The Balancing Act
As human beings, we are not inclined to balance major priorities—such as personal rights and collective responsibilities. To do this balancing, we need to consider both the upside and downside of each option. We prefer not to consider the negative sides—for they create collective stress. We would prefer to isolate (censor) the inconvenient truth and demonize those who are conveying this truth. Clearly, the challenge is great of achieving true freedom if it requires a balancing of rights and responsibilities. Such a balance will only be achieved through constructive dialogue. In order to successfully convene this dialogue regarding future policies, we must take several factors about the human psyche into consideration. As psychologists, we might have something important to say about the process of collective policy formulation. We have learned (and perhaps have always known), that mind and heart must always dance together—especially when it comes to the exceptional challenge posed by the creation and maintenance of true freedom.
Thinking in Systems: The Outcomes May Surprise Us
While we, homo sapiens, are among the brightest members of the animal kingdom, there are some major limits in our capacity to think clearly and systematically about the challenging conditions we face. First, we are inclined to view our complex world in single dimensions: it is hard for us to take multiple, interacting variables into account at the same time. Our colleagues at M.I.T. have created a powerful modeling tool called system dynamics that enables us to take multiple variables into consideration at the same time (Meadows, 2008). The modeling tools being used by their colleagues at Harvard and other universities and research centers similarly enable multi-variable analyses.
And what are the outcomes of these analyses? Two particularly relevant insights are generated as they relate to the interplay of rights and responsibilities. First, there is the matter of rapid expansion in the forces operating on each side of this societal dilemma. Something that is often called the Power Law is operating. As in the case of many systemic phenomena (such as birth rates, global warming and nuclear explosions), the spread of passion regarding each side is exponential. The power law dynamic might be labeled a Nuclear Effect given the parallel to the exponential power of nuclear explosions. This parallel has often being drawn by those members of the Santa Fe Institute (who are often those involved in both the nuclear research done as Los Alamos located near Santa Fe, New Mexico and in the more recent study of complex social systems).
