World-modeling Questions

Describe the advent of modern scientific world-modeling. (~100 words)

• 1. What do we mean and understand by "systems thinking" as we use the term in valuescience?
• 2. About when was the term “systems thinking” introduced?
• 3. What was Limits to Growth?
• 4. How did people respond to it?
• 5. After forty years, what can we observe about projections made by its authors?
• 6. Why might thoughtful people consider the book especially relevant now?
• 7. Define exponential growth, and give one example that includes a rate and a time.
• 8. What can we say about the absolute magnitude of each subsequent increment of exponential growth?
• 9. What are three qualities of a society Tainter and Ophuls use to measure complexity?
• 10. How might people account for Tainter's ideas about complexity and Wilson's about the "ratchet of progress" as we evolve culture?
• 11. What do we mean and understand by "overshoot" as we use the term in valuescience?
• 12. How is "overshoot" possible, and what is its consequence?
• 13. What do we mean and understand by "ecological footprint" as we use the term in valuescience?
• 14. State one or more benefits advocates of ecological footprint calculations see in these.
• 15. State one or more shortcomings or risks you see in such calculations.