Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions

Basic Foundations of "Systems" Theory
Finds an Application In The Real World of Socialism

A close friend, now living in suburban Chicagoland, who grew up in Holland / The Netherlands shared a piece from the Sunday NY Times Magazine, May 03, 2009: "Going Dutch -- How an American in Holland learned to love the European welfare state." Russell Shorto is the writer.

The BIG lesson I gleaned from his thorough comparison of the cultures had to do with how Holland became so defined by its sense of interdependence. And, therefore, a system of government and rules that is, at one time, highly opportunistic -- they are fervent capitalists -- but also spins a latticework of cooperation. Some call it socialism.

What's this got to do with business? This situation touches on one of the underpinnings of "Systems Theory" or as it used to be called in the old days: "Chaos Theory." One of the tenets of this new science is that a system's outcome can often be traced to the conditions that existed at the outset of that system: sensitive dependence on initial conditions.

Holland? More than five hundred years ago, land was prized; the advancing sea was the nemesis which had to be battled. But, my land, next to yours, could be compromised if you didn't take care to keep out the water from your land. If I'm going to farm on dry land, yours has to be dry, too.


What kind of country comes out of cooperation like that? Legal euthanasia. Legalized, free and government sponsored heroin clinics. A pension while unemployed. These are the trappings of the Dutch culture. One that has learned, first hand, about the logic of cooperation: the better you do, the better we all do. They even pay the unemployed to go on vacation. The logic? If you're depressed, you're probably not going to do very well at finding a job.

I digress: Holland's culture, today, has some features that could be a product of those challenges that the population faced 500 years ago: they figured out, without bashing each other, that they needed to work together, find common ground. What was good for the one was good for the many. The country, now, is a system whose structure and operation is a sensitive product of those initial conditions.

A modern application? What I do today, however small, could have lasting implications down the road. For example, an auto company's response, in the 1970's let's say, to the encroaching incursion of, let's say, a Japanese automaker. Without being coy, is it possible that GM's response, more than 30 years ago, could have determined how things are turning out now? It's not impossible.

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