L4D Learning for Democracy

"  Social complexity and sustainability emerge from successful problem solving, rather thandirectly from environmental conditions. Social complexity develops from problem solving at all scales from local to national and international. Complexity in problem solving is aneconomicfunction,andcanbothsupportandhindersustainability.Sustainabilityoutcomesmay take decades or centuries to develop. Historical studies reveal three outcomes to long-term change in problem-solving institutions: collapse, resiliency through simplification, orcontinuity based on growing complexity and increasing energy subsidies. The slow devel-opment of complexity in problem solving makes its effects difficult to perceive, especiallyover short time periods. Long-term social sustainability depends on understanding andcontrolling complexity. New strategies to mitigate or control complexity are offered. "