<P>Subject: The World Trade Center Tragedy: A Plea for Reason
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To Our Academic Friends and Colleagues,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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<br>signed,
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<br>Valerie Gremillion, Ph.D       University of New Mexico
<br>J.Doyne Farmer,  Ph.D          Santa Fe Institute
<br>Sam Bowles, Ph.D               Santa Fe Institute
<br>Thomas Kepler, Ph.D            Santa Fe Institute
<br>Elisabeth J. Wood, Ph.D        Santa Fe Institute
<br>Manoj Gambhir, Ph.D            Santa Fe Institute
<br>Jennifer Dunne, Ph.D           Santa Fe Institute & San Francisco State
                               University
<br>Spyros Skouras, Ph.D           Santa Fe Institute
<BR>Fred  Cooper  Ph.D.            Los Alamos National Laboratory
<BR>Norman H. Packard, Ph.D        Prediction  Company


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http://www.global-dialog.org/mvd/mvl.cgi?NextName=wWTC.SFI.scientist.letter.html
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<A href="http://www.global-dialog.org<B>The Global Dialog Project</B></A>.
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