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costs for profit, material transforming capacity
for welfare or the deterioration of natural capital
for income.
Reaction time has to be accelerated. This
practically means that changes in the environment and the society have to be monitored constantly and stress events have to be responded as
soon as possible. In order to do so, institutions
responsible for the above have to be established
and techniques suitable for solution have to be
designed beforehand. The importance of teaching systems thinking and also the significance of
digital models have to be noted.
Utilisation of non-renewable resources has to
be reduced to a minimum. The principle of recycling has to be applied and non-renewables have
to be replaced.
The erosion of renewable resources has to be
avoided. Meadows et al. (2004) call for attention
to the fact that several renewable resources are
only renewable at appropriate conditions (e.g.,
forest, fish and game stocks and soil as well.) In
case these are used over their regeneration rate,
they will be degraded with time. This could be
avoided with carefully planned use.
Deforestation must be utilised with maximum
efficiency. This is vital as this is the only way to
sustain the population of the world in a sustainable way.
Population and physical capital increase have
to be slowed down and then stopped. For this the
levels of population size and industrial production that are desirable and sustainable. Meadows
et al. (2004) put forward the idea to find comprehensive aims for the life of humans yielding
much greater satisfaction than pure physical
expansion and cumulation can give.
In their opinion needs of material nature are
not the primary ones for people but those interesting tasks and forms of amusement that make their
brain work and attract their emotions. People
desire admiration and respect from their fellow
beings that can be earned not with expensive cars
and mansions. A society that recognises the
human needs of non-material nature and finds the
non-material solutions to satisfy them requires
much smaller degree of material and energy
transformation capacity and yields much higher
degree of satisfaction for its citizens than current
societies. Meadows et al. (2004) believe that to
achieve the above every field of life has to be
“restructured”. Not only technical and business
innovations are required but collective, social,
political, artistic and spiritual renewal as well.
The age of expansion is replaced by equilibrium.
Culture, humanity, partnership, symbiosis are the
keywords of the new worldwide culture.
According to Meadows et al. (2004), the “sustainability revolution” will transform the image
of Earth as other major revolutions did. Similarly
to other global revolutions (agricultural, industrial), this one cannot be designed or controlled
by power either.
Regarding fundamental changes, two important characteristics of complex social systems are
highlighted.
1. Information has a key role in a transformation.
The behaviour of every system changes when
information flow changes. Not necessarily
more but better information is needed for
quality changes in the operation of the system.
Institutional information of glasnost was like
that, resulting in the transformation of Eastern
Europe. (The authors of the present book note
that several other factors had a role in it as
well.)
2. Social systems withstand every change that
affects their rules and aims. Reformists are
silenced, marginalised, progress, sources or
publicity can be refused from them. Still
reformists are able to foster the changes that
transform systems. It is very hard to bring new
information into a system that is structured to
hear only old information.
Finally, Meadows et al. (2004) return to the
most fundamental issue: how to transform a system in peace. According to them, the most obvious means are the following: rational analysis,
wide- range data acquisition, systems thinking,
digital modelling, using the clearest and most
unambiguous terms. Five further means are also
given to readers that they consider useful, namely:
imaging the future, network building, telling the
truth, learning and love.
6.7 Beyond SDGs: How to Develop the Global Society in the Future? Concepts Regarding the Future…
costs for profit, material transforming capacity
for welfare or the deterioration of natural capital
for income.
Reaction time has to be accelerated. This
practically means that changes in the environment and the society have to be monitored constantly and stress events have to be responded as
soon as possible. In order to do so, institutions
responsible for the above have to be established
and techniques suitable for solution have to be
designed beforehand. The importance of teaching systems thinking and also the significance of
digital models have to be noted.
Utilisation of non-renewable resources has to
be reduced to a minimum. The principle of recycling has to be applied and non-renewables have
to be replaced.
The erosion of renewable resources has to be
avoided. Meadows et al. (2004) call for attention
to the fact that several renewable resources are
only renewable at appropriate conditions (e.g.,
forest, fish and game stocks and soil as well.) In
case these are used over their regeneration rate,
they will be degraded with time. This could be
avoided with carefully planned use.
Deforestation must be utilised with maximum
efficiency. This is vital as this is the only way to
sustain the population of the world in a sustainable way.
Population and physical capital increase have
to be slowed down and then stopped. For this the
levels of population size and industrial production that are desirable and sustainable. Meadows
et al. (2004) put forward the idea to find comprehensive aims for the life of humans yielding
much greater satisfaction than pure physical
expansion and cumulation can give.
In their opinion needs of material nature are
not the primary ones for people but those interesting tasks and forms of amusement that make their
brain work and attract their emotions. People
desire admiration and respect from their fellow
beings that can be earned not with expensive cars
and mansions. A society that recognises the
human needs of non-material nature and finds the
non-material solutions to satisfy them requires
much smaller degree of material and energy
transformation capacity and yields much higher
degree of satisfaction for its citizens than current
societies. Meadows et al. (2004) believe that to
achieve the above every field of life has to be
“restructured”. Not only technical and business
innovations are required but collective, social,
political, artistic and spiritual renewal as well.
The age of expansion is replaced by equilibrium.
Culture, humanity, partnership, symbiosis are the
keywords of the new worldwide culture.
According to Meadows et al. (2004), the “sustainability revolution” will transform the image
of Earth as other major revolutions did. Similarly
to other global revolutions (agricultural, industrial), this one cannot be designed or controlled
by power either.
Regarding fundamental changes, two important characteristics of complex social systems are
highlighted.
1. Information has a key role in a transformation.
The behaviour of every system changes when
information flow changes. Not necessarily
more but better information is needed for
quality changes in the operation of the system.
Institutional information of glasnost was like
that, resulting in the transformation of Eastern
Europe. (The authors of the present book note
that several other factors had a role in it as
well.)
2. Social systems withstand every change that
affects their rules and aims. Reformists are
silenced, marginalised, progress, sources or
publicity can be refused from them. Still
reformists are able to foster the changes that
transform systems. It is very hard to bring new
information into a system that is structured to
hear only old information.
Finally, Meadows et al. (2004) return to the
most fundamental issue: how to transform a system in peace. According to them, the most obvious means are the following: rational analysis,
wide- range data acquisition, systems thinking,
digital modelling, using the clearest and most
unambiguous terms. Five further means are also
given to readers that they consider useful, namely:
imaging the future, network building, telling the
truth, learning and love.
6.7 Beyond SDGs: How to Develop the Global Society in the Future? Concepts Regarding the Future…