Dueling Loops Video Series on Systems Thinking

Dueling Loops Video Series on Systems Thinking

The essence of systems thinking is thinking in terms of system structure. System structure consists of nodes, their relationships, and the feedback loops that cause the system to behave the way it does. That's what the videos demonstrate.

Therefore the essence of solving difficult systemic problems is understanding the relevant system structure. Once you understand it and can "see" it as well as the back of your hand, solving the problem becomes relatively easy because you can now "see" the root causes and the high leverage points for resolving the root causes. Your solution elements push on the high leverage points. That's the main message of the videos.

This is a powerful way to solve common good problems.

It's best to start with the first video and watch them all in sequence, since they tell a cohesive story.

1. Overview of the Dueling Loops, 11 minutes

Part 1. Basic Concepts of Systems Thinking and the Sustainability Problem

2. Discovery of the Sustainability Problem by Limits to Growth Project, 6 min
3. The Basic Concept of Feedback Loops, with Population Growth, 10 min
4. How Simulation Models Work, with Population Growth, 10 min
5. The Importance of Structural Thinking, 3 types, 8 min

Part 2. Deriving the Dueling Loops Shape from Past System Behavior

6. What Jared Diamond’s Collapse Book Attempted to Do, 6 min
7. Extracting the Competitive Spiral from Collapse, 8 min
8. The Two Fundamental Loops of All Political Systems, 5 min
9. The Four Loop Model of Why Some Societies Collapsed, 7 min
10. The Basic Dueling Loops Shape, 15 min

Part 3. How the Basic Dueling Loops Simulation Model Works

11. The Race to the Bottom Simulation Model, 6 min
12. The Five Main Types of Political Deception, 15 min

http://www.thwink.org/sustain/videos/DuelingLoops/index.htm