Complexity Is Not the Problem You Think It Is
Complexity is a problem when you don't plan for it. Every social group of people is a complex system. Every social system overlaps and interacts with many other complex systems. Each has its unpredictable behaviors that may affect the others.
Curandi's approach doesn't involve knowing everything about complex social systems. Instead, it organizes interventions with complexity in mind. Its purpose is to provide an open field of structured collaboration through which every human and social service provider can deliver sustainable solutions to the community's most challenging problems. Success depends on our collective effort.
In an earlier blog, "The Two Kinds Of Purpose In Social Systems," we discussed how a government plan to help all students go to college actually ended up making college unaffordable and less available instead. Obviously this is not what those who created and guided the program had in mind. The complex dynamics were a real problem because they didn't plan for it. Many young people acquired avoidable debt because a more system-aware plan was never considered. We can do better.
Two misunderstandings are at the root of our inability to appreciate the role of complexity in thwarting our goals. To understand this, we use a graphic abstraction called a network.
We often believe that what we see is all there is. However, each of us is just a single node in a complex network. While we can see and understand those directly connected to us, our understanding of people and things farther away is limited.
The behavior of the system in other places may be quite different. For example, Marion County has nearly 350,000 people, leading to significant diversity. The key point is that the system's overall behavior comes from elements we cannot see.
The links connecting us interchange many things: money, items we buy, things we believe, stories we hear, expressions of love and hate, and more. We only experience these interchanges directly when they reach our node, leaving us unaware of events elsewhere.
Some interchanges connect to others to form feedback loops, amplifying effects and driving action throughout the system. Others create negative feedback loops, dampening impact and promoting stability. Sometimes, ideas merge into new, attractive concepts—true or false. These ideas attract new connections and distort information flow, often without others knowing.
The bottom line is the behavior of the whole is not the sum of individual behaviors. Even if we think people are rational, this dynamic flow of information alters the field around each person and what they must consider.
This continuously changing reality at each node and shifting network of connections influences the people in the system more than any single node can affect the whole. This kind of behavior is algorithmic because it comes from how the system operates as opposed to the people in it. This reality operates within all social systems. To accomplish our goals, we must learn to operate in this environment.
Lastly, counterproductive and harmful systemic behavior can arise in systems where all participants are good and well-intentioned. To change systemic behavior, we must alter the architecture and dynamics of connections and the nature of what flows through them.
The Curandi model works to implement systems that improve problems arising from complex social systems. These concepts are one part of how we will accomplish more together. Join us.