An Ecosystem Mindset

Everything is interconnected and the Earth "thinks" as a giant ecosystem.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment. The "ecosystem" is a generic name for very specific types of existing ecosystems such as wetlands, woodlands, savannas, and deserts. Also, no single ecosystem is identical to any other, but all have unique and identifying characteristics. Can ecosystems think? What distinguishes an ecosystem? What sets the boundaries of an ecosystem? Does any ecosystem set its own boundaries or are boundaries set by the human observer who is imagining that some perceived systemic properties can be looked upon as an ‘ecosystem? What is the difference between an ecosystem and a non-ecosystem? Is there thinking outside of an ecosystem? Is there thinking in between living systems? Perhaps an ecosystem is an internet of living systems? But who is to judge whether or not such a system can think? Is it possible to 'think' as part of an ecosystem? What’s the ecosystem mindset?

Ecosystem thinking is upon systematic thinking about the ecosystem and environment. Thinking about the ecosystem and the environment in terms of system thinking seems to be the best route to take to develop viable, long-term solutions to a great many of the issues we are facing today. The efforts include the introduction of a subsidiary or secondary ecosystems in order to minimize or negate the harmful effects of the natural interactions between humans and the environment though it does require a substantial amount of management to control and maintain an optimum balance. In reality, much of the prevailing conceptual content in our cognitive interpretive interface is received from previous generations when the integration of our experiences is not adequately advanced. Once our conceptual content is corrected to more accurately represent the integral unity of our ecosystem, we will recognize other life forms and organisms as other manifestations of ourselves, which is all that empathy ever could be. Recognize one another and one's environment, all as manifestations of our being an ecosystem.

The goal of ecosystem thinking is usually to encourage the development of one or more of the points where energy or information is integrated. The power and fundamental characteristic of an eco-system are being composed by very different categories of elements (water, fire, air, trees, earth, etc.), they are interconnected in order to remain alive, and, through the self-organization, to reach a natural sustainable equilibrium. (1) the capability of a eco-system to think as a poetic metaphor or as a true representation of reality; (2) the separation between human beings and the ecosystem (3) the possibility of a category of elements to create a ecosystem on their own separated from everything else; (4) the possibility of a super being capable of governing the eco-system.

Ecosystems generally do not ‘think’ in the way we understand thinking; ecosystems are complex systems, behaving by way of interactions among the various constituents, including all living but also non-living factors, such as nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, other nutrients, minerals, etc. People are unavoidable and already subsystems within the ecosystem (nature), as all other creatures and organisms. The error that gives rise to the appearance is that people are different from, or outside the ecosystem, lies in the conceptual interface with which the ecosystem processes the sensory inputs one gains through living subsystems.

The communications systems is a collaborative eco-system (more or less); and one which proves theory and possibility of emulating such a system in the interactions. Obviously, language can be viewed as a multiplicity of living systems, and so (de-) evolving and changing. The idea of language is however related to communication. While changing is intended to potentially be able to be used to exchange messages with references to some meaning which might possibly be understood in ways that give some appearance of similarities.

From the ecosystem, the individual components of the ecosystem are used as models of other elements of the ecosystem under consideration. This is to treat all of the ecosystems only to the physical, chemical and biological elements called philosophically "physical materialism", and is suitable for dealing with nature, not man, which contains in addition to the above, the psyche and spirituality, where all these components related in a complex system, the many "systemic" structures work against these individual abilities including traditional organizational structures, educational systems, and the social structures each of us inhabit, etc.

Everything is interconnected and the Earth "thinks" as a giant ecosystem: The earth is part of a larger galactic and universal (or multiversal) super eco-system. Self-organization should not be confused with the intentional organization. Evolution in nature does not follow function (giraffes did not evolve long necks in order to better eat leaves on high trees) but by successful trial and error mechanisms. So, it is not the ecosystem that thinks how to evolve itself and behave, but rather it organizes itself through evolutionary dynamics spurred by random events that can later be construed according to a narrative that appears as if responding to some form of thought process.

Like many other digital mindsets, an ecosystem mindset focuses on the wholeness, rather than just the sub-component; as an ecosystem is living, dynamic and continually emerge, therefore, such mindset is a growth mind with adaptability and creativity.

Posted in: Complexity,Keywords in 21st Century,Mindshift,Systems Wisdom