System dynamics meets the press

The shared para- digms of society, the public discourse, the deepest assumptions about how the world works, these are the ultimate sources of system structure and the primary Obstacles to structural change.

Abstract

Abstract The shared paradigms of society, the public discourse, the deepest assumptions about how the world works, these are the ultimate sources of system structure and the primary obstacles to structural change. The reigning paradigms of the western world are astonishingly unsystematic, and they give rise to badly structured, difficult‐to‐manage large‐scale social systems with persistent problems, such as pollution, poverty, and war. One way to contribute to the restructuring of those systems is to bring more clear, accurate, and inclusive systems concepts into the public discourse—to communicate systems insights regularly and powerfully through the press. Even the simplest ideas of system dynamics—stocks, flows, positive and negative feedback, the effect of delays, the importance of nonlinearity—can help to clarify public discussion and improve public policy. They must be communicated without jargon, without mathematics, without loop diagrams. That can be done, and the best partners in doing it are those who are already professionals in the art of public communication—the members of the press.