Unpatterning: What comes next is not a new version of what came before.

3 comments

1. I don’t know enough about Steffan’s version of ruggedization to evaluate it, but his point about variability and ongoing change is a good one. The USDA map he leads with has an expiration date unlike the editions that came before it. Searching for a stable, indefinite “new normal” will be an exercise in frustration.

2. There was an interesting article posted here recently by a farmer describing how they’ve been growing the same things all their life and got really good at it and how climate change will make most of that knowledge they have irrelevant. That, applied at scale, is terrifying

3. At the edge of chaos, variability is the new normal. The survivors will have made sense of it, though. It’ll be a fundamental of the religion, explained by the wrath of the gods. And the opportunists will say that variation of any order is only a cry for more human ingenuity, technology, and dominion.

   I appreciate that the author is hoping to provide some ruggedness solutions on the side. I mean, no shame in getting what you can. But somehow that knowledge dilutes the message for me. I’d feel more engaged talking about the climate if I weren’t worried about motive behind an idea.