Needed: Systems Thinking in Public Affairs

Next up in our Papers in Systems discussion series: a working paper by Dr. Mel Conway that will argue that many of our assumptions driving public policy lead to adverse consequences because they lack systems thinking.

Mel Conway (of Conway's Law fame) has been researching and exploring in the area of new emergent phenomenon since the recent combination of Internet, smartphones, and social networking apps; the working name he is giving that new phenomenon is "ubiquitous connectivity." His thesis is that it's changing the way we're organizing ourselves, we don't understand it, and we'd better do something about that lack of understanding. He will describe a thought-experiment simulation that strongly suggests that ubiquitous connectivity at scale is inherently unfair, and he will show one real-world consequence of ubiquitous connectivity buried in the way we finance public corporations that is driving global warming.

This working paper is at: https://melconway.com/Home/pdf/UbiquitousConnectivity.pdf

When: Monday, June 3rd, 2024, 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time (US/Canada). The Zoom room will remain open until 2:30 PM for informal discussion.

The paper will be presented by Mel Conway (https://twitter.com/conways_law) and discussion will be facilitated by Adrian Cockcroft