chaos and order

chaordic [kay-ordʹ-ic], adj., fr. E. chaos and order. 1. The behavior of any self-organizing, self-governing, organ, organization, or system that harmoniously exhibits characteristics of both order and chaos. 2. Patterned by chaos and order in a way not dominated by either. 3. Blending of diversity, chaos, complexity and order characteristic of the fundamental organizing principles of evolution and nature. —Dee Hock

Our institutions and markets are failing us. We need new structures and the return to tribalism currently manifested as populism will not save us. As the advent of the printing press helped usher in an age of inquiry, first in the Christian religion and later in the enlightenment and scientific revolution, so we have to engage in creating new organizational and governance structures for a global network era.

Dee Hock summarized the symptoms of our current age:

Unhealthy health care systems,
Welfare systems in which no one fares well,
Schools that cannot educate,
Corporations that cannot cooperate or compete,
Universities that are far from universal,
Agriculture that destroys soil, poisons water, and degrades food,
Police that cannot enforce the laws,
Unjust judicial systems,
Governments that cannot govern, and
Economies that cannot economize.

Unfortunately Dee Hock has not written his follow-up post from 2018-02-02 where he finished by stating that, “I intend to write another entry to this blog in the coming month suggesting how such a global governance organization might be conceived and realized.”

So it is up to all of us to keep working on new structures and systems. This is perhaps the only great work to be done for the next few decades. We have the science and technology to address most of the world’s problems. What we lack are structures that enable transparency and action on behalf of humankind, and not the vested interests of the rich and powerful.

If you are a professional, what are you questioning?
If you are an educator, what are you teaching?
If you are a journalist, what are you investigating?
If you are a citizen, what are you modelling with your behaviour?

One challenge is to change our work structures so that it is much more difficult for sociopaths to succeed.

For complex problems, we need simple structures that enable the blending of “diversity, chaos, complexity, and order” in the right mix.