Change

It may not be everything you thought it was

I’ve managed to finish reading Damon Centola’s book, Change. It is a tutorial for activists not just on a theory of culture change, but on the grassroots mechanics. It reminded me of Jan Lundberg. He spent his life insisting that our culture’s love affair with fossil fuels was not just an unfortunate habit, but a full-spectrum addiction that would take the living world down with it if we refused to change course and reinvent our culture.

Centola’s Change: How to Make Big Things Happen feels less like a TED-talk than someone finally handing you the wiring diagram for the world you’ve been banging your head against for decades. For anyone trying to steer us away from the ecological and civilizational cliff, Centola gently walks us back. We’ve been trying to change the future with the wrong tools. But there is hope. We can still learn.

Simple contagions, complex predicaments

Centola’s distinction sounds technical — simple versus complex contagions — but it slices cleanly through a lot of wishful thinking. Gossip, headlines, memes, and stock tips are simple contagions: one exposure is enough to know them, and they spread through casual contact, the way a cold does. Or maybe have a hundredth-monkey origin. You don’t need a viral infection if the time is ripe…