An Analysis of the Potential for the Formation of ‘Nodes of Persisting Complexity’

Abstract

Human civilisation has undergone a continuous trajectory of rising sociopolitical complexity since its inception; a trend which has undergone a dramatic recent acceleration. This phenomenon has resulted in increasingly severe perturbation of the Earth System, manifesting recently as global-scale effects such as climate change. These effects create an increased risk of a global ‘de-complexification’ (collapse) event in which complexity could undergo widespread reversal. ‘Nodes of persisting complexity’ are geographical locations which may experience lesser effects from ‘de-complexification’ due to having ‘favourable starting conditions’ that may allow the retention of a degree of complexity. A shortlist of nations (New Zealand, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland) were identified and qualitatively analysed in detail to ascertain their potential to form ‘nodes of persisting complexity’ (New Zealand is identified as having the greatest potential). The analysis outputs are applied to identify insights for enhancing resilience to ‘de-complexification’.

“When I say I'm depressed, it's like anger.” An Exploration of the Emotional Landscape of Climate Change Concern in Norway and Its Psychological, Social and Political Implications.

“…This contradictory position of Norway came to be known as the "Norwegian Paradox" (Lahn, 2019). Additionally, Norway, despite largely contributing to global climate change, is relatively sheltered from its most acute consequences, and it is deemed one of the countries most adaptable to the changing climate (Chen et al, 2015;King & Jones, 2021;Sarkodie & Strezov, 2019). Norway is also characterised by a strong culture of norm-conforming, con ictavoidance and consensus-seeking (Avant & Knutsen, 1993;Gullestad, 1990), so that people often refrain from addressing the Norwegian paradox openly in the societal debate.…”

“…We do not aim to create a representative picture of the emotional landscape in the whole population, but deliberately focus on this highly engaged group to learn how more intense emotional responses unfold. We conduct our exploration in Norway, one of the most climate change resilient countries (King & Jones, 2021), but also one of the world's largest oil producers (EIA, 2019;Topdahl et al, 2021), with considerable power for in uencing global climate politics. Our exploratory research provides rich bottom-up data on the interpretive context of emotions of people highly concerned about climate change and their psychological, social and political implications.…”

[Retracted] A Preliminary Study on the Dramatic Factors of Ancient Chinese Poetry under the Changing Geographical Environment

“…Located in the interior of the Eurasian continent, the area is closed, less subject to external intrusion, and cultural traditions can be continued. It has had a significant impact on the emergence and development of Chinese traditional culture [ 13 ]. As an indispensable part of Chinese traditional culture, ancient poetry and its natural geographical environment also have a profound influence on its development and cultural evolution.…”

Anticipatory Governance for Preventing and Mitigating Catastrophic and Existential Risks

“…threats, the process will affect every last human. Actions by New Zealand would be wise to focus on risks that may originate locally (such as biological or agricultural threats), on mechanisms for resilience against scale-up once threats emerge, and on surviving threats where New Zealand has a relative advantage in ensuring humanity survives -for example, catastrophic pandemics, biological weapon use, nuclear and volcanic winter (Boyd and Wilson, 2021;King and Jones, 2021). Particular priority areas of activity in New Zealand might include: • resilience building, in general terms, as well as specific preparations for threats where New Zealand has a relative survival advantage; • determining which global catastrophic risks might plausibly originate in New Zealand, and associated prevention steps; • collaborative efforts with Australia, especially where the value of cooperation may be greater than the sum of individual mitigation efforts; • research into imagining realistic worst case scenarios and problem finding that can be shared with the world; • contributions to fostering a global workforce of extreme risk expertise; and • increasing overseas development assistance to the agreed 0.7% of GDP to help neighbouring countries build resilience.…”