📕 subnode [[@neil/leverage points]]
in 📚 node [[leverage-points]]
leverage points
how do we change the structure of systems to produce more of what we want and less of that which is undesirable?
– [[Thinking in Systems]]
These are points within a complex system, such as an economy, an ecosystem, or a community, where a small shift in one place can produce major changes elsewhere.
– [[Leveraging Digital Disruptions for a Climate-Safe and Equitable World: The D2S Agenda]]
Leverage points as listed by Donella Meadows in [[Thinking in Systems]]:
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- Numbers—Constants and parameters such as subsidies, taxes, standards
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- Buffers—The sizes of stabilizing stocks relative to their flows
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- Stock-and-Flow Structures—Physical systems and their nodes of intersection
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- Delays—The lengths of time relative to the rates of system changes
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- Balancing Feedback Loops—The strength of the feedbacks relative to the impacts they are trying to correct
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- Reinforcing Feedback Loops—The strength of the gain of driving loops
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- Information Flows—The structure of who does and does not have access to information
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- Rules—Incentives, punishments, constraints
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- Self-Organization—The power to add, change, or evolve system structure
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- Goals—The purpose or function of the system
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- Paradigms—The mind-set out of which the system—its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters—arises
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- Transcending Paradigms
with the caveat:
But complex systems are, well, complex. It’s dangerous to generalize about them. What you read here is still a work in progress; it’s not a recipe for finding leverage points. Rather, it’s an invitation to think more broadly about system change.
– [[Thinking in Systems]]
📖 stoas
- public document at doc.anagora.org/leverage-points
- video call at meet.jit.si/leverage-points