Human Current

In this episode, Angie interviews the Head of Strategy at Basecamp, Ryan Singer. Singer talks with Angie at the Ninth International Conference on Complex Systems about design strategy, nonlinear dynamics, interdisciplinary work, and his personal journey of discovering complexity science and NECSI.

In this episode, Haley interviews author, mental health counselor, change agent, and Founding Director of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center, Steven Hassan. Hassan talks with Haley at the Ninth International Conference on Complex Systems about cults and mind control as “a systematic social influence process”. He also describes how a complex systems model can be used to mobilize social networks like policy makers, educators, health professionals, and law enforcement to empower individuals impacted by undue influence.

In this episode, Haley interviews Ricardo Hausmann at the Ninth International Conference on Complex Systems. Hausmann is Professor of Economic Development at Harvard's Kennedy School and Director of the Center for International Development at Harvard University. He talks with Haley about the scale of the current economic collapse in Venezuela, economic complexity, systemic resilience, and the invisible hand.   

In this episode, Haley talks with the President of the New England Complex Systems Institute, Professor Yaneer Bar-Yam, at the opening day of the Ninth International Conference on Complex Systems. Bar-Yam talks about the diversity of people presenting and attending the conference and why the event is so important for the complexity science community and the world.

In this episode, Haley interviews author, filmmaker and founder of Local Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge. Helena is a pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement and has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than thirty years. During her interview, she discusses the harmful consequences of economic globalization and advocates for localism as a systemic path to return us ‘to the reality of complexity, diversity and interdependence of all life.’ Helena also shares the importance of spreading systemic and economic literacy, which is a mission she works toward at Local Futures.

In this episode preview, we share a clip from our interview with author, filmmaker, and founder of Local Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge. Norberg-Hodge describes how our dependence on large global systems limits our freedom. She explains that face-to-face connection between people in community is not only important, but also relevant to systems thinking and complexity.

In this episode, Angie interviews best-selling author, speaker, teacher and formal leader, Margaret Wheatley. Wheatley talks in detail about her new book, Who Do We Choose To Be? Facing Reality | Claiming Leadership | Restoring Sanity, and reveals why she is so driven by her “unshakable conviction that leaders must learn how to evoke people’s inherent generosity, creativity, and need for community”. She also describes how leaders can experiment with complexity theory and systems thinking to better understand the role of interconnectedness and emergence in their work. Wheatley offers a powerful and thought-provoking message for courageous leaders of this time, calling on them to become “warriors for the human spirit”.

In this episode preview, we share a clip from our interview with Margaret Wheatley. Wheatley is a speaker, author, teacher, consultant, advisor & formal leader—she has developed an unshakeable confidence that leaders must invoke people’s inherent generosity, creativity and need for community. In this clip she talks about emergence, which she describes as 'the most overarching, most profound learning [she] ever got from complexity science'. 

In this episode, Haley talks with the founder of Complexity Labs, Joss Colchester. Joss explains why he created Complexity Labs, which is the most extensive online resource on complex systems, as well as what he hopes to achieve with his platform. He describes one of his courses, “Blockchain Introduction”, and shares how this complex, emerging technology will influence society and economy. Joss also discusses artificial intelligence and the immense challenges and opportunities it presents. 

In this episode, Haley interviews research professor and leader of the Self-Organizing Systems Lab at UNAM, Carlos Gershenson. Gershenson discusses some findings from his book, Complexity 5 Questions, which is comprised of "interview style contributions by leading figures in the field of complexity.” He also shares his own perspectives on the past, present and future of complexity science, as well as how philosophy plays a role in the emergence of this field.