Imagine that it is 1920 and you have somehow been granted absolute power to predict the future. You happen to visit the mayor of Rotterdam and, during that time, you describe in vivid detail what is going to happen to his town over the next 25 years. Thus, in an otherwise perfectly normal working day, Continue reading Saving Rotterdam From Destruction Arie de Geus (1999)
We often assume that if we understand causes, we can predict outcomes. In complex situations, cause and effect are only clear in retrospect, so prediction can mislead and overconfidence can grow. Working with small experiments, noticing emerging patterns, and adjusting as we go offers a more grounded way forward. Continue reading In Complex Situations Cause and Effect Can Only Be Understood in Retrospect Why prediction breaks down in complex situations
What Would Make a Better World? Personal Power ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Predicting the future is a fool’s errand, but we can help create it. We live in a complex socio-technical system — a Continue reading Predicting the Future Is a Fools’ Errand ** But we can help create it
We often construct false narratives in complex situations to make the past seem predictable. This habit, called retrospective coherence, hides the actual uncertainty of past events. Understanding this bias allows us to see complexity more clearly and avoid oversimplifying decisions and outcomes. Continue reading Retrospective Coherence in a Complex World How oversimplified narratives distort the past and hinder decision-making