THINGS WORK WHEN WE ARE MINDFUL OF HOW PARTS FUNCTION AND RELATE AS A WHOLE.
The core of a functional approach is computation—evaluating the functions of all parts.
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Key traits:
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Uses immutability (functions can’t change once created).
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Relies on pure functions (same input always gives the same output).
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Emphasizes pathways. Scenarios are planned in advance. A situation is read, a response is calculated, and a function is selected to execute it.
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It’s easy to get locked into thinking that everything can and should be reduced to its individual parts.
But no matter how well we understand how those parts function, we can never fully anticipate all that will happen when they relate as a whole. Not even AI can do that to the point that all things become certain.
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Emergence: When parts combine, they create new functions that do not exist in the individual parts.
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Nonlinearity: Small changes in the beginning can lead to massive, completely unexpected results later. This is called the butterfly effect.
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Complex Interactions: As the number of connections between parts grows, the total system becomes too difficult to calculate fully.
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Information Limits: We never have exact data on every single starting condition or outside force.
Examples
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Water Molecules: Knowing how a single H₂O molecule acts does not let you predict the exact shape of a splashing wave or ice crystals without seeing the whole system.
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The Brain: You can study a single neuron, but you cannot predict a specific human thought or memory just from that piece.
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Weather: We understand air and heat, but tracking every wind current to predict rain weeks away is impossible.
When we are not mindful of how functional parts relate as a whole, we experience uncertainty as an immediate threat. This can trigger:
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Fight-or-flight response: We try to control what is happening or escape from it.
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Catastrophizing: The mind repeatedly imagines worst-case scenarios and treats those thoughts as facts.
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Hypervigilance: We feel jumpy, struggle to concentrate, or constantly scan our surroundings for signs of danger.
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Exhaustion: Over-preparing, checking, and worrying drain our emotional and physical energy before anything happens.
We take actions that make events worse, delaying the essential changes needed to prevent complete failure.
The ability to anticipate comes from reading the relationships between the parts of the whole, not from knowing how individual parts function.
Insight comes from the relationship of the whole, not from a reduction to the parts.
The whole is not the sum
of its parts. It's the
relationship
between them.
Things work when we are mindful of how parts function and relate as a whole.
Opportunities to be mindful of how parts function and relate as a whole
Older adults and adult beginners. Mixed. (1)Wed 23 SeptLoreto College, St Albans
Late paymentThu 31 DecAL3 5LH
A mindful leagueDate and time is TBDLocation is TBD
All-ability adults. Mixed.Date and time is TBDLocation is TBD
Workshop: Why it isn’t workingDate and time is TBDLocation is TBD
I hope you are well.
In 1992, as a business analyst, I was asked to define how people could collaborate effectively online. I designed online collaboration platforms that supported the functional, computational aspects of human collaboration, while leaving the richer, more complex work of relating functional parts as a whole to face-to-face interaction.
I began to notice how people can become locked into functional, computational forms of human connection, sometimes interpreted through diagnoses such as autism or ADHD. This marked the beginning of my journey to understand how we can train the brain to be mindful of how functional parts relate as a whole.
During lockdown, I saw more clearly how technology-mediated collaboration could lock humanity into functional connection. I wrote a booklet about what happens when we collaborate only in this way, and launched LifeSkills21.club to help people become more mindful of how functional parts relate as a whole.
Always happy to chat
St Albans, UK
SkillsofWow.org is the governing body for those who coach the skills of Wow.