Impermanence By Design
There are no permanent solutions in dynamic systems.
Dynamic systems are constantly evolving networks of interdependent variables where change is the only constant, and respond to both internal shifts and external stimuli in ways that usually defy prediction.
Unless it's artificially constrained or temporarily stabilized, I'm not the person who'll solve for the permanent aspect of any dynamic system.
Such attempts often create unintended consequences or merely push the problem elsewhere.
For example, anti-drug campaigns that focus solely on enforcement tend to create black markets with higher prices, which does incentivize more dangerous products and violence.
I don't think there's actually a permanent aspect for dynamic systems when you really think about it.
Because it evidently goes against the fact that adaptation and evolution are fundamental to their nature.
The Rhythm of Reversal
Peace is pre-personal.
Calm-ness is personal.
Tranquility is transpersonal.
Between peace and tranquility, there's a war time or rather an immersion into chaotic experiences that churn out of us a deeper understanding of ourselves and our relationship to systems around us.
This progression mirrors how we interact with dynamic systems.
At first, we seek peace through ignorance of complexity.
Then we develop personal calmness as a response to recognized chaos.
Finally, we achieve tranquility through deep understanding that transcends our individual perspective, seeing patterns in what once seemed like mere noise.
Dynamic systems have a knack for turning everything upside down, inside out. That's just the way they're built at their core.
Support turns into resistance, and vice versa.
The most hated becomes the most loved, and vice versa.
Order turns into chaos, just as certainty turns into uncertainty, and vice versa.
Digital Acceleration
I think the more the world becomes digital, the more dynamic it will become and the less stable ground we have to rest on for long-term planning.
Markets as Mirrors
On the one side of the spectrum, financial markets are one of the most dynamic systems humans have created, reflecting countless decisions, emotions, and information flows in real-time.
Markets in general tend to be self-regulating and unpredictable, precisely because they incorporate feedback loops that constantly adjust to new information and participant behavior.
When they say $600 billion has been wiped out of the market because X or Y supposedly happened, I always wondered where did that amount went to or was it even really there in the first place?
My intuition tells me it is the latter.
To me, the concept of 'market value' itself shows the ephemeral nature of such systems.
Billions in wealth can vanish because collective perception has shifted, not because resources have disappeared.
Yesterday's certainty becomes today's delusion.
Feature, Not A Bug
Now, "permanent solutions" implies solving a problem once and for all. But what if this said problem is a feature and not necessarily a bug?
Imagine trying to permanently eliminate forest fires in an ecosystem that depends on occasional burns for renewal?
This is actually how many well-intentioned interventions in complex systems looks like to me.
What's somewhat interesting to me with the impermanence of dynamic systems is these systems are built on patterns, and patterns have their own logic that's simultaneously predictable in form yet unpredictable in specific manifestations.
I know a storm will eventually form but I don't know exactly where it will hit.
Social media is quite a remarkable dynamic system, in that it amplifies human tendencies toward both connection and tribalism simultaneously.
For me, the systematic aspect of social media is mostly perceived through the way trends emerge, peak, and disappear, usually without apparent logic.
It bothers me a little that something that's practically false can be construed as true and then gets viral attention to the point that it shapes real-world decisions before anyone can properly examine its validity.
In another sense, practical truths like the need for sustainable resource management could well be ignored because they don't generate the emotional engagement that drives dynamic social systems.
From Permanence To Resilience
Consider climate change.
Arguably, our atmosphere is a dynamic system that's been pushed far from equilibrium.
Many seek a permanent solution, some technological fix or policy change.
But the nature of the system reveals we need adaptive strategies that evolve as conditions change, not a one-time fix.
In the end, the only truly permanent approach to dynamic systems is having humility in the face of complexity and then committing to ongoing learning and adjustment as everything unfolds in real time.
Definitely not something my practical-long-term-thinking-self would want to hear!
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.