry 
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