The Adjacent Possible

Posted by Rafe Furst in Asymmetry, Autocatalysis, Causality, Cognition, Cooperation, Creativity, Interconnectedness, Non-linearity, Scarcity / Abundance, Science 2.0, Self-Fullfilling Prophecy, Visualization on March 11th, 2010 | View Comments

Stuart Kauffman has a concept called the Adjacent Possible which I find incredibly useful in understanding the world.  Simply put, if you think of the space of possibilities from the present moment forward and just concentrate on those that are achievable today — adjacent to the present moment — that’s the Adjacent Possible.

What’s interesting about possibility-space is that tomorrow’s Adjacent Possible depends on the actions and choices we make today; it’s not symmetric and it’s nonlinear.  Certain actions generate more future possibilities than others.  In my experience, those actions tend to be the cooperative ones, ones that produce network effects: financial, social and otherwise.

Due to our evolutionary heritage, having come from a resource-constrained world, we may be predisposed to see the more competitive actions which tend to shrink the Adjacent Possible.  Whether or not this is a bias or an actual state of affairs, much of our thinking is based on scarcity, so we are drawn to actions that become self-limiting.

Here’s how I visualize the Adjacent Possible, and it has profound consequences for how I think and live my own life:

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  • http://www.targetprocess.com/blog/2010/03/friday-digest-14-ux-chaos-complexity.html Friday Digest #17 [UX, Chaos, Complexity] | Edge of Chaos | Agile Development Blog

    [...] Thought provoking posts by Rafe Furst. Here are some nice quotes: 1. Certain actions generate more future possibilities than others. In my experience, those actions tend to be the cooperative ones, ones that produce network effects: financial, social and otherwise. 2. By surrounding yourself with people who have the same vision as you do and want similar things as you do means that you will all have help in getting there. 3. When you are successful at something, others notice and their reactions to that noticing will make it easier for you to succeed in the future var dzone_style="2";SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Friday Digest #17 [UX, Chaos, Complexity]", url: "http://www.targetprocess.com/blog/2010/03/friday-digest-14-ux-chaos-complexity.html" }); Categories: digest Tags: digest dzone_url = "http://www.targetprocess.com/blog/2010/03/friday-digest-14-ux-chaos-complexity.html"; blog comments powered by Disqus var disqus_url = 'http://www.targetprocess.com/blog/2010/03/friday-digest-14-ux-chaos-complexity.html '; var disqus_container_id = 'disqus_thread'; var facebookXdReceiverPath = 'http://www.targetprocess.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/disqus-comment-system/xd_receiver.htm'; var DsqLocal = { 'trackbacks': [ ], 'trackback_url': 'http://www.targetprocess.com/blog/wp-trackback.php?p=928' }; Agile Tool Reviews: Trusted Content? window.onload = function(){prettyPrint();}; RSS feed [...]

  • http://manypossibilities.net/2010/04/africa-innovation-and-the-incredibles/ Africa, Innovation, and The Incredibles «Many Possibilities

    [...] a country into a super-power by enabling everyone to be an innovator, allowing everyone to explore the adjacent possible.  This explosion of innovation is non-linear.  Increasingly, any country without  very low cost [...]

  • http://thepokeryogi.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/rafe-fursts-true-story-the-safety-net/ Rafe Furst’s True Story “The Safety Net” « Life's Secret Sauce

    [...] are born with infinite possibility to create the lives that we want and it is only through the scripts, mantras and illusions we spin [...]

  • http://andrejverity.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/why-a-blog/ Why a Blog? « Andrej Verity

    [...] our assumptions, adopt new strategies. Being wrong on its own doesn’t unlock new doors in the adjacent possible, but it does force us to look for [...]

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527965524 Nick Jankel

    hey rafe. we met via nick kislinger and many others around social enterprise in LA and beyond. was researching current commentary on kauffman for a project in singapore and saw this by you! wonderful stuff

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  • http://sorebuttcheeks.blogspot.com/ steroids

    an interesting concept, a little scary though.

  • Rafe Furst

    Yes, the unknown can be scary.  But there’s a flipside too as Nick Jankel points out below.  When you have faith that someone else knows the answer, and when you trust that person implicitly, scary can turn into wonder.

    Here’s to a new year full of revelations.

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