Open vs closed systems: the growth needs of humanity in the 21st century and beyond

Open Systems
-Non-Zero Sum
-Whole = More than Sum of Parts
-Relative limits to growth
-Win-Win Competition focus
-Multipolar (multiple centers of gravity)
Closed Systems
-Zero Sum
-Whole = Sum of Parts
-Absolute limits to growth
-Win-Lose Competition focus
-Unipolar (one center of gravity)
Comparing Two Systems

“Coordinated development is the unity of balanced development and imbalanced development. The process from balance to imbalance and then to rebalance is the basic law of development. Balance is relative while imbalance is absolute. Emphasizing coordinated development is not pursuing equalitarianism, but giving more importance to equal opportunities and balanced resource allocation.”
-Xi Jinping, 2016

Vernadsky’s 3 Phase Spaces
Lithosphere
Biosphere
Noosphere/Techosphere

“The biosphere may be regarded as a region of transformers that convert cosmic radiations into active energy in electrical, chemical, mechanical, thermal, and other forms. Radiations from all stars enter the biosphere, but we catch and perceive only an insignificant part of the total. The existence of radiation originating in the most distant regions of the cosmos cannot be doubted. Stars and nebulae are constantly emitting specific radiations, and everything suggests that the penetrating radiation discovered in the upper regions of the atmosphere by Hess originates beyond the limits of the solar system, perhaps in the Milky Way, in nebulae, or in stars …The importance of this will not be clear for some time, but this penetrating cosmic radiation determines the character and mechanism of the biosphere.”
-Vladimir Vernadsky, Biosphere (1928)

Open System Case Study 1:
The Arctic

Arctic Science Cities

Open System Case Study 2:
The Middle East

Five Seas Grand Strategy Revived

Possibilities for the Sinai Peninsula

The Loess plateau, in China 2009 vs 2019

Open System Case study 3:
Space Exploration