World-modeling Questions

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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. What are one or more shortcomings or risks in such calculations we’ve noted in this course?