Map of Systemic Interdependencies None Dares Name

Map of relationships determining indifference to overpopulation.

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Produced on the occasion of the world population having reached 7 billion
and of publication of the The State of World Population 2011 by the United Nations Population Fund.
-- coincidental with a historic summit on the European sovereign debt crisis to "save Greece", "save Europe" and "save the world economy"

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Map of Systemic Interdependencies None Dares Name
Comment
References

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Mapping exercise

The exercise follows previous explorations (Mapping the Global Underground, 2010; Mind Map of Global Civilizational Collapse: why nothing is happening in response to global challenges, 2011). As in those cases, this is a partial response to the tendency of conventional strategic analysis to focus primarily on less controversial issues -- typically structured so as to omit any recognition of issues arising from the demonstrable track record of inability to "deliver" remedies to strategic challenges (Recognizing the Psychosocial Boundaries of Remedial Action, 2009). This can be understood as a pattern of denial -- as exhibited at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (United Nations Overpopulation Denial Conference, 2009).

First iteration: As a tentative exercise, the following "map" is derived from the table which follows it, without considering any possible  systemic relationships between the "functions" indicated. Those relationships are then considered in the second iteration which follows thereafter. The decision was made to identity 12 "functions" in the light of arguments previously made (Eliciting a 12-fold Pattern of Generic Operational Insights: Recognition of memory constraints on collective strategic comprehension, 2011). Indicative sub-functions were then clustered within each. A commentary follows thereafter.

Mapping systemic interdependencies readily neglected

The unordered elements of the above "map" are those listed in the following table. These clearly invite refinement although weaknesses do not invalidate the possible integrative value of this approach.  Indeed its very simplicity is an invitation to such refinement.

Tabulation of systemic dependencies

Systemic dependence on economic growth at all costs dependence on increasing consumerism dependence of major industries on population increase dependence on market expansion by population increase Individual psychological dependence on reproduction "I want children at any cost" "It is my right to have more children" "Society should provide resources to meet my family's needs" Religious encouragement of reproduction scriptures enjoin unconstrained reproduction "God will take care" of human resource needs competitive breeding in response to other faiths Sustaining vulnerable social security systems sustaining viability of pension schemes sustaining viability of health care systems sustaining viability of unemployment schemes Obligation to live irrespective of degree of suffering scriptural injunctions against taking human life health industry dependence on prolonged life-sustaining care claimed risk of abusive response to desire to die Dependence of financial system on population increase ensuring payment of interest on public debt government need to ensure taxpayer replacement level dependence of insurance industry on premium income

Collective decision-making incapacity failure to address lack of will to change failure to recognize collective unconsciousness failure to act in response to known threats Systemic dependence on environmental exploitation spurious argument "jobs vs forests?" spurious argument "food vs forests?" spurious argument "fuel vs forests?" Systematic political avoidance of overpopulation issue lack of individual political courage preoccupation with short-term political opportunism unchallenging response to ill-considered public opinion Complicity of scientific community in overpopulation denial avoiding risk of cuts to research budgets excluding population factors from model building focusing narrowly on "blinkered", asystematic research Sustaining overriding government security systems encouraging unrest to justify security investment promoting politics of fear through threat cultivation promoting "nanny state" security measures Sustaining government right to kill spurious justification of manufacture of arms indifference to collateral damage need for "cannon fodder" for military training

Second iteration: The question is how to consider the possible systemic relationships between these "functions", if only to provide mnemonic cues as previously argued (Eliciting a 12-fold Pattern of Generic Operational Insights: Recognition of memory constraints on collective strategic comprehension, 2011). As discussed there, a 3x4 schema was used here to explore a potentially meaningful distribution of the "functions". This involved distributing the 12 items into that framework and then moving them to elicit a degree of possible significance to the rows and the columns -- effectively "tuning" the matrix, according to a process previously advocated (Tuning a Periodic Table of Religions, Epistemologies and Spirituality: including the sciences and other belief systems, 2007). The necessarily tentative result is as follows.

Interrelating forms of commitment
.	"Psychosocial commitment"	"Ideological commitment to sustaining confidence"	"Unthinking systemic dependence on vulnerable systems"	"Commitment to effective control"
"Existential engagement in sustaining population levels"	Obligation to live irrespective of degree of suffering (5)	Complicity of scientific community in overpopulation denial (10)	Systemic dependence on environmental exploitation (8)	Sustaining government right to kill (12)
"Perverse complicity in population increase"	Collective decision-making incapacity (7)	Religious encouragement of reproduction (3)	Sustaining vulnerable social security systems (4)	Systematic political avoidance of overpopulation issue (9)
"Dependence on population increase"	Individual psychological dependence on reproduction (2)	Dependence of financial system on population increase (6)	Systemic dependence on economic growth at all costs (1)	Sustaining overriding government security systems (11)

These items can now be distributed into a new version of the "map" such as to highlight these tentative relationships for mnemonic purposes. The numbering of the items is as before. In both the above tables and the map there is no immediate effort to stress cause/effect relationsh

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