The Homeless Industrial Complex

One of the most powerful insights from systems thinking is that system components (goals, feedback loops, flows) tend to configure themselves in predictable ways. These regular patterns are called “system archetypes.”

When you familiarize yourself with these archetypes, it becomes clear that many of society’s biggest challenges are just different versions of the same underlying systemic patterns.

“The [INSERT INDUSTRY] Industrial Complex”

In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made the following observation during his farewell address from public office:

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend…