Leaning into Complexity Science of the Santa Fe Kind

This brief post serves as a marker of what I hope will be a fascinating period of “work” of utmost practicality in the future. Through a series of fortunate events on a summer road trip to Santa Fe, my path once again crossed Dr. Geoffrey West’s, author of “Scale,” published in 2017. He’s a theoretical physicist. The work for which I am associated with, simply — capital, energy and resources, and sustainability — has just found a pseudo-analogue. That may not even be the optimal analogy. His work provides grounding and context for my seemingly disparate interests (alluded to in my Seattle commentary).

An excerpt from the book:

“…without a continuous supply of energy and resources, not only can there by no manufacturing of any of these things [our litany of inventions, goods, etc.] but, perhaps more important, there can be no ideas, no innovation, no growth, and no evolution. Energy is primary. It underlies everything we do and everything that happens around us.” (p. 13)

Much of the theory, brilliant maths and analysis of West on complex adaptive systems from both a micro- and macro-perspective offers a lens with which to view and frame these subjects of interest. My daughter Hannah, and partner in crime, was instrumental in directing my diffuse attention and goal of conveying what I was working on to Dr. West by serendipitously identifying the last copy of “Scale” in a tiny Santa Fe bookshop at the bottom of a shelf. Actually, I didn’t know that West’s book existed until the trip, having interviewed him a decade earlier about some of his ideas captured in the book. We ventured to the Santa Fe Institute the last day of our stay. I’m now one-third of the way through the book, having immediately read the specific pages where he elaborates about the energy system’s role in the making of the modern epoch the night before reconnecting. Basically, our ability to harness energy created the Industrial Revolution which begat this evolving modern age for all of its demographic (biological forces) and economic growth (the socio-economic aspects).

For my part, through the stories of entrepreneurs, leaders and visionaries—which after all, those skill sets go hand in hand— this body of work has emerged. Even the 100s of interviews conducted with academics, ie., thought entrepreneurs, about their research, reflects those qualities and has served as anchor points of knowledge. These visionaries, leaders and thinkers display marvelous proofs of human ingenuity, for which I am privileged to share with various audiences through a number of venues.

In honor of this Santa Fe vignette, these few images and videos reflect some of the themes on the journey — there and back again. They relate to connections to my own projects past, present and future and just good ole creative impulse. I liken this to West’s cite of D’Arcy W. Thompson and his pronouncements about physical science — “of all else that is of the earth earthy” —plus his reference in his book about fractal’s usage by film and media related to “Game of Thrones.” On a fluke suggestion of a nearby storekeeper, we visited the bookstore owned by Game of Thrones author George RR Martin, Beastly Books. Makes for a pretty wild background. I might prefer a Rivendale scene, if it were available.