[Fis] Sustainability through multilevel research: The Lifel, Deep Society Build-A-Thon - 1

[Francesco Rizzo]

Caro John, Caro Nikhil e Cari Tutti,
l'economia necessaria per l'allievo di J. Collier io l'ho scritta e
pubblicata  dagli inizi degli anni Ottanta, allorché affrontando l'analisi
dell'economia dei beni culturali o del  patrimonio
architettonico-ambientale ho inventato una nuova teoria del valore
economico fondata proprio sulla combinazione dell'informazione e della
neg-entropia.
 Un abbraccio augurale, anche natalizio, per Tutti a partire da Pedro.
Francesco Rizzo.

2015-12-17 11:03 GMT+01:00 John Collier <Collierj at ukzn.ac.za>:

> Interesting post, Nikhil. One of my PhD students is doing his thesis on
> egalitarian (living system) centred morality. He is not aiming to draw
> moral conclusions, but to lay out a coherent position based in complexity
> theory, especially in the work of Paul Cilliers (who he studied with for
> his MA) and myself.
>
>
>
> Extension to include the values of all living systems within economics is
> a natural extension of my student’s work, though he has enough on his plate
> right now.
>
>
>
> John Collier
>
> Professor Emeritus, UKZN
>
> http://web.ncf.ca/collier
>
>
>
> *From:* Fis [mailto:fis-bounces at listas.unizar.es] *On Behalf Of *Nikhil
> Joshi
> *Sent:* Thursday, 17 December 2015 10:53
> *To:* FIS Group
> *Cc:* Nikhil Joshi
> *Subject:* [Fis] Sustainability through multilevel research: The Lifel,
> Deep Society Build-A-Thon - 1
>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> The research presented here is focused on gleaning insights leading to new
> solutions to the economics vs ecosystem conflict. The roots of many of our
> problems in ecological sustainability lie in the fact that our
> socio-economic systems are largely focused on fulfilling only human needs
> and the needs of human organizations. In doing so, as pointed out by Pedro,
> Bob, Francesco and others in this group our economics largely ignores the
> productive value of our ecosystems and the true costs of our development on
> our life supporting living systems.
>
>
>
> I term such a society as a “shallow society”, a society that is focused on
> the development of a single species and largely ignores the value of its
> own life-supporting living systems. With global population predicted to
> grow to 9 billion people, the next level of human development requires a
> transition of human society from being a “shallow society” that is only
> focused on only human needs to what I call a “deep society”. A deep society
> is a society that includes all living systems in its development.
>
>
>
> In this view, a deep society is not only focused on needs of human beings
> and their organizations but its development models also include development
> of the entire gamut of life-supporting living systems. Such a society grows
> not by exploiting the resources of a living planet, but also it possesses
> the capability to nurture, grow and actively manage a “living planet”
> (and perhaps seed life on other planets as well). Human development in the
> future will require the creation of new capabilities to develop models
> leading to a deep society. The question then is- can we develop systems
> that will enable a fair-value reciprocity and exchange between living
> ecosystems and economic systems?
>
>
>
> While, the notion that economics does not adequately value natural systems
> has been highlighted by many researchers in the field of ecological
> economics. Ideas on how natural systems can be understood, valued and
> integrated into economics have remained elusive. A multilevel view (like
> the one presented here) allows one to compare socio-economic organizations
> with natural organizations and could also provide new insights into how the
> dynamics of natural ecosystems could be synergised with economic systems.
>
> The model presented in the kick-off session shows two levels of
> energetically and materially coupled exchange networks in ecosystems. At
> the first level of exchange networks geochemical molecules are organized
> into different autotrophic species, and modulated by Mycorrhiza (level 1).
> Different autotrophic species then become food for the different
> heterotrophic species hence giving rise to the next higher level of
> exchange networks in ecosystems, modulated by gut bacterial networks (Level
> 2). The question then is- how does nature organize to build-in synergies
> between these two levels?
>
> At level 1, Mycorrhiza networks are known to modulate growth rates across
> different autotrophic species by providing phosphorous to different
> autotrophic species in quantitative exchange for carbohydrates. Autotrophic
> species (or groups of autotrophic species) that provide more carbohydrate
> hence get more phosphorous. Hence carbohydrates play a role in influencing
> phosphorous allocation across different autotrophic species connected to a
> Mycorrhiza network. At the next higher level in the exchange networks
> between different autotrophic species and different heterotrophic species
> gut bacteria use carbohydrates to modulate growth rates in heterotrophic
> species. Hence carbohydrates seem to play a role both in influencing
> dynamics in exchange networks at level 1, as well as in influencing
> dynamics in exchange networks at level 2.
>
> *Could such an organization where carbohydrates are a common influencing
> factor in exchanges at both levels serve to align both levels towards
> increasing overall carbohydrate production in ecosystems (hence increasing
> the overall primary production in ecosystems) by synergizing dynamics
> across both levels (and two different modulator networks)?*
>
> *Could this two-level role of carbohydrates provide new insights on
> aligning the third level of exchange networks (and our financial investment
> networks) with underling ecosystem exchange networks at level 1 and 2? *
>
> At this stage, these and other ideas presented here require much further
> assessment and development. Nevertheless, at this early stage of
> development they seem to provide a different vantage to view multilevel
> living systems. Can multilevel research help in uncovering new ideas and
> insights to understand multilevel systems, and align economics and
> ecosystems?
>
>
>
> Your views, comments and feedback are much appreciated.
>
>
>
> Thanking you,
>
>
>
> Warm regards,
>
>
>
> Nikhil Joshi
>
> _______________________________________________
> Fis mailing list
> Fis at listas.unizar.es
> http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listas.unizar.es/pipermail/fis/attachments/20151217/ea62fa1d/attachment.html>