The Cultural Immaturity Section includes commentary on current writings, policies, and human activities that fall short of the demands of Cultural Maturity. They may fall short in particularly dangerous ways or warrant commentary because how they fall short provides particularly useful learning. Comparison offers one of the best ways to deepen understanding of Cultural Maturity and to separate the wheat from the chaff in our thinking.
Creative Systems Theory brings very big-picture, long-term perspective to the human condition. It addresses understanding as a whole, not just particular concerns, and it helps us make sense of the very different ways we have understood ourselves and our worlds … Read More
My contribution as a futurist focuses on the future’s human dimension. The technological is part of this. What makes us unique as a species is the audacity of our tool-making prowess. But most I am concerned with how we humans … Read More
In my recent book, Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future, I divide the most commonly encountered views of the future into five “scenarios” (to use the language of futurists): We’ve Arrived Scenarios, We’ve Gone Astray Scenarios, Postindustrial/Information Age Scenarios, Postmodern/Constructivist Scenarios, and Transformational/New … Read More
In my recent book, Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future, I divide the most commonly encountered views of the future into five “scenarios” (to use the language of futurists): We’ve Arrived Scenarios, We’ve Gone Astray Scenarios, Postindustrial/Information Age Scenarios, Postmodern/Constructivist Scenarios, and Transformational/New … Read More
In my recent book, Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future, I divide the most commonly encountered views of the future into five “scenarios” (to use the language of futurists): We’ve Arrived Scenarios, We’ve Gone Astray Scenarios, Postindustrial/Information Age Scenarios, Postmodern/Constructivist Scenarios, and Transformational/New … Read More
According to CBS News, in 1983 companies spent $100 million marketing to kids. Today that figure is closer to $17 billion. I find the fact that we can find this situation acceptable deeply disturbing. Somehow we comfortably make the leap … Read More
The news media confront some of the most critical challenges when it comes to Cultural Maturity’s needed changes. We should appropriately be able to count on them to alert us to our time’s essential questions, to engage us in the … Read More
The place we witness the most striking lack of culturally mature leadership today is also where we might appropriately most hope it would thrive: in the halls of government. At some level we recognize this is the case even if … Read More
Adapted from “The future of Art” in Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future (With An Introduction to the Ideas of Creative Systems Theory) The concept of Transitional Absurdity (a formal notion within Creative Systems Theory) describes how, when Modern … Read More
People often ask me how I see the relationship between Cultural Maturity and the digital revolution. It is a multifaceted and informative relationship. On one hand, the relationship is close and mutually positive. No sphere of technical advancement is likely … Read More
What caused the 2008-2009 financial collapse? Simple greed and incompetence? The unfortunate “perfect storm” confluence of economic cycles, globalization, and other hard-to-predict factors? Yes, yes, and yes. But something deeper was also at work. Understanding this more fundamental ingredient in … Read More