Articles

This PowerPoint presentation ^PP on Classic Activism and the System Improvement Process was given on September 9, 2009. The message is public interest activists appear to be using a process that's incapable of reliably solving difficult social problems. Therefore they need to do the same thing that science did when it switched to the Scientific Method in the 17th century: adopt a process that fits the problem.

This paper on the System Improvement Process ^PDF has been started. - 2009-9-3 - It presents the principles behind the process and then the process.

Obama-Biden Transition Submission ^PDF - 2008-12-10 - A cover letter describing "an analysis technique to help you determine what system level strategies will best achieve the overall reform vision of the Obama administration," along with a copy of the Dueling Loops paper. This has been submitted to Your Seat at the Table. - Update: The document was never posted, nor did we hear from Change.gov.

Change resistance as the crux of the sustainability problem - 2008-11-23 - This was submitted to the System Dynamics Review on November 26, 2008.

The Truth or Deception Pamphlet - 2008-9-12 - This is now a little dated, since the November 4 election has passed.

For awhile we focused on books rather than papers or articles, so there are none for 2007 and early 2008.

Global Sustainability Presentation ^PDF - 2006-12-3 - By Michael Hollcraft - Michael gave this 18 page presentation to a local group in Indiana, US, as a printed handout. It elicited a long discussion afterward. You may find it useful for your audience or work. Here is the Word file ^DOC .

Learning from Past Societies - 2006-9-7 - Is it possible to learn from past societies who solved the sustainability problem and those who didn't? This paper examines two books that asked this question, and comes away with a surprising answer of its own.

The Proper Coupling Package - 2006-7-30 - Presently the human system is improperly coupled to the larger system it lies within: the environment. Using an easy to follow causal flow diagram, this paper identifies the critical high leverage points involved and presents a novel technique for pushing on them. The outstanding feature of the proposed solution is that it is designed to be so irresistibly attractive to corporations that they will strongly support it by the thousands, which would eliminate what has previously been the crux of the problem: change resistance.

The Memetic Evolution of Solutions to Difficult Problems - 2006-4-13 - This is a 15 page extract from the Analytical Activism manuscript, for ease of reading for those interested in how memetics can be used to help solve difficult complex social system problems. Another article demonstrating the same thing is the one on The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace.

Analytical Activism as the Antidote to Classic Activism - 2006-3-29 - This short article presents the argument that Classic Activism is incapable of solving the difficult problems the environmental movement now faces. To achieve their objectives the movement must switch to Analytical Activism or a problem solving process like it, or the movement will perish.

Critique of the Harvard Project - 2006-2-11 - This illustrates how the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, if we do not follow an analytical process when attempting to solve difficult problems.

The System Improvement Process ^PDF - 2006-1-14 - This is a three page extract from the manuscript to Analytical Activism. It summarizes the System Improvement Process, which is an example of how a custom problem solving process tailored to the job is a better way.

The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace - 2005-12-7 - This paper summarizes the most important discovery of the analysis, in a very readable style: the existence of a fundamental social structure that lies at the very heart of why resistance to adopting a solution to the global environmental sustainability problem is so strong.

Why the Analytical Approach is the Only Way That Will Work - 2005-10-13 - If this is true then the complete problematique will not be solved until the environmental movement changes to an analytical approach. Read it and decide for yourself if this proposition is true, false, or somewhere in between.

Reading Notes for Jared Diamond's Collapse ^PDF - 2005-6-14 - This is eight pages of book club notes. Collapse runs so close to my own work that I have volunteered to lead the discussion on it in the club mentioned below. The prologue and five key chapters are covered. The notes are so extensive that when I finished them, my wife joked that now the others won't have to read the book!

Criteria for Evaluating a Book of Nonfiction ^PDF - 2005-6-13 - This is for an environmental book and movie club I'm in. It offers seven ways to evaluate a book of nonfiction. The first four are so quick you can try them in the book store. The rest may require reading the book.

Inching Towards Truth Ratings - 2004-10-12 - A truth rating is the probability an argument is true. Truth ratings are exactly what the press is inching towards, step by evolutionary step. If we had them today they could, and probably would, determine the outcome of the November 2, 2004 election in the United States.

Freedom from Falsehood ^PDF - 2004-9-18 - Here is the abstract for this 9 page essay, which represents some of the early thoughts at Thwink.org:

"The press is allowing a large amount of deception to occur in the political arena and elsewhere. This is taking its toll. A crisis is at hand, because successful deception causes irrational decisions at the citizen level, which leads to irrational decisions at the national and global level.

"A possible solution is creation of the new right to Freedom from Falsehood. This is the foundational element to the three additional elements of the Truth Test, Truth Ratings, and Predictive Ratings. Working together, these elements inoculate a majority of the population against false arguments, which will hopefully solve the problem."

Introduction to Strategy Maps - 2004-5-21 - Strategy Maps and Balanced Scorecards took the American business world by storm starting in the mid 1990s. The concept is powerful, so much so that it is now the number one tool I would recommend for any corporation having trouble achieving its full potential.

That Elusive Management Spark - 2004-5-19 - There is a certain intangible, invisible, elusive "spark" that is the essence of management. If it's not present in an individual or organization, neither can possibly hope to manage anything well. Unless they get lucky, they are forever doomed to incompetence, frustration, and failure. What is that spark?

What Have We Learned Here? - 2004-5-9 - Based on a real life incident that started out as a pleasant walk alongside a railroad track.