Can integral theory solve climate change and save democracy? A conversation with Alan Watkins

What this episode covers

A few years ago Alan Watkins noticed, while watching a new story about a global crisis, that he kept hearing about the same problems over and over again. "Why is it that these problems are intractable?" he asked himself. Thus was born "Wicked and Wise: How to Solve the World's Toughest Problems", which he co-wrote with Ken Wilber. In "Wicked", Alan and Ken use climate change as an example of a wicked problem, which they define as a situation with multiple dimensions, multiple stakeholders, multiple causes and symptoms, and which is evolving. Using the integral map they explicate its component parts and provide solutions, which is where the "wise" part of the title comes from. "Integral coherence", or applying the integral map in a coherent fashion, is the essence of the solution. "Wicked" is the beginning of a series of books applying integral wisdom to our thorniest problems. The second book, "Crowdocracy", has already been published as well. In the podcast, Jeff and Alan discuss climate change, the problems of globalization and democracy, getting CEO's to do the right thing, and even Donald Trump! We hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation. The paperback version of Wicked and Wise is available now on Amazon. Send your questions and comments for the show to [email protected]. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

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