February 17, 2005
In Memoriam
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Among the many sources of inspiration for The Post-Normal Times, are three people listed in the side bar under the heading In Memoriam – James Kay, Douglas Adams, and Gregory Bateson. We have now finally added text that explains some of the ways in which we are beholden to them, as follows.
James Kay (1954-2004) did not quite live to contribute directly to the Post-Normal Times, but his "musings about this and that" can still be found at www.jameskay.ca. In the next post, we present musings about James himself, by David Waltner-Toews.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
We solve the whole crime
We find the whole person
Phone today for the whole solution to your problem
(Missing cats and messy divorces a speciality)
33a Peckender St., London N1 01-359 9112
David wrote Adams a note, and he agreed to allow us the use of the name.
For more information see: www.douglasadams.com
A BBC obituary can be found here.
Lastly, 2004 marked the centennial of the birth of Gregory Bateson, and brought renewed attention to his legacy. We don’t know what he would make of Post-Normal Science but we do know that, in 1958, he began to allude to a new kind of science for which there was, “as yet, no satisfactory name” that was difficult to convey for lack of a base of common understanding. He also regarded prevailing scientific fallacies as a source of social troubles. Among these, the false presumption that it is possible to control and manage ecosystems through quantitative measurement which, as James Kay and Henry Regier point out, can easily lead a system to rapidly flip-flop to an alternate state. Bateson later provided a set of principles that were, to him, obvious and self-evident, about how we can know or learn anything, and about “the wider knowing that holds together the starfishes and sea anemones and redwood forests and human communities.” He also emphasized the need for multiple levels of learning.
His work is not easy to read. During his lifetime, the unfamiliar concepts and terms with which he expressed himself, such as references to “entropic budgets of flexibility,” baffled public officials and scientists alike. Since then, the more widespread recognition of a global scale environmental crisis, that he and others had anticipated, and the inadequacy of current approaches to social problem solving, has created a new context in which his ideas seem more relevant than ever. If we have not completely squandered the flexibility budget, perhaps this new context will also provide an opportunity for the social learning necessary to respond to an ever more rapidly changing environment. As has been pointed out by Funtowicz and Ravetz “Only when a new shared experience reveals the increasing inadequacies of an established world-view, does it become possible for a society to begin the lengthy and painful task of philosophical reconstruction, always focused on the most pressing problems of practice.” In retrospect, we have found that his principles provide a solid foundation for Post-Normal Science.
For more information, please visit the Institute for InterCultural Studies.
Other sources of information:
Bateson, G., Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity
Harries-Jones, P., A Recusive Vision: Ecological Understanding and Gregory Bateson
Funtowicz, S.O. and J.R. Ravetz, Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy
Regier, H.A., Kay J.J., 2001. Phase Shifts or Flip-Flops in Complex Sytems. In Munn R.E. ed. Vol. 5. Encyclopedia on Global Environmental Change. John Wiley & Sons, UK. pp. 422-42.
Tognetti, S. S. (1999) Science in a double-bind: Gregory Bateson and the Origins of Post-Normal Science. Futures, 31, 689-704.
Tognetti, S.S. 2001. Gregory Bateson (pdf) Munn, R.E. ed. Encyclopedia on Global Environmental Change. John Wiley & Sons, UK
Posted by Sylvia S Tognetti at 1:21 AM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2005
Error Correction
by Sylvia S Tognetti
2 issues have been brought to my attention, via comments on Prometheus:
1) That the comments function on this site were not working - they should be now.
2) That the quote widely attributed to James Watt, that "after the last tree is felled the Lord will return" (used in the text on the page "About the Post-Normal Times" ) is something he never actually said, at least not in a Senate hearing. Grist, the Washington Post, and Bill Moyers have all issued retractions. Bill Moyers also issued a public apology and conceded that he made a mistake because he used it without doing his homework. The Post-Normal Times herewith also retracts the statement, has revised the page and thanks those who take the time to point out errors. While care is needed, it is not possible to fact check every quote we use - but we do indicate our sources. Those trying to create a bandwagon to criticize Bill Moyers over a mistaken quote that has been retracted, should look into coverage of the WMD issue.
The page now references the more ambiguous statement that James Watt did make in a Senate hearing, that "I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns." This statement has also been widely circulated, most recently by James Watt himself, who forwarded the transcript of his testimony to John Hinderaker at powerlineblog.com, to suggest that he has been taken out of context. Perhaps he is referring to those who claim he said it to justify dismantling of the department and the giveaway of public lands at firesale prices - as is suggested in this article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to powerlineblog.com, he meant the opposite. So I took a closer look at the context, as posted on powerlineblog.com:
Mr. Weaver [D. Ore.]: Do you want to see on lands under your management, the sustained yield policies continued?Secretary Watt: Absolutely.
Mr. Weaver: I am very pleased to hear that. Then I will make one final statement... I believe very strongly that we should not, for example, use up all the oil that took nature a billion years to make in one century.
We ought to leave a few drops of it for our children, their children. They are going to need it... I wonder if you agree, also, in the general statement that we should leave some of our resources--I am now talking about scenic areas or preservation, but scenic resources for our children? Not just gobble them up all at once?
Secretary Watt: Absolutely. That is the delicate balance the Secretary of the Interior must have, to be steward for the natural resources for this generation as well as future generations.
I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns, whatever it is we have to manage with a skill to leave the resources needed for future generations.
In other words, he cites the return of the Lord as at least a factor to be considered in deciding how much should be left to future generations, and presumably, in setting the environmental policies for which he was eventually forced out of office, most notably, the give away of public assets at firesale prices. I look forward to James Watt's response to Bill Moyers that is expected Thursday, in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Posted by Sylvia S Tognetti at 7:42 PM | Comments (1)
February 5, 2005
Welcome to Post-Normal Times
by Sylvia S Tognetti
This website was inspired by the film Adaptation, in which, Charlie Kaufman, portrayed by Nicholas Cage, is hired to write a screenplay about a book, The Orchid Thief, and faces the problem of how to include the standard features of a Hollywood film - a sensational plot, chase scenes, sex, and a happy ending, in a book that is about obsession with flowers. Instead, though convinced it would end his career, he wrote the screenplay about his own dilemma and was subsequently nominated for an Oscar.
One evening, in the Zoo Bar in Washington DC, asked my opinion about the movie, I explained to a few fellow science and policy wonks, that it illustrates a dilemma similar to that faced by those who provide scientific advice to policy makers. Science and policy reports are expected to provide decision-makers with a script that tells them what to say at the next meeting, and templates they can use to understand what they can actually do - "at 9 a.m. on Monday morning," with science that backs it up, so they can avoid the dirty work of actually making decisions. Complex problems in which uncertainty is unavoidable, rarely if ever have simple, technical solutions that are also acceptable. Finding an acceptable solution often requires new ways of framing a problem, and multiple perspectives, that go beyond science, and that may open up new options. In other words, it is about how decisions are made, and about flowers and songbirds, and the places where we live. However, explaining this to policy makers has been known to jeopardize careers.
It was suggested I write a column - or something…. The next morning I registered the domain name for this site, to provide a place for all of the important and relevant information that doesn’t fit into formal reports or lend itself to being packaged into what has come to be regarded as “news.” After a very long incubation period, it has finally come into being.
Addendum, June 27, 2005
If you happen to be Charlie Kaufman and have found this site, note that you have an open invitation to be a member of the Post-Normal Times Advisory Board and, of course, to be a contributing writer to this site. A letter to your agent has not been answered. Please e-mail me! (editor@postnormaltimes.net). Thank you.
Posted by Sylvia S Tognetti at 3:04 AM | Comments (0)