Worldshift and the theory of viability

Ervin Laszlo adocates for a global shift in our economy and our consciousness, in order to meet our present challenges.

He writes: "The breakout from the old has started already, but it is not yet committed to a breakdown or to a breakthrough. It has not reached the tipping point because some people -- for the most part those whose economic and political interests are tied to the status quo -- believe that the current system can still be maintained. They are trying to restabilize it in business, finance, and politics, and refuse to admit that doing so is futile. Their efforts can delay the coming of the tipping point, but cannot avert it. The wiser option is to try to transcend the current system and find ways of organizing ourselves that allow us to live in peace with ourselves, with others, and with nature. This is a realistic option. We have the technology, the money, and the know-how to achieve it. The question is, whether we also have the will."

The necessity of a shift at some crtical period can be connected to the theory of viability developped by Jean-Pierre Aubin. For him, the evolution of a complex system is governed by a principle of inertia until it reaches the boundary of a viability domain. Then, a shift in the way it is regulated has to be operated, in order to keep it viable. The evolution follows a "puntuated equilibrium" and a large transformation has to occur when the risk of leaving the viability domain becomes too large. It appears that we may have reached precisely such kind of period of time and that the choice may be now either to accept a global shift or to reach a collapse.