In many cultures, work is shared. Hunting, farming, building homes, defense, the arts, and other pursuits were shared activities. Children were included as soon as they were able to help. Everybody had basic survival skill sets, and though some people were specialists (like medicine men and women), the people had a general idea of what they did and how it related to the survival of the tribe.
In an increasingly complex society, work becomes more and more specialized and compartmented. There are plenty of jobs being done in this society that most of us don’t have a clue exist. Many jobs are extremely specialized and not in context with the larger scheme of things at all.
For instance, chemists working for companies have a job of finding chemistry that creates a certain effect - lots of foam in a cleaner, for instance. They are not necessarily connected to the company that does environmental studies on these chemicals, or the activist groups that try to get them regulated, or the health care workers that handle the health effects from them, or the farmers whose crops are stunted because of them.
None of these people know the others who are all a part of the system affected by this chemical. The owner of the company may not have a lot of information about what chemical is being used in his product or that it is harming a swath of individuals and other livelihoods.
In addition, management can become so compartmentalized from workers in the field or on the front lines they really don’t know what those individuals are dealing with. Stockholders and Boards of Directors that pressure companies for performance may know even less about that.
Multinational companies may know nothing about how their activities in Thailand are actually affecting people. It’s not that they couldn’t know, but especially if their product is doing harm, it is in their interest to not look too closely.
This design omits whole systems viewpoints and isn’t remotely sustainable long term. It’s a source of major problems created by industry.
Think of a bunch of ants in a colony. Some of them are bringing in poisoned food, some are moving food where no one else can find it, some are literally spinning around in circles, not knowing how to contribute. Some are bringing in dirt instead of food.
Some are storing the dirt in housing so others can’t access it. Some are guarding the housing. Some are trying to overthrow others in the colony, so they can take their place. You might think such an ant hill was on hallucinatory drugs if you saw it operating like that.
Yet, this is how enough of our modern culture operates to be notable.
Of course, we aren't ants and we don't want to be. We value our individual freedoms. There are efficiencies and significant accomplishments on an individual basis, and some amazing coordination at times as well. We are very capable of running mega circles around ants with our abilities, of course.
But to the degree we omit a systems viewpoint where beneficial connections are noted and enhanced on a deep basis, aspects of our society do look like an anthill on drugs sometimes when examined from that systems perspective.
There are other uniquely human issues that prevent us from smoothly and effectively working together, but whole systems designers believe that the right structures and designs can enhance and facilitate our ability to work together in a win-win way. This has been demonstrated over and over when these invisible structures are built and used.
To be clear, we designers tend to very much enjoy our individual freedoms and choices. We enjoy working alone sometimes, and being able to have that level of control over what we do. We like it quite a lot. But there is a balance there, and the balance has tipped toward rugged individualism to the point where it interferes with the survival of our species as a whole.
As designers, how can we maintain our freedoms while also designing our economic systems, cities, governments and other systems to operate more smoothly, with less damage? We think it's very possible to do both, and even increase freedoms in the process. We'll share some examples of how communities have done this on a local level, and some successes on a larger scale.