(Un)predictability and the Noah Effect

By Mark Hewitt
August 11th, 2007

The only predictable constant in the Universe is Change, hard to argue this one. The real question is what does it mean and how do we achieve stability and security amid all of this ciaos.

I believe the answer is simple – we don’t. Think about this one – Noah was presented with a vision of a great flood and had three choices.

• First - was to ignore the vision. (Since the universe works a lot like a scatter gun I believe Noah was not the only one of his time to have a vision of a great flood – he simply was the one with the resources and faith to do something about it.)
• Second - spread the word. (It is likely others had the same vision, however trying to spread the world that a great flood is coming would get you branded as a conspiracy theorist)
• Third – build an ARC. (Assuming that you can’t change the world this would be the best way to preserve the future)

We all know the story of Noah and while I believe in the story I also believe Noah represents not one man and that there was not just one ARC which is why today we have so much diversity in the human genome.

Like most of you I read many of the doom and gloom stories of just how bad things are, yet amidst all of this I see a constant glimmer of the future. This past week forecasts of our declining energy reserves and our dependence on oil to maintain our way of life has the press and political leaders in a frenzy. Yet hidden in the back pages of the news are weekly announcements of new discoveries leading to new sources of energy, materials, and medicine.

Life is quite unlike the Hollywood stories we have become familiar with today, the clarity of good and evil, right and wrong are in real life never quite black and white.

Across our culture and the world we are witnessing a modern day “Noah Effect” as we see the migration from our cities and urban environments to a new “Rural” style of living. We see many versions of Noah as both community leaders and developers have begun the task of creating a new and sustainable life style, full of hope and stability.

So I tend to agree with idealists like "Laura Sperling" in here editorial "A vortex of constant change". So I seek others who look forward to the "Noah Effect" and envision a future through change.

The “Noah Effect” was first cloned by Benoid Mandelbrot and simply states that when something changes, it can change abruptly