The Banana Peel Project

Technology in every sense is at the core of The Banana Peel Project. But I’m not a technophile–far from it. Nor am I a technological determinist. New technologies are at least as dangerous as they are wonderful, as nuclear energy and genetic engineering still remind us. New technologies are inherently neutral; it is up to human beings to understand and deploy them in self-conscious, responsible ways.

Together, digital technology and ecology–two distinct but deeply intertwined ways of thinking–have enabled us to think about complex systems as processes that can be constructed and managed. From digital technology we have acquired the ability to process massive amounts of information simultaneously as well as to manipulate that information. Ecology is a metaphor more than it is a science, as it extends into biology as much as it does into meteorology, anthropology, economics, and neuroscience. Complex systems contain tremendous amounts of information and are constantly in flux. Every single piece of a complex system is inextricably connected to the rest of the system, and yet such systems are extraordinarily resilient. Neural networks, international economies, biological ecosystems, and climate patterns are all examples of complex systems.

Ecology has given us a metaphor for thinking about all kinds of complex systems. A neural network is “like” a biological ecosystem because it is delicately balanced and dependent upon multiple layers of function to survive. Concepts like biodiversity and natural selection have been applied across the sciences, and can be used to talk about neurons and cloud formations as much as they can about biological species.

By the same token, digital technology has given us the ability to store and process so much information that we can simulate, model, and even design real complex systems. For the first time in human history, we are getting much closer to understanding the dynamics of complex systems.

This week, an international group of researchers claimed to have developed a way to control sensitive complex systems. These mathematicians and engineers used metaphors and methods from chemical engineering to model a way to control feedback signals in biological systems in ways that can change their behavior. True, they were using simplistic electrode arrays to model biological systems, and it’s pretty certain that their models don’t accurately reflect all the complexities of real neural or cardiovascular structures.  But they made the effort, and modeling technology will only improve over time.

But control over complex systems can be ominous, too. Thankfully, the US Department of Defense’s latest attempt to rule the world is as naive as it is scary. The Sentient World Simulation is a “synthetic mirror of the real world with automated continuous calibration with respect to current real-world information.” A virtual model of the whole planet so that the DoD can know everything that happens before it happens? I’d love to have been in the board room when that one was being discussed.