This chapter, building on previous ones, outlines the main characteristics of the complex adaptive systems approach and its differences with the traditional scientific approach. The fundamental change in focus from an a-posteriori perspective looking for the origins of present-day dynamics, to an a priori perspective that studies emergence through time has many consequences that are summarized in this chapter.

The chapter points out how much of sustainability science has focused on manifestations of the current predicament, answering questions raised by the study of environmental dynamics, in particular the interactions between environmental dynamics and their societal counterparts. Instead we need to view sustainability as a societal phenomenon, and investigate the societal dynamics that have led to the current situation. It concludes with six fundamental points that the book develops.

Arguing that in order to understand socio-environmental dynamics we need to adopt the co-evolution of human cognition, demography, societal organization, technology and environmental interaction as the driver of the long-term changes human societies have undergone, this chapter presents a perspective on long-term human societal evolution from early hunter-gatherers to the present as the history of societal information-processing.

This chapter asks whether our current world system is coming closer to a tipping point, irrespective of any potential tipping of the earth system due to human CO2 emissions. It covers a variety of longer-term dynamics in demography, health, and aging, in the financial system, in water, food and energy provision, wealth distribution, urbanization, etc. It then develops a complex adaptive systems perspective on crises and tipping points, pointing to the inadequacy of the information processing systems to deal with the dynamics in which our societies are involved.

In an attempt to provide a more theoretical framework for the approach outlined in Chapter 8, this chapter develops the idea that the evolution of human societies can usefully be conceived in terms of “dissipative flow structures” as defined by Prigogine. By structuring information, these dynamic structures dissipate the chaos around them. This approach harks back to the original significance of “chaos” in ancient Greece, as the environment that enables creativity. It also describes the Aristotelian approach that assumes stability and aims to understand change from the Heraclitan perspective, which assumes change and questions how humans develop stability.

Innovation is here seen as a fundamental driver in these transitions in information processing. Summarizing some of the history of innovation studies in economics, the chapter makes the point that the dynamic of invention has not really been studied scientifically, but has often been conceived as a “black box” because our reductionist science could not really deal with the emergence of novelty. It then approaches invention as a case of niche creation, of an interaction between an existing environment and the subjective perception the inventor has of it.

This summary first reiterates the main elements of the book’s argument, and then argues that breaking the information-processing feedback loop that has driven the co-evolution of western societies to the point where they currently are is essential. The chapter then argues why I am a long-term optimist and a short-term pessimist on the chances of human societies to bring about the kind of profound change that is necessary.

If we are to develop such a holistic approach to sustainability, we must consider much longer timeframes than is usual in current research. This enables us to include slow changes, to study a wider range of socio-environmental system states, and to include second-order changes in our understanding. It avoids looking at the situation as if we are seeing a seriously ill patient without knowing what a healthy one looks like.

Here, the book looks at a number of trajectories that have been proposed to achieve more sustainable societies. Steady-state economics to de-growth, sustainable development goals, and polycentricity are some of the examples chosen to make the point that a profound re-thinking of our relationship to our natural environment, but also our society, is essential if humanity is to achieve some form of sustainability. Can information technology help? Certainly, if it is much more closely integrated into human information processing and helps foster the changes in approach that are necessary.