3DN across interest and expertise
Connections across interest and expertise
- Whole System Design requires the contribution of expertise from all fields. Following is an example of a real world project that might have been undertaken if we were in the habit of thinking in terms of whole systems rather than projects designed by experts in an individual field:
- See also: competition among existing organizations
- Speaking of algeal diesel and wave energy, you might be interested in this thought experiment I posted on Omidyar.net not long before Katrina hit. I am interested in multiple use projects where the same investment serves multiple purposes:
- Suppose the project was to design a system that accomplished the following purposes:
- 1. Prevent New Orleans from being flooded in a hurricane flood surge.
- 2. Allieviate the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the effluent of the Mississippi River.
- 3. Enhance the biological diversity of the Mississippi delta.
- 4. Produce enough energy to run itself and possibly provide additional renewable energy.
- I'm thinking of an artifical reef that intercepts the storm surge and supports wave powered turbines that pump deep water through algae growth tanks. The reef structure provides a platform for marine life, prevents erosion of the silts in the delta and protects an estuary ecosystem. The algae consume the excess nutrients from the Mississippi effluent and are processed for algael-diesel.
- To design such a system we would need to attract the attention of a variety of scientists and engineers. We would need to give them a platform, most likely in cyberspace, where each expert could share the possibilities and limitation of their individual expertise. The design process would be a give and take about how various proposed designs would affect each of the goals. The group would probably propose a variety of experimental structures that could be tested for furtherance of the various goals.
- A mechanism would need to be in place to transfer ownership to the participants based on the value of their contribution. Additional participation would be required to obtain approvals and funding for the experimentation and eventual implementation of the project.
- In the foregoing scenario, we are concerned with two systems. One brings together expertise for melding into a whole project and mediates the rewards to the participants. The other is a resultant system of added beneficial elements to the delta ecosystem. The first is process and the second is product.
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