Any system, biological, economic, or social, that gets so encrusted that it cannot self-evolve, a system that systematically scorns experimentation and wipes out the raw material of innovation, is doomed over the long term on this highly variable planet.

There are no separate systems. The world is a continuum. Where to draw a boundary around a system depends on the purpose of the discussion.

There is too much bad news to justify complacency. There is too much good news to justify despair.

Everyone except the far right wing of the Republican Party realizes that oil, gas and coal burning are the main activities that have sent the climate into bigger floods, droughts, hurricanes, and El Ninos

George W. cares as much about climate change as you would expect from a Texas oilman

It is in this space of mastery over paradigms that people throw off addictions, live in constant joy, bring down empires, get locked up or burned at the stake or crucified or shot, and have impacts that last for millennia.

A vision should be judged by the clarity of its values, not the clarity of its implementation path [in Mediated Modeling page 43]