Monthly Archives: September 2011

Evolution = Informed Social Change

An evolutionary understanding of human behavior does not lead inevitably to genetic determinism.  On the contrary.  An evolutionary view allows for informed social change.  Getting our arms around environmental and biological conditions that produce desired outcomes makes it more likely … Continue reading

Posted in Evolution, Institutional Design | Leave a comment

The Surprising Science of Motivation

According to vice-presidential (under Gore) speechwriter turned career analyst and author, Daniel Pink, the emerging champion of right brain vocation, there is a dramatic mismatch between the science of motivation and what business actually does. Whereas typical financial incentives work … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Creativity, Decision-Making, Innovation | Leave a comment

Innovation is Served

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs has emerged as a thought leader in the importance of innovation and design thinking to the service sector that is becoming predominant in many developed economies. They consider service innovation a national priority. A … Continue reading

Posted in Collaboration, Collective Intelligence, Design, Innovation | Leave a comment

Life without Lawyers

Check out Philip Howard’s recent TED talk offering ideas for far-reaching legal reform. Howard, a lawyer, is the founder of Common Good, a “nonpartisan national coalition dedicated to restoring common sense to America,” and the author of three books: Life … Continue reading

Posted in Law, Public Good | Leave a comment

Rethinking Individuality

Gregory Todd Jones’ 8 minute (O.K., 8 and a half minute) talk on the evolution of complexity and “Rethinking Individuality” at TEDxAtlanta hosted by Unboundary. Read an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about the event here.

Posted in Altruism, Collaboration, Complex Systems, Cooperation, Evolution, Institutional Design | 1 Comment

The Human Spark

An excellent three-part PBS series originally broadcast in January 2010, in which Alan Alda explores the question “What is the nature of human uniqueness?” “After some three and a half billion years of life’s evolution on this planet – and … Continue reading

Posted in Cooperation, Evolution | Leave a comment

Generating Predictability

Christoph Engel, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn and Professor of Law at the University of Bonn, is a bit of a multidisciplinary maverick as it comes to the intellectual leaders of think … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Complex Systems, Institutional Design | Leave a comment

Generative Social Science

If you enjoyed Josh Epstein and Robert Axtell’s Growing Artificial Societies, you’ll love Epstein’s newer work which “consolidates his interdisciplinary research activities in the last decade.” The book begins with some foundational material which lays out Epstein’s notion of generative … Continue reading

Posted in Agent-Based Models, Books, Complex Systems | Leave a comment