OrbHab Paper
Leverage Points Places to Intervene in a System (1999)
ID: 378 Flag Paper
Title: Leverage Points Places to Intervene in a System
Authors: Donella Meadows
Journal Name: The Sustainability Institute
Year of Publication: 1999
Page Number:
Category: noosphere
Availability: pdf
Detail Page: /papers/378
Web Link: https://donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Leverage_Points.pdf
BoK Link: [[paper:378]]
Abstract
This is the seminal paper in Systems Theory. Every person interested in Orbital Habitats should have a working familiarity with the contents of this paper. Folks who do systems analysis have a great belief in “leverage points.” These are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything. This idea is not unique to systems analysis — it’s embedded in legend. The silver bullet, the trimtab, the miracle cure, the secret passage, the magic password, the single hero or villain who turns the tide of history. The nearly effortless way to cut through or leap over huge obstacles. We not only want to believe that there are leverage points, we want to know where they are and how to get our hands on them. Leverage points are points of power.
Title: Leverage Points Places to Intervene in a System
Authors: Donella Meadows
Journal Name: The Sustainability Institute
Year of Publication: 1999
Page Number:
Category: noosphere
Availability: pdf
Detail Page: /papers/378
Web Link: https://donellameadows.org/wp-content/userfiles/Leverage_Points.pdf
BoK Link: [[paper:378]]
Abstract
This is the seminal paper in Systems Theory. Every person interested in Orbital Habitats should have a working familiarity with the contents of this paper. Folks who do systems analysis have a great belief in “leverage points.” These are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything. This idea is not unique to systems analysis — it’s embedded in legend. The silver bullet, the trimtab, the miracle cure, the secret passage, the magic password, the single hero or villain who turns the tide of history. The nearly effortless way to cut through or leap over huge obstacles. We not only want to believe that there are leverage points, we want to know where they are and how to get our hands on them. Leverage points are points of power.