SFI.scientist.letter

The World Trade Center Tragedy: A Plea for Reason September 17, 2001 To Our Academic Friends and Colleagues, We're taking the unusual step of writing to our scientific and academic colleagues on this topic for a simple reason: you have expertise, insight, education, and training, that is needed right now. It is needed in our universities and our schools, at forums and discussions. It is needed when we speak with our families and when we make our wishes known to our political representatives. It is needed in the U.S. and around the world. In dealing with issues in our own fields we are often forced to recognize the complexities within them, their convergent causality, and the presence of patterns that propagate system structures and behaviors. The understanding of feedback loops and other patterns helps us to make sense of the complex systems we study. In the World Trade Center tragedy we see some of these same patterns operating in our own human systems. Cycles of violence and other self-propagating dynamics are clearly at work here, and it may be that in choosing not to explain such core concepts of pattern and feedback, we do a disservice to the understanding of our nation and the world. In our government's willingness to consider what may devolve into undifferentiated war against entire peoples, we may be initiating violent cycles of even greater magnitude, and sacrificing the long-term security intrinsic in the good will of our fellows for short- term political solutions. Any such decision should be backed by every measure of knowledge and understanding that we have. Yet the mass media do not present a clear picture of either these dynamics or the repercussions of choices we make by engaging in the political machinations, the funding, or the process of war. Even worse, it is not clear to the populace at large that deeper issues exist, and that in our rush to possible violent retaliation, it is difficult to maintain an objective view of our long-term security and well-being, and that of the world. It is here that we ask your help. Having perhaps greater access to useful conceptual frameworks, to data, to the history and contexts of events now unfolding, many academics are in a position to speak out in a reasonable and explanatory manner about the choices before us and the consequences of any actions we might take. Beyond that, academic voices are often heard in debates where others may be drowned out. The generous intellectual resources and free time which our society affords members of the scientific and broader scholarly community give us a special responsibility in these times of crisis to seek to inject the reason, the facts, and the deeper understanding necessary for good decision making. Speaking out in such times can seem challenging or even dangerous. Being factual, thoughtful, or reasonable is especially difficult when blood runs hot and the drumbeat of war sounds. Yet the alternative is to allow national decisions of global import to be made without our voices, possibly biased by political expediency and short-term agendas that in the end, serve few, if any. When approaching issues without sufficient context, many who have little basis for their opinions shape them directly from the degree to which they witness a viewpoint repeated, rather than a balanced assessment of the issues. This means that public opinion is often formed by the *perception* of what public opinion currently is; many will follow any course of action if it is the only clear choice. Allowing only the the loudest and most repetitive voices to predominate in national discussions does no service to democracy nor to our ability to choose a path wisely. That is why it is crucial that many different possible responses to this tragedy be presented, and why the cascade of consequences of any given action be pointed out by those trained to see them in the light of other complex systems. Many concepts basic to science and other areas of academic study are not self-evident to everyone, yet these insights and conceptual frameworks, so valuable for our work, could be meaningfully applied to our current situation. Given the possible long-term costs of decisions hastily made in the these circumstances, we urge you to voice your concerns and share your insights with your community and elected representatives. We do not ask that you espouse certain opinions or decisions, only that you do your utmost to influence the ongoing American discussion through reason and discernment. We support you in your attempts to speak out and find the best path not only for our nation, but for the world we live in - because the decisions and actions we make now will surely impact our nation, our colleagues around the world, and our loved ones in the future. Please feel free to forward this letter as you see fit. If you have ideas for forums, discussions, solutions to specific issues, or alternate paths to true global security, or if you would like to help establish dialogs on these subjects either online or in your community, please contact Valerie Gremillion at valerie@global-dialog.org. Your input is welcome -- and needed. signed, Valerie Gremillion, Ph.D University of New Mexico J.Doyne Farmer, Ph.D Santa Fe Institute Sam Bowles, Ph.D Santa Fe Institute Thomas Kepler, Ph.D Santa Fe Institute Elisabeth J. Wood, Ph.D Santa Fe Institute Manoj Gambhir, Ph.D Santa Fe Institute Jennifer Dunne, Ph.D Santa Fe Institute & San Francisco State University Spyros Skouras, Ph.D Santa Fe Institute Fred Cooper Ph.D. Los Alamos National Laboratory Norman H. Packard, Ph.D Prediction Company

Participant Comments follow below

A collaborative reflection on the question "What directions for the development of human learning in the light of the events of September 11, 2001, and similar atrocities throughout the history of humankind?" is currently under preparation by the Learning Development Institute (LDI). Information will be provided and regularly updated through the LDI Web site at http://www.learndev.org. We welcome suggestions. Jan Visser, Ph.D., President, Learning Development Institute