Feedback Loops and

Knowledge Gardens

A Case for Improved Socio-technical Infrastructures Jack Park

Sage Bionetworks Commons Congress

San Francisco, 19-20 April 2013 CC-By

From the perspective of complexity theory, emergence arises from complex systems that create new properties from “autonomous unities coming together into larger, more powerful unities”*

Complex Systems Shared Stories Collaboration in the Garden

* [2]

The emergence we seek is that of insight into the nature of and solutions to complex problems

Great Law of the Iroquois

"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation...”

3

Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour, Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun; but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric – Edna St. Vincent Millay

A Strategy

Learning, Improving Requires Feedback

ordered gardens

wild borders

ordered gardens

wild borders

Structured but emergent networks of claims and arguments

Informally expressed claims and arguments,

awaiting ‘proper linkage’

Source: Simon Buckingham Shum

Towards a cultivated ecosystem…

Triple Learning Loop

[1], Page 23

Completed Representation

antioxidants kill

free radicals

Contraindicates

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

Bacterial Infection Antioxidants

Because

Appropriate For

Compromised Host

Let us co-create solutions to cancer

References

• [1] FEDERAL HEALTH FUTURES SUMMIT LEADERSHIP LEARNING for TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE. September 10-11, 2012 Washington DC Metro Region

• [2] Olen Gunnlaugson (2011). A Complexity Perspective on Presencing. Complicity, Vol 9, No 1 (2012). Online at: http://ejournals.library.

About Me

Built airplane

Undergrad study: aero eng.

Built windmills/Solar homes

Built wind/solar sensors

AI to analyze data

Collective intelligence

Knowledge gardens

Life in a Waterfall