At WorldChanging you will find a link to an amazing site of visualizations of complex networks.
What is especially interesting to me about these maps is how many of them are actually
hierarchical. Many of these maps show complex relationships, but they do so in a flattened way. For example, this diagram (at right) is a radial representation of an organizational map from 1924. On the face of it it looks radically different, but in fact it is a relatively well formed hierarchy with single reporting relationships and only a cursory acknowledgment of horizontal organizational structure in management.
Non-hierarchical, emergent systems are represented well on the site, with this example of a neuron map of a worm brain being really fascinating.
Some of the maps at the site capture complexity in another dimension by creating living maps that change with your focus, like this map of del.icio.us links that you can customize for your own bookmarks.
Finally there are flow chart systems like the ones on world government that seek to understand complex systemic processes
A couple of stories about truth and stories. 
Yesterday on CBC Radio’s Sounds Like Canada, Shelagh Rogers interviewed Paul Rosen. Paul Rosen is the goaltender for Canada’s Sledge Hockey team, and is getting ready to head over to Turin to compete in the Paralympics.
Rosen is an amputee, having lost his leg to a persistent bacterial infection. Very early on in his new life as a one legged man he adopted a very positive outlook. His doctors were suspicious and sent him to a psychiatrist for an evaluation. At that consultation, Rosen took some water and poured it on his stump. He said to the doctor “I can water this stump five times a day for the rest of my life and the leg won’t grow back.
Faced with that reality, there were only two options: become depressed, or see the amputation as an opportunity to be a better person. Fully aware that neither option would bring back his leg, he opted for the second one.
You can hear the full interview with Paul Rosen here (opens a RealMedia file)
On the ferry coming home today I was talking with a friend who was trying to adopt a positive attitude but who thought that doing so was glossing over the reality of pain and suffering in the world. He said that he couldn’t see the glass as half-full, only half-empty. We talked for a while and I asked him what was actually true about the half full glass. We agreed that what was actually true was that an 8oz glass has 4oz of water in it. Whether you saw that as half full or half empty was entirely up to you. There was no more truth to one story than the other. Believing one over the other was not going to change the fact that there is only 4oz of water in that 8oz glass.
This is the difference between truth and stories. And so confronted with these two competing stories, why not choose the one that serves life?
[tags]paul-rosen, sledge-hockey, paralympics, stories[/tags]
Alright, I made the switch to WordPress.
Like every big move, the decision to do so was simple, the mechanics slightly harder and the final touches will take awhile. At any rate, if you are reading this in a newsreader, you won’t notice much difference. For those of you with more of an eye to template, please bear with me. Like moving to any new house, it will take a while to redecorate.
Overall though, happy to be here in WordPress land.
I’m switching over to WordPress, and so blogging might be light until I can get everything tweaked just right.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Blogger for five years of great free services. I have had very few problems with Blogger over the years, and I’ll still be using it for several blogs and bits and pieces I’m working on.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to using WordPress and I ask your indulgence to bear with me through this change.
I’ve been losing posts somehow. My post on waiting and emergence shows up in my archives, but not on the front page here or in my dashboard.
Anyone know what’s up?
Time for a move to WordPress?