Random Acts of Karma

We live in a time of rapid change and uncertainty. The 50 year failure of the environmental movement has left us with a tangle of interconnected problems. Ecosystem destruction;  freakishly high levels of pollution of the land the water and the atmosphere; and resource depletion combine to create a looming crisis of epic proportions. We are faced with increasing political and economic instability and it’s clear that there will be no large scale co-ordinated efforts to address any of it.

This blog is about what we can do, as ordinary people in families and small groups, to create lives worth living; to build a future worth having; and to be a force for renewal and regeneration in our much depleted world. 

While the internet remains a useful tool (the sheer volume of people making content on various internet platforms make it possible to learn skill or find out anything about anything), what concerns us here is how information can be understood in the context of systems and systems thinking. More specifically, how we can use an understanding of the movement of information to maximize our ability to navigate an uncertain future.

This is the third post on Practicing Systems Thinking. Whole systems are made up of Energy, Matter, and Information. Each of these has a different pattern of movement and depletion. Tracing the flows of each is essential to developing an understanding what is happening in the system. Understanding how they move makes it possible to catch and store resources and make the best possible use of them.

Information is a key limiting factor in all systems. It is also the most perishable. Information moves erratically and is easily lost or corrupted. Good accurate information is essential to the success of any project.  Lack of information or misinformation can have severe negative consequences in decision making or system design.

First a distinction must be made between “data” and “information.” The difference is meaning and intention. Data can provide information if you can interpret it. It’s meaningless without context and significance. Intention is what gives it both.  

If you are walking through an unfamiliar neighbourhood the street signs and landmarks are information. As you look around your brain will scan the trees and shrubs on the boulevards, the houses, and the landscapes around them searching for anything unusual to mark the territory. Most of what you see will not register. The plants themselves, as well as birds, the clouds in the sky, and other animals roaming the area are irrelevant “noise.”  

If you are walking through the same neighbourhood with a bag in your hand and an urban foraging guide in your pocket, the plants in the landscape will have your full attention. The houses, streets signs, and random creatures all recede into the background. Your brain automatically filters out and ignores irrelevant data so you can focus on what matters. 

The difference between information and data is intention. 

The second point is that information is fragile. It is easily lost if not used and easily corrupted if not preserved and carefully passed on. 

There was a time when anyone over the age of 11 could read a clock face and count out change. Now counting out change is unheard of and many young adults have never learn to tell time other than digitally. These skills are not important but the same story can be told about many once common skills. Try finding your way around without GPS or Google Maps. Or predicting the weather without checking your phone.*

Preserving information has always been an essential aspect of the development of human societies. Written languages have been developed many times and in many places around the world and non-literate cultures take passing on information very seriously. In “The Memory Code” Lynne Kelly documents the many traditional practices and memory aid technologies used by Australian cultures and shows how widespread these thing were throughout the ancient world.

As modern people we have a wealth of information at our fingertips.** The problem is our information storage system is the most fragile ever created. “The Cloud,” is a fantastically inaccurate description of an enormous network of very solid and massive data centres.

The system is incredibly complicated; relies on multiple redundancies at every stage of the process to maintain data; and has an insatiable appetite. Data centres in the US alone consume energy(168 billion kWh annually), materials (228 kt/year to produce components ), and water(100–200 billion gallons per year) at an phenomenal rate. 

The tech bros and political elites will probably do their best to keep the it running as long as possible but it’s very likely that the easy access we enjoy today will be an early casualty of the long descent.*** 

Right now because we are still in the process of discarding the most recent ways of storing information the thrift stores and charity shops are full of books on any kind of hobby or practical skill you can imagine. Collecting books strategically is well worth considering. Books on practical skills like cooking, gardening, and doing repairs as well as books on ecology, weather guides and field guides to your local ecosystem, etc should top your list. 

More importantly you may want to consider training your brain to store and retain information. According to Kelly’s most recent book The Knowledge Gene, one of our most unique human traits is our ability to encode information. For over 70,000 years**** people all over the world have used our uniquely human skills in music, art, spatial abilities, story and performance to store and convey knowledge.

Electronic data is effervescent; books and paper burn and decompose; clay tablets crumble; stone cracks, breaks, and is eroded by wind and water. Yet the Kalamath people in Oregon tell a story about the clash of the gods that created Crater Lake that contains accurate descriptions of geological events nearly 8,000 years old. Oral stories kept by Australian cultures describe the ocean level rise that goes back to the end of the last ice age. 

Ironically, art, music, and story telling, our most ancient art forms, are the most durable way to store information.

*These are vital survival skills for non-industrial people. Before computers street and road maps were readily available in gas stations and convenience stores and asking strangers for directions was commonplace.

**Finding information has never been easier. Sorting it, understanding it, determining its accuracy is another story. 

***If you doubt this you may want to think deeply about the meaning of “sustainable.”

**** The actual genetic mutation that makes this possible may go back as far as 600,000 years.