Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu is a Zulu saying which, loosely translated, means that a person is a person through other persons. (Once again, the ancients were a step ahead of the modern technologists here)! An interpretation (and I am indebted to an article I read by psychotherapist Loreno Sánchez Blanco for this one) is I am who I am because of who we all are.
Let us now consider how Systems Theory applies to society, acknowledging that the basic components of society are humans!
We are continually influencing our surroundings. We can observe changes brought about by others’ influence on the environment but we may not know why they do what they do.
And in our most unaware state, we can be considered to be ignorant of the long term influence of our actions. (That is, what others might do due to our behaviour).
Even when we think we are aware, we generally use trial and error in our efforts to achieve different goals. If we think about it, it is not true that the more trial we do the less errors we will make. This might be true in the mechanical/technological world, but is not true in human interaction and relationships that form society.
History is full of examples of people doing the same things over and over again – particularly as a group – leading to events that are very destructive for humanity. There is an old saying that if we don’t learn from history we are bound to repeat it. But do we really learn? And if we examine our personal lives this may also be true. (This will be explored more fully when I describe fractals and circular development).
This – seemingly – blind adherence to patterns might be because we are driven (almost always) to prioritise our own needs, and while we may get to acknowledge the needs of those with whom we cooperate, and have intention in our cooperation, we are largely uncertain about the long-term effects of that cooperation.
(That is, what will emerge)!
In our cooperation, we almost always get to know people in our own sphere of interest or geographic location first.
However even though our actions are local they may have global consequences. This is further discussed later. The fact that global consequences cannot really be predicted from local actions implies, once again, the property of emergence. And the global consequences will, in turn, (and in keeping with the Zulu proverb quoted above) affect us as individuals.
I could have picked many different examples to illustrate what this means but just for simplicity I will dip into the world of music. A local action might be making a recording of a song I write. The emergent factor is the extent to which the buying public like the song, how much radio play, TV exposure or Youtube hits it attracts. The global consequence is a hit record.
And perhaps some hit records might change the way people view the world!