Simply Complex Systems | Tom Wessels | TEDxWindham
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Fascinating complex systems in nature are showcased so they are easy to understand - and dare us to think.
Learn how better, simpler solutions can be realized when we look at the whole picture.
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Terrestrial ecologist Tom Wessels considers himself a generalist with interests in forest, desert, and alpine ecosystems, geomorphology, evolutionary ecology, sustainability and the interface between landscape and culture. He completed graduate training at the University of Colorado Boulder as a research ecologist and is the Founding Director of the Master's degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England, where he also teaches.
Tom has conducted landscape level workshops throughout the United States for over 30 years. An accomplished author, his books include: Reading the Forested Landscape, The Granite Landscape, Untamed Vermont, The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future, and Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to reading the Forested Landscape.
Tom Wessels is chair of The Center for Whole Communities (www.wholecommunities.org), fostering inclusive communities strongly rooted in place where all people regardless of income, race, or background have access to and a healthy relationship with land. Tom is former chair of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation. He serves as an ecological consultant to the Rain Forest Alliance's SmartWood Green Certification Program, helping draft green certification assessment guidelines for forest operations in the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
i think it's a plain indicator of how knowledgeable and well versed someone is, that they can explore very intricate and widely scoped subjects and ideas to the average layperson in a way that's immediately understandable. this Man, Tom Wessels, is a prime example. what an incredible human being.
A TED talk with an extremely profound message
Professor Wessels, you are my newest favorite person. Love your videos and insight, Thank you !
Stumbled on him just a week ago. Binged since then which is why I'm here. He truly is a special 'teaching' human.
It would be worth getting a transcript of this talk. Tom Wessels' address is profound for its insights as the the strategies that the natural world applies to achieve self organization of a landscape. The invitation to learn from that adaption is irresistible. The lessons of the natural world are magnifficently presented in this talk.
Great link between self organization in nature and in business/human systems. Great talk, Tom. Specialization can breed resiliency and creativity. #ReLocalizeEcon
Tom, Well done and a pleasure being on the program with you.
self-organization is such a universal principal to life today - fantastic talk!
Today?
Great talk! So important!
Excellent talk, Tom. Thanks for speaking at TEDxWindham!
Incredible content from the bottom up.
Stellar. Thank you.
More Tom Wessels Ted Talks, please. Maybe he can do his next one on Forest Forensics?
Really enjoyed Tom's talk!
Awesome job!!! This was great!
We are fortunate to have among us someone who has developed an understanding of humanity's present predicament this comprehensive. Tom is so adept at sharing his important insights in public that if, at this point, our culture persists is ignoring the need to change the thinking behind our collective misbehavior, and our downfall takes us by surprise, then pleading ignorance will just reveal who wasn't paying attention.
Tom Wessels for president. Wish more people were interested in this content
incredible
Sphere sovereignty is a key idea to achieving resilience and natural order.
Now in August of 2022 our task is to rebuild a culture (worldwide) from the ruins which will support our complex living systems.
Great video. One word pernaculture.
My first exposure to the concept. I must have missed something, because I still don't get why it is called "self organization" "Self Organization" ..... as opposed to what?
I'm am by no means an expert on this but I think it's self organizing in the sense that there is no central control directing the system as a whole. In the butcher and blacksmith example, they only act because of individual local incentives. The butcher needs a knife and the blacksmith needs to eat. They are not filling any productions quota because some economist calculated a lack of blacksmiths and butchers in the economy or something. In this sense the economy is self organizing because it's composed of these local interactions.
The neuron cells only act on signals from their local cells that they're interconnected to. The individual neuron doesn't know that it's part of controlling the body to walk or jump or speak, it's only acting on localized information but the sum of the neuronal activity involved give rise to emerged behavior of walking and talking etc.
Another classes example of self organizing behavior is that of bird murmurs, each individual bird only acts on information from the local birds, that is, keep a certain distance from your neighbor and go in the same direction, and this give rise to seemingly orchestrated behavior but which no one bird control.
It’s driven by energy efficiency and specialization, where each specialization creates conditions for other specialized functions...leading to diversity and complexity
opposites of selforga: planned economy, intelligent design, prejudice
So simple -- think of an economy as a ecosystem.
And some people think this complicated but beautiful life we live is by random chance....without a God
I am sure when I say many of us agree with you but, the question is how do we move back when we are being controlled by large corporations that crush the little guy competition?
we need part two
Stop giving them your resources.
@@georgebunce749 Easier said than done.
@@Zorbawon Happiness isn't easy, friend. Happiness requires effort.
@@georgebunce749 I agree, and I am happy due to my efforts but, I am more concerned about my children and grandchildren who speak to google or alexa to get what they need from the large corporations. Since you made this video, much has happened, and I am sure many are taking notice of big pharma etc.!
So basically, letting capital temporarily construct reality, depending on removed sociopaths desires in the moment, does not manufacture sustainable systems.
We d I not live bt Smith, Neoliberalism focuses on Malthus.
Which all points to a highly intelligent Designer….everything in life so complexed, even machines that man creates…. Would we not think that the Intricate and vast universe and our amazing bodies and their processes point to an loving and powerful Being behind it all….?
maybe, maybe not- you seem to forget all the unpleasantness of the world, pain and suffering and death, war, animals killing and eating other animals, natural disasters, I could go on all day- it's a mix of wonderful things and not so wonderful- more of a yin-yang- one might conclude what you conclude but it's also possible to have other conclusions
The specialization of living cells in plants and animals is not self-organization, that is a poor analogy. They are guided systems by internal DNA coding. The genetic coding is not evolutionary either, as it is impossible for additional coding to be added by self-organization. All organisms have a certain level of adaptability built into their coding, which allows minor changes to ensure some species will survive when conditions change. Thus, the ratio of finches with smaller, weaker beaks is reduced when the food source is tough-shelled seeds that the finches cannot crack open as easily. "Natural Selection" did nothing, it has no power to alter genetics and likewise the organism does not, as is often stated, choose to manufacture new systems to "adapt" to the environment.
The complexity of systems is real, and symbiotic relationships are multitudinous, but misassigning this as evidence of evolution is misguided. For instance, the propensity for ants to use acacia as a food source is the nature of ants, they intrinsically search out food sources and colonize around them (as they invade people's homes). It is erroneous to infer that the acacia or the ant self-organized as if the acacia was sentient and knew ants would provide defensive benefits to itself. Rubbish. If ants were not there the acacia would not die, it has thorns and is well defended because genetically it was DESIGNED for that purpose. The ants were also designed to behave as they do and are merely acting according to their intrinsic nature. The ants did not "evolve" a venomous sting or cutting mouthparts, or a taste for nectar, or the ability to build and excavate lairs for their young as these are programmed into the ants.
Naturally, take away the food source (acacia) and the self-organization of the ant fails and they die. Remove the ectomycorrhiza fungi nutrient support for a growing sapling and it will likely also die. "Mother Nature" did not create these interrelationships, the Creator of all life did. Science should acknowledge the obvious instead of shading the truth to infer the acacia decided the ant would be a mutually beneficial partnership and changed its internal programming to create new structures and likewise, the ant would evolve new structures to fulfill their mutual concerns.
@Johnny Anglo Your ignorance shines like a beacon.
@@pepperco100 Very creative. I'm convinced.
“The genetic coding is not evolutionary either, as it is impossible for additional coding to be added through self-organization.” If that’s true, he didn’t need to give evolution as a reason for this great concept. Pointless, and he could have left it open ended at the least.
@@mitsealb3609 It's a pity you didn't benefit from your 10th grade biology class. By your ill conceived notion, farmers would be unable to selectively breed animals and plants for desirable traits.
@@pepperco100 I didn’t say anything. I quoted the original post. But I’ll try to defend it. Self-organization- “self-organization refers to the process by which individuals organize their communal behavior to create global order by interactions amongst themselves rather than through external intervention or instruction.” This is the recognized definition and falls in line with what the guy in the video is saying. A farmer selectively breeding plants or animals isn’t self organization. It’s perfectly reasonable for something greater and intelligent to influence lesser things. Also, there are differences between plants and animals. Question: Has a farmer ever created a new species through breeding? Or maybe even a plant? I don’t know enough about that last one. Educated Christians believe in adaptation, or you could say “evolution”, within species by the way.
All your samples for the 'self organization' are just small scale impact(or local impact) organization, if we need an organization to run in a global scale, maybe, the central organization is the right way to go.
My favorite Antioch Professor
The point of the talk is, humans are not smart enough to run anything on a global scale, be it plant relocation or home mortgages. We don't have the brain power to understand long-term consequences of our (however well-meaning) efforts. Monopolies are harmful to the planet: nature takes care of itself over time, and economy may well improve if small neighborhood businesses become the backbone of society.