Monday, May 10, 2010

probability vs. rules

So you want to make a decision about something, and you want to know the sustainability implications of it. What is the probability that you will like the decision you make thirty years from now? What it the probability assessment based on? It's based on a combination of rules about how the system works, and the probabilities of certain outcomes based on the probabilities of certain inputs. This sounds like a "systems dynamics model" or SD model. Such as "SimCity". Where are these models? How do I find them, and have them be easy to incorporate into decisions?

Well, there are at least 4 vendors that sell them (Stella/iThink, GoldSim, VenSim, and a free one I forgot the name of). But all they sell is the tool, and certain shared modules that people in their respective user groups have developed. What we need is a global SD utility that is providing everyone with probability projections about certain global and local outcomes. Kind of like the weather report on the news, we could have the sustainability report on the news, and see how today's events changed the projections for global sustainability in 30 years. This is not a new idea. I just want to see it happen. Otherwise all sustainability claims are arm-waving.