What Can System Thinkers Learn from Quantifying History?
Systems Thinking Ontario hosted a fantastic in-person lecture with SoDy’s Dan Hoyer and Neal Halverson (multi-dimensional designer), and was moderated by Zaid Khan (strategist). Both Neal and Zaid are graduates of the Ontario College of Art & Design’s Strategic Foresight and Innovation program.
During the discussion, they spoke about similarities and differences between the two perspectives of systems thinking and quantitative history and how they can complement our understanding of complexity at the civilizational (and multi-civilizational) level.
Some of the suggested pre-reading/listening/watching for the group - which you may also find interesting - were:
Hoyer, Daniel (2025). Is Canada heading down a path that has caused the collapse of mighty civilizations in the past? The Conversation Canada. Available at https://theconversation.com/is-canada-heading-down-a-path-that-has-caused-the-collapse-of-mighty-civilizations-in-the-past-254378
Hoyer, Daniel (2024). History’s crisis detectives: how we’re using maths and data to reveal why societies collapse – and clues about the future. The Conversation Canada. Available at https://theconversation.com/historys-crisis-detectives-how-were-using-maths-and-data-to-reveal-why-societies-collapse-and-clues-about-the-future-218969
Halverson, Neal (2019). Foresight Playback: Mapping the Future of Industrial Regions by Learning from Historical Cycles of Innovation. [MRP] https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/2548/
Halverson, Neal (2019). Carving out a new destiny: Dayton’s bid to lift itself up. Medium. Available at https://medium.com/@halverson.neal/carving-out-a-new-destiny-daytons-bid-to-lift-itself-up-f4cdeaf5d304
How Elite Surplus and Inequality Lead to Societal Upheaval with Peter Turchin (2025) | The Great Simplification EP#164. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk9bs0F_oIU
