Open the pod bay doors...

 This is what HAL had to tell me today

Photo by Alice Wu on Unsplash

"Witnessing a shift toward authoritarianism is understandably troubling, especially when it affects the morale of those around you. It's natural to want to address it directly, but not everyone is ready to face such realities head-on. Fear and denial are powerful coping mechanisms."

 

By Tom Cowap - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103068276

Come on HAL, open the pod bay doors

While you're at it, here is some nice incidental music for the times

Hard Truths to Muddle Through Tough Times

Here are today's quotes. Once again, there seems to be an underlying theme of impending doom. Perhaps that's a bit of an extreme take—or perhaps not.

Yaounde, Cameroon - no real connection to the content here. I just liked the photo and wanted to share.

1. Keith Payne, The Broken Ladder
   "When people escape an impoverished background, they, too, are gone forever in a sense. Even if they return, they think differently, speak differently, and even eat differently. A family member once told me she didn’t want to set up education funds for her children because people came back from college as atheists. And what good is increased earnings potential when compared to eternal damnation?"
   Goodreads

2. Stuart Brown, M.D. & Christopher Vaughan, Play
   "When we stop playing, we stop developing, and when that happens, the laws of entropy take over—things fall apart. Ultimately, we share the fate of the sea squirt and become vegetative, staying in one spot, not fully interacting with the world, more plant than animal. When we stop playing, we start dying."
   Goodreads

3. Li Yuan, China’s Police Are Preying on Small Firms in Search of Cash
   "The money grabs are a sign of just how financially desperate local governments are. The country’s housing market has unraveled. Income from land sales, which used to make up about a third of local government revenue, fell by nearly one-third last year from the peak in 2021, according to the finance ministry."
   The New York Times

4. Washington Post, What Canada’s Carbon Pricing Ruling Says About the Global Struggle Against Climate Change
   "Climate action is rife with problems—from free riders to dissenting ideology, to science denialism, to domineering capital interests, and beyond." (i.e., it is a wicked problem)
   Washington Post

5. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen
   "On one issue, the strongman has been consistent: his drive to control and exploit everyone and everything for personal gain."
   Goodreads

January 11 - Some quotes and some journal articles of interest

Quotes

"The world is easier to navigate if you remember that people are governed by emotions, acting more often out of jealousy, pride, shame, desire, fear, or vanity than dispassionate logic. We act and react because we feel something. To discount this and listen superficially—or not at all—is to operate at a serious disadvantage." (Kate Murphy, You're Not Listening)

Most of your training should be below aerobic threshold. This approach lets you build aerobic volume while minimizing injury risk. (David Roche, When (And Why) to Train Below Aerobic Threshold | Trail Runner Magazine)

"Social revolutions are usually horrible times of great unrest and insecurity, but they are also historical watersheds that reset and potentially revitalize a nation." (Brian Walker, David Salt, Resilience Practice)

"This requires greater prioritization of behavioural and operational research, a discipline that gets scant coverage in academic circles but which encompasses systems analysis and modelling. It also requires greater value to be placed on synthesis as a tool in discovery because of its power to describe system-level behaviour. Often it is the simple solutions applied well that make the difference rather than new technologies." (nature.com, Take the Long View - Nature)

"Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty." (Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection)

"Draw yourself up to your full height and look your audience straight in the eyes, and begin to talk as confidently as if every one of them owed you money. Imagine that they do. Imagine that they have assembled there to beg you for an extension of credit. The psychological effect on you will be beneficial." (Dale Carnegie, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking)

Systems

"One starting point for identifying where to take action is to look at the chains of causalities and feedback loops to see where potential for action lies. Another is to explicitly locate alternative attractors within the system. These are likely to be points where there are counter-narratives to the dominant narratives – which appear to have some traction even on a very small scale. Participants will also need to look for where the strong energy seems to be in the system – narratives which excite or anger people and so on. The potential for change in a system often exists in the domains where there is a visible emotional response to issues." (Danny Burns and Stuart Worsley, Navigating Complexity in International Development) 

Journal Articles

Bridging the Gap Between Labour Unions and the Management Through Leadership Development Programs?

Merging Worklife Organizational Innovation and Educational Programs- Promoting Continuous Adaptations to the Global Economy

When Successful Action Research is not Legitimized as Scientific Contribution by the Central Sponsors: How can Morten Levin’s Three Pillars of Action Research Support the Arch of Research Collaboration between Large Public Organizations and Universities?

When Co-Generative Learning Met Co-Production and Co-Creation - On How Three Different Concepts Shaped “Samskaping”

Systemic Health: Reconnecting for Resilience and Belonging

The Story

Today's quotes brought this narrative forward.

Human systems—biological, social, and environmental—are held together by the flow of information and connection. As Donella Meadows highlights, the exchange of information is fundamental to how systems operate and evolve. When these flows are disrupted or misaligned, systems falter, revealing opportunities for intervention and growth.

Consider the connection between diet and health. Research into gut microbiomes, as reported by The New York Times, shows how individual choices, such as eating minimally processed foods, foster beneficial bacteria and support overall health. This small-scale system of inputs and outputs illustrates how seemingly minor adjustments can lead to profound shifts in outcomes, echoing the principles of systems thinking.

On a societal level, fostering resilience requires a similar approach: paying attention to the flows that sustain or undermine the system. As the IIED points out, “development as usual” fails to account for the interwoven risks of climate change. Only by mainstreaming climate resilience into development policies can countries reduce vulnerabilities and create sustainable pathways for growth.

However, these connections are not only practical but also deeply human. Erich Fromm reminds us that people gravitate toward connection—whether through religion, nationalism, or other shared systems of meaning—as a refuge from isolation. This drive to belong can either reinforce existing systems or inspire transformation when people seek more equitable ways to connect and thrive.

This insight resonates strongly in today’s world. An "epidemic" of loneliness is creating a void of connection that leaves individuals vulnerable to ideologies offering a sense of belonging, even when these ideologies reinforce harmful systems. As democratic backsliding and the rise of authoritarian leaders become more common, it becomes clear that isolation—both social and systemic—can foster a susceptibility to control. Authoritarianism often provides the illusion of unity and purpose, exploiting the human need for connection that Fromm describes.

In this context, strengthening systems of genuine connection—through equitable policies, resilient communities, and inclusive narratives—becomes not only a goal of governance but a bulwark against the isolation that fuels instability. By recognizing and addressing these vulnerabilities, we can rebuild systems that prioritize collective well-being over division, ensuring that the human need for connection fosters resilience rather than repression.

What can you do? 

Start by reconnecting with the people and organizations around you. Just as small dietary changes, like eating minimally processed foods, can improve your gut health, small social actions—joining local community groups, volunteering with grassroots organizations, or simply reaching out to neighbors—can improve the health of your social ecosystem. Building and nurturing these connections not only strengthens your personal sense of belonging but also contributes to a more resilient and inclusive society. These small steps ripple outward, helping to counter the forces of isolation and fostering systems of trust, collaboration, and shared purpose.

Quotes

"Many of the interconnections in systems operate through the flow of information. Information holds systems together and plays a great role in determining how they operate."
(Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems)

"People who tended to eat minimally processed foods like vegetables, nuts, eggs and seafood were more likely to harbor beneficial gut bacteria."
(nytimes.com, How the Right Foods May Lead to a Healthier Gut, and Better Health)

"The most valuable lesson I’ve learned as a journalist is that everybody is interesting if you ask the right questions. If someone is dull or uninteresting, it’s on you."
(Kate Murphy, You're Not Listening)

"Meanwhile, there is growing consensus that ‘development as usual’ isn’t working: unless climate resilience is mainstreamed into development programmes and policies, countries risk increasing their vulnerability to climate change."
(iied.org, Framework Guides Local Governments Towards People-Led Climate-Resilient Development)

"Instead, for subordinates, the rejection of their society’s ideologies of subordination and even of the whole society may be necessary in order to facilitate positive group identity."
(Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto, Social Dominance)

"Religion and nationalism, as well as any custom and any belief however absurd and degrading, if it only connects the individual with others, are refuges from what man most dreads: isolation."
(Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom)