This site was done for a UN-ECOSOC AMR 2008 eDiscussion – unfortunately some mayor documents on Aleco Christakis were not available – not even
in the WIKIPEDIA.
I proposed to make an article by Ken Bausch about Aleco
and the Problematique – featuring Hasan Ozbekhan – Erich Jantsch
available here:
so please read the 40 years story of the Club of Rome. and this Interview “40 years Problematique”
(PDF) in view of Copenhagen 2009 and the mess ! more can be found at http://www.21stcenturyagora.org/
Alexander (ALECO) CHRISTAKIS 
ALECO has various repositories and sites – maybe start with
the Wikipedia:
and please make very sure you do not miss this early report to the Club of
To learn something personal about Aleco,
I recommend to read this interview
with LaDonna Harris in the AIO journal.
To see where Aleco and Hasan Ozbekhan have been 40 years
ago study the original and first report to / of the Club of Rome The Predicament of
Mankind Quest for Structured Responses
for Growing World-wide Complexities and Uncertainties (PDF) (72 pages) carefully !!
And make sure you do not miss to read the second section !
AND his Retrospective
Inquiry of the predicament of menkind prospectus of
the Club of Rome -
35 years later !!:
To be up-to-date about see the new WIKI SPACES: about
ongoing work in CYPRUS www.cyprusmedia.wetpaint.com/?t=anon http://virtualilis.wikispaces.com/ and around the AIO, or see these: http://blogora.net/page/Remembering+Hasan+%C3%96zbekhan http://blogora.net/page/About+Global+Agoras
And do not miss: New Book (Early 2005): Dialogue
for the Information Age Democracy, http://www.cwaltd.com/q76.html
We have done some Interviews with Aleco, LaDonna, Jaqueline in
But to be sure you do
not miss the whole story, start here: http://www.harnessingcollectivewisdom.com/
Heiner
Benking,
Dear colleagues,
I feel humbled and honoured to be asked to add my views to
this prestigious eDiscussion enterprise where policy makes
and leaders look into not just devising regionals,
national, local plans and programmes,
but care for the global whole and alternative futures.
We used with a G7 - EEES Environmental Experts of the
Economic
In this UNEP project I learned that there are so many lessons learned
and good news, but the access, bridging and digestion is missing and little
is put into action. With these views and experience I read the contribution in
this eDiscussion very carefully, but have little time
on the last day (AMR, section I May 22) to respond, but will update this collection,
as a co-laboratory work hopefully elsewhere.
Here are my conclusions
and recommendations in a nutshell:
Subsuming and resonating with the contributions in the eDiscussion makes one feel down. The danger is to get stuck
with pointing at what is wrong, with lamenting and analysis, but not moving on
to new frontiers, synthesis and therapy and positive outlooks which keep
“realities”, contexts, and episodic and epochal changes in mind. It seems to be
fashionable now to speak about holistic and deep-ecology. But is meant and
understood and goes beyond plastic words (empty words without meaning more mis-used than used in edutainment, politainment,
and modern “science”. WE tried some systemic clarification in this ongoing Wholeness Seminar.
Only few people are used to and dare to step back and try to
confront the issues and consequences at stake from a birds-eye view and with
facetted eyes. (Pls. see “House
of Eyes” and World-House
as oikos, ecumene, ecudomy) [more].
Since C. West Churchman we aware of the “enormous problems”
and neglect and ignore any alternative, new and old, systemic approaches.
What is missing seems to be an orientation in “common frames
of references”, unifying multi-modal visions, and an integration of sign and
cultural systems, concerted efforts for positive outcomes, including the beauty
of difference and the minority views. Please [see more].
Many contributions wholeheartedly and with much merit and
sincere effort try to confront and tackle one issue or element, and all too
often argue for fashionable new terms and approaches.
But what we learned from Noel Brown, UNEP-RONA was that for
At UN-CSD-15
last summer we created an ad-hoc side-event to revisit international
environmental gatherings:
Some of us thought that all this “new” is not really making
enough progress and much of the “old think” is lost or forgotten. I opt for a
combination and to venture a little into the impossible as the perplexity in
view of this complexity is blinding us and dumping us down.
The only way of
discovering the limits of the possible
is to venture a
little way past them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke
So let us start with revisiting and tackling some old maybe
lost opportunities: See below:
٭ enormous problems” and a unifying framework,
* inter-sectoral
strategic dilemma & groupthink and spreadthink *)
harmonisation of environmental data, … and then explore and propose some more
comprehensive “out of the box” thinking and paradigm mapping and shared dialog
and decision culture approaches as we need to go beyond without loosing tough
and ground. So what we will do in 5) and 6) is revisit the general model theory
(UNESCO 1964) and sign theory C.S. Peirce and see how that can help us to use
other ways to communicate, construct, share
“realities”.
Finally, all the perspective outlooks building blocks below
need to be combined to go beyond a certain signs, symbols, meanings, disciplines,
languages, cultures, scales … if we want to take the “Rio ’92 mandate” of
“common frames of references” for real and shared scales, proportions,
consequences and actions – AND look into truthing and
fidelity, what and how we can communicate and share, and how we can avoid the
Charlatan comparison of the incompatible. See proposal below for the
Euro-Mediterranean region Anna Lindh Foundation (References
below) and the need to have not just ecological resource or consumption
“footprints”, but fidelity and repeatability of densities and how they overlap
and interact. (see A)
the Retrospective of the Predicament of Mankind Club of
Please note: The author worked in the last 40 years in
construction, planning, design, environmental management and education and very
much resonates with the Global Change Agenda since the Global Change Exhibition
in 1990 – a time when the term “glocal” was coined… and for G7 – UNEP exercises
to Harmonize Environmental Information in the late 80ies – early 90ies.
Maybe visit beforehand this article for Lynton Caldwells “Is
Humanity destined to self-destruct” with the title “Show or Schau”? APLS
Politics and Life Sciences, 2000 or start directly with the “building blocks”
A) – N) below:
A) “enormous problems” and a
unifying framework (Churchman,
Ozbhekan,
Warfield, Christakis)
The “enormous problems’ of Churchman became the “Problematique” of Ozbekhan, and remerged as the science of generic design of Warfield
and the Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP) of Christakis, representing a
continuum of systems thinking with the common vision to engage stakeholders in
addressing the Predicament of Humankind through participative democracy.
See Club of Rome’s Predicament
of Mankind (PDF) 1970 and a A Retrospective
Structural Inquiry of the Predicament of Humankind: Prospectus of the Club of
Rome, 2004, Harness
Collective Wisdom, 2004
B) UNU and UIA prep-work for Rio’92, see: Anthony Judge inter-sectoral
strategic dilemma, The
Encyclopedia of World Problems, Human Potential,
Actions, Options, Strategies (see: documents relating to World Problems
1971-2006) and IBIS (Kunz/Rittel) Vicious Problem
Cycles and the Quality of Statements, and the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (more below).
C) CAPACITY TO GOVERN, Yehezkel
Dror, Club of Rome Report 1995, extra summary points
at UN Climate Summit 1995, Berlin to include inter-sectoral
strategic dilemma and common frames (recommendation 6 and 7) * Research into spatial
metaphors supporting local and global governance by enabling understanding
of intersectoral strategic dilemmas of action and
results chains in a symbolic and trans-cultural form, for shared exploration of
issues and evaluation of proportions and consequences with differentiation
between data, conjectures and 'noise' in policy information. * Further development of a conceptual superstructure as a reference
paradigm to ease access to salient data while avoiding unnecessary redundancy
and overloads. [more]
D) Cyberculture, UNECO Culture of
Peace, Humane Information Society 1992 -2008 [more]
E) General Model Theory UNESCO and Herbert Stachowiak
- Create and move boundaries in
agreed upon shared realities and virtualities (general
model theory).
F) EXPO 2000, concepts behind the Visitors Information
System for world exhibitions and the Global Dialogues, Hannover,
G) EFFE und Multi-Media
– Tangible Education From the Senses to Meaning, Reason, and
Sensibility - From
Culture to Cyberculture?
H) Knowledge Organisation and Navigation, and Metaphors, see
Dahlberg (ISKO), Judge, UIA (above), Veltman, MMI,
and the work of the author. Pls. see ISKO, infoterm,
SUMS.
I) paradigm Mapping and Out of the Box Thinking Seminars
developed by Kurt Hanks for foreign students in the US and widely applied to
relate positions, viewpoints, assumptions and learn to see, relatem
and combine with “other eyes/models”…. (call it mental mobility and the negotiation of different
schemas. See: Sharing and
Changing Realities with Extra Degrees of Freedom of Movement (Fig. 1, 2, 6).
J) INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM SCIENCES ENCYCLOPEDIA and outlook by
the editor in chief Charles
François when introducing the 2nd edition AND
the contribution of NEW
TERMS like cognitive panorama” and “mental models” by the author and
contributions in the 5 volumes: The Future of
Higher (Lifelong) Education: For All Worldwide: A Holistic View
K) GLOBAL EMBODIED COVENANT - see EARTH CHARTA open-space
presentation, TEC
presentation, and GEIG (IUCN – WHO – etc.)….
L) Future of Modern
Media and Data, ICSU CODATA (1992-2006), see also Systems and Sign Theory
2006 and Quo vadis Cybernetics ?
M) Earth Literate Leaders and Modern Media & Maps &
Models – see Map Analphabetism and UNESCO’s Literacy programmes.
About World Map truth, truthing,
fidelity and visual demagogy in computer graphics and visualisation. See LITERACY – FLAT WORLDS and the
models and cosmologies connected to it, and what it means to ecological
footprints and thematic densitiy maps, and the
relation and overlap of issues. See here the problem maps of the Club of
N) Proposal for Anna-Lindh-Foundation, European – Mediteranian Countries,
Roundtable learning from experience
during the last 40 years and new ideas
Stumbling blocks preventing true dialog,
peace-making, and reconciliation:
1) we
fight over words but do not check the meaning,
2) we
do not question and compare the values attached to statements and attitudes,
3) we do not contextualize
and embody concepts and meaning, do not check the sectors, regions, scales,
proportions and consequences of alternative actions,
4) we
do not give voice, empower, listen, cherish and cultivate difference or variety
in dialog and decision making,
5) Disorientation and dumbing-down in Cyberculture and
a mis-administered and misunderstood, intangible “Globalisation / Glocalisation”: Where we get overloaded by
communication noise (sign/symbol melange) and media demagogy which means: no
trust and fidelity in the statements and no ways and means to check the
credibility and impact/relevance, and get lost between the scales, brackets,
and sectors.
6) The above incompatibility
and incomparability opens the door for over-claims and oversimplifications.
Leaders use intangible jargon (plastic-words), neglect impacts and avoid
instead of exploring differences and alternatives.
Whoever imagines mental barriers
which actually do not exist
and then thinks them away, has understood the world.
As space is entrapped in geometry's network of lines,
thought is caught in its (own) inherent laws.
Maps make the world comprehensible to us;
we are still waiting for the star-maps of the spirit.
In the same way that ambling through fields
we risk getting lost, the spirit negotiates its terrain.
Friedrich Rückert, Wisdom of Brahmins
Postscript:
There is no doubt that we have ventured into new realms of
realities and possibilities, but are stuck in old ways and means. Some say we
should venture into “new thinking” some believe in the old and traditional, but
all this are one-way orientations which can only blind us and prohibit going
into the lateral, the across, the other, and the beyond. Why not consider Maps
and Models “Supersigns” L) – instead of fighting over
words, labelling living things into dichotomies or grids, fighting for “mine” or “yours”, forgetting the other,
and building walls between symbols and images ?
This collection is a quick attempt between “Clubs”, “Times”, “Disciplines”,
Languages and Signs. It is not meant to
be complete or final – just another piece to add onto more comprehensive and
tolerant views, approaches, communications, and actions. For the author Space,
Scale (with proportions and consequences), Sign Systems, and the issue of outline,
overview, and orientation are most critical items in times of over-claims and
over-simplifications.
The author works the last 20 years on education, working with
youth and promoting Energy and Education Round-Tables in
Please excuse my “Krauts”-English -
without Editor and proof-reading - in
these seasons and hours of the times…. But I think in the sense of the Arthur C.
Clarke’s citation above, many small, facetted and connected steps are needed to
tackle the Problematique mentioned above.
Heiner Benking, Consultant and Facilitator
Secretary of the Council on Global
Issues and the Tagore-Einstein-Council
Board Member and European Representative of IHTEC.org (ECOSOC and UNESCO-DSE)
Consultant to International Youth Community Services and Founder of The Open-Forum
http://quergeist.info and http://benking.de