John N. Warfield (see his extensive websites)

John is for me a unique squared and round character and emininent scientist. I learned a lot from him in / after meeting him in Panetics Society (ISP) Board Sessions.

In the 2003 we asked him to accept being part of the Academic Board of the IESC (International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics) which he refused for long, insisting to not hold positions, but make a difference !! I remember him refusing to be part of the ISP speakersboard or promint there – only to show the difference…

John I called suared as his ethical standard where unquesrionable, tough for collegues and compatrios but unquestioanble by in his professional standards, formats and depth.

I came across his name not only around his ISM but learend that he was not only the boss of Alexander Christakis for some time, and that Walter Bogan was involved for helping in the early days of System Sciences adding the participative and communicative dimesnions to social systems design and descision making – I only mention “group think” here…

For me the brige between, ingtegrated, human, systemic, holistic and ethical …. is always challenging. John is more the withdrawn, intellectual, and deep entry door for this.

To make a recommendation in view of the meters of reports and tons of books printed with John articles? A hard job, but I try with selecting his mindbugs article: MENTOMOLOGY - THE IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF MINDBUGS

2009

I checked some time-lines and milestones for an exchange/ interview with Christakis for EuropesWorld

Warfield has passed away, an eulogy is needed a.s.a.p.…

Jan 2012-01-16 when checking some links I find this comment by Walter Bogan recollecting his work and support / funding of the systems and education aspects of his work with Christakis and Warfield.

Below you can Walter J. Bogans text under my quergeist article:

Harnessing Wisdom & Concerting Shared Actions and Frames across Scales

1 comment

Mon 19 Sep 2011

7 Nov 2011 @ 21:53 by Walter J. Bogan @209.144.63.76 : Conversation with Christakis
Dear Heiner, Thank you for sharing the report of your recent interview with Aleco. I think the most salient paragraph, going forward, was his reflection, consider the question, “Why do pupils drop out of school?”

I addressed the human dimensions of environment in different capacities over many years. I participated in the 1970 Stockholm Conference as the chair of the committee of US NGO representatives. I was Executive Director of the Scientists’ Institute for Public Information in New York and I had published the article on Environment for the Encyclopedia America. I moved to Washington, DC immediately after Stockholm to become the Director of the US Office of Environmental Education.

When I moved to Washington in 1970, I contacted Dr. Christakis at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Washington because of his work with the Club of Rome; he introduced me to John Warfield at the University of Virginia who had developed the theoretical foundation for Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) and was formalizing innovative methods for structured dialogues for collaboration. I became an advocate and source of funding for his research on structured collaborations in my role as Director of the Office of Environmental Education at the US Department of Education.

Dr. John N. Warfield became the Principle Investigator for the consortium of research institutions that implemented the strategic plan for the Environmental Education Act of 1970. In 1980, John Warfield produced Designs for the Future of Environmental Education (USDOE Publication No. E-81-39000). It reported on the implementation of the research and development strategy of my office under the US Environmental Education Act of 1970.

Dr. Christakis referenced Thomas R. Flanagan’s recent book, “A Democratic Approach to Sustainable Futures” that I have not read but from the introduction and table of contents, available online, it appears to be a logical extension of the computer supported implementation of the Regional Environmental Learning System RELS that we reported in 1980 in “Designs for the Future of Environmental Education.” The history and extent of the collaborations of John N. Warfield, Walter J. Bogan and Alexander N. Christakis is available at [link]

In the implementation of the Environmental Education Act of the 1970, we developed environmental education programs to address the human dimensions of the environment that had not been addressed at Stockholm and are still ignored by too many “environmental educators” and proponents of the new “education for global sustainability”. We need a meaningful review of the human issues that were not addressed at Stockholm and why they had only begun to be meaningfully discussed in 1990 at Rio through Agenda 21, fortunately they are finally integral to the 2012 UN Conference agenda Rio+12.

In 2012, [link], The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, will focus on two themes:

Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication
Institutional framework for sustainable development

I hope to be able to identify and coordinate resources to develop a meaningful education and public communication program to support this agenda and to mobilize a constituency to support human development and global sustainability.

With regard to your reference to Yehezkel Dror’s initiative to launch Global Policy Colleges through the Club of Rome more than 15 years ago, I commend to your attention, Dr. John N. Warfield’s Wandwavers Solution, [link]

I lost your email address, you can reach me at boganwj@me.com

Best,

Walter