iv WCCS26: World Conference on Complex Systems 20-22nd April

Day 1: Panel 2 - Rethinking Knowledge in the Age of Complexity

• Helena Knyazeva - Dancing with Complexity: How the World Thinks Through Us
• Carlos Gershenson - The Implications of Complexity
• Leonardo Rodríguez Zoya - Can Statistics Think? Complexity, Future, and Freedom in the Age of Large Language Models
  Panel Chair: Nigel Gilbert 

Courage is one of the 6Cs in nursing, and was on display at WCCS26.

Carlos Gershon began by offering two references, the first:

De Domenico, et al., (2019). Complexity explained: A grassroot collaborative initiative to create a set of essential concepts of complex systems. https://complexityexplained.github.io

This is a brief 20 pages, larger text, and provides a helpful primer to complexity and related concepts covering:

Interactions
Emergence 
Dynamics 
Self-organization
Adaptation
Interdisciplinarity
Methods

For each concept, the authors explain:

Definition/Description
Examples
Relevant Concepts
References

Plus, secondly:

Gershenson, C. The Implications of Interactions for Science and Philosophy. Found Sci 18, 781–790 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-012-9305-8

I liked the practical feel here, the encouragement to think anew, and perhaps taste the "flavors of emergence": synchronic - space; diachronic - time, weak and strong feedback, transversal of scale - upwards and downwards.

There is further conference on complexity later this year (and also online!):

CCS 2026:
The 2026 Conference on Complex Systems
OCTOBER 9 - 16, 2026 BINGHAMTON, NY, USA & ONLINE

In my search I also found:

Carlos Gershenson; Complexity, Artificial Life, and Artificial Intelligence. Artif Life 2025; 31 (3): 289–303. doi:https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_a_00462

Gershenson, C. Self-organizing systems: what, how, and why?. npj Complex 2, 10 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44260-025-00031-5

Leonardo Rodríguez Zoya's presentation helpfully connected social practice, interdisciplinary bridges, statistical rationality, complex (human) rationality and the future(s): desirable, possible, latent and probable.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

COMPLEX (HUMAN) RATIONALITY   cognition	STATISTICAL RATIONALITY Techopraxis LLMs - technology
socio- HUMAN PROBLEMS SOCIAL PRACTICE PRACTICE (one of the 4Ps)	ELECTION - CAMPAIGN SPENDING PEACE NEGOTIATIONS ISLAND ECONOMY CRYPTOCURRENCY

To answer the prompt - 

"Give me a less likely but more fruitful interpretation of this [concept]*."

*Replace with a significant concept in your practice

Would it might help to have a simple, and yet complexity (and simplicity!) primed conceptual framework to assist reflection, argumentation, and progress?

 

I missed the poster at the afternoon break, and followed track 1. I greatly enjoyed Julian Arevalo's - Adaptive Readiness: an Agent-Based Model of Peace Negotiations. Perhaps this accounts for my having no notes or photos for this track except for one. I realise now we did speak, sitting together for the conference dinner. I'm sure I remember Negotiation Lab 1.0 - 

https://www.comses.net/codebases/1256dc74-9ae4-4f49-a235-1ec129be1930/releases/1.0.0/

 

This past week I heard discussion (BBC Radio 4) of the 'income' Norway obtains from its expertise and engagement in peace negotiations.

 

Nicholas Roxburgh, and colleagues Rachel Creaney, Mindi Premarathne and Ruth Wilson through 
Exploring Interdependencies in an Island Economy, reminded me of public engagement in research. Especially when it involves their community; and that community is somewhat rural, or remote.

 

Remah Dahdoul, with Jan Korbel and Stefan Thurner presented -

Campaign-Spending Driven Polarization Transition in a Double-Random Field Model of Elections. The following paper brings home the mathematics in complex systems. The reference is:

 

Jan Korbel and Remah Dahdoul and Stefan Thurner. (2026) Empirical validation of the polarization transition in a double-random field model of elections. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.00612.  doi.org/10.1103/9gjj-1df6.

 

The paper by Saida Hachimi El Idrissi and Mohamed Nemiche is not open access, but the abstract follows. 

 

S. H. El Idrissi and M. Nemiche, "Formation of Complex Societies: An Agent-Based Model Inspired by Freudian Theory," 2024 World Conference on Complex Systems (WCCS), Mohammedia, Morocco, 2024, pp.1-6, doi: 10.1109/WCCS62745.2024.10765573.

Abstract: The rise and emergence of complex societies in the Old World mark a pivotal chapter in human history, characterized by the transition from small, kin-based communities to large, hierarchical states. This transformation raises fundamental questions: How did human societies progress from small, cohesive groups characterized by face-to-face cooperation to the expansive, anonymous societies of today, often organized as states? What factors account for the significant variation in different human populations' capacity to construct stable and functional state structures? To address these questions, we developed an agent-based model grounded in Freud's hypothesis, which posits that civilization could neither emerge nor evolve without the repression of human desires. In the context of social evolution, this repression of desires can be interpreted as the repression of intra-societal competition, ultimately strengthening the society and facilitating the formation of complex social structures. We implemented this model within a realistic representation of the Afroeurasian landmass, incorporating various geographical factors. To validate our model, we compared our simulated results with historical data. The model-predicted pattern of expansion of complex societies demonstrated remarkable congruence with the observed historical patterns in the Old World. The emergence, growth, and distribution of large-scale societies predicted by our computational model showed remarkable consistency with the archaeological and historical record.

keywords: {Analytical models; Computational modeling; Predictive models; Data models; Agriculture; Rivers; History; Complex systems; component; Agent-based Modeling; Repression of satisfaction; cooperation; competition; Social Simulation},
URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10765573&isnumber=10765499 

Unless you are a microsurgeon (increasingly with robotic co-workers), is the word practice, more likely to manifest what is larger, the big picture, a sense of space, even at a societal or continental scale? In reading, I came across four forms of attractors. For me, how they fit into the question of scale makes this paper worthy of seeking out. 

M. Nemiche was unable to attend the conference, and was greatly missed.

Interviews, playwriting, and clinical encounters: pause for breath - Roger Lewin

It can be surprising how you know something. Something that should be obvious to you. It's your 'Bread and Butter' as the saying goes. And yet for a variety of reasons, you persist in not seeing it, or you frame it in a way that ultimately reveals a bias, influence, and may even mask several aspects of truth. It might be the influence of work over four decades plus. Sitting down, or frequently finally getting out for a walk after several weeks of nudging, in a one-to-one therapeutic context. Or, ever since secondary school, that distant performed encounter with the Crucible. And, more recently as 'Ken', a Post Office subpostmaster and his wife (a brief 10-12 mins), and over the years a desire to write dialogue.

Reviews of Roger Lewin's Complexity, vary in their conclusions about the book's quality. No surprise there, but reading the book it was a revelation to see the method: a series of interviews and the resulting dialogues. 

'In this revision of his book originally published in 1992, Roger Lewin explains what the science of complexity is all about through interviews with some of its most important practitioners (and critics) organized around some of the central ideas. As such this is both a fine introduction to the subject and an interesting read. Lewin includes 16 pages of photos of the scientists he interviewed captioned with a significant quote from each. He has added an afterword on the application of complexity science to business, and an appendix about John Holland, whom he dubs, "Mr. Emergence."

"Everything works toward an ecology" is an old dictum of mine. I have the sense that I came up with that myself, but I probably read it somewhere years ago. At any rate, what is being said here is that complex systems work toward a state of equilibrium near a transition phase, near "the edge of chaos." This equilibrium can be an ecology (Darwin's "tangled web"); indeed it can be the entire planet, as in the concept of Gaia in which "the Earth's biological and physical systems are tightly coupled in a giant homeostatic system" (quoting Stuart Kauffman on page 109).'

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/384547.Complexity

There's nothing profound in this post, and yet this melange of interviews, playwriting, and clinical encounters gives me pause for breath.

Previously: 'Our broken sticks' c/o Roger Lewin "Complexity: life at the edge of chaos"

'Anthropological Theory of the Didactic' ATD - in learning mathematics

INTRODUCTION

Several studies have discussed the specific knowledge taught and learned in precalculus, calculus, and analysis courses, from different perspectives: for example, concept image and concept definition (e.g., O’Shea, 2016), APOS theory (e.g., Martínez-Planell, Trigueros Gaisman, & Mcgee, 2016), and the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD; e.g., Bergé, 2016). Our starting point is the general and relatively vague question of when in an undergraduate degree in mathematics does a student need (need in the sense of to succeed in the course) to engage in mathematical activities that may substantially, or meaningfully, lead to developing mathematical practices. We consider and frame this question within the ATD (Chevallard, 1999), which provides theoretical tools for modelling any human activity or practice. The semantic distinction between these two words is essential to us. Our hypothesis is that the kinds of didactic constructs to which professors and students are exposed are decisive in fostering the emergence of practices out of collections of local, particular, and relatively short-lived activities. From the theoretical stance we take, this means the development of mathematical knowledge out of local, particular, and relatively short-lived mathematical activities.' p.487.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 

“Activity and practice”

'As mentioned above, we have come to see the semantic difference between activity and practice as pertinent to our work. The ATD’s notion of praxeology provides a fundamental model for defining mathematical practice, which, in the context of the theory, is equated to mathematical knowledge. According to the model, any practice (or piece of knowledge) can be represented by a quadruplet [T, τ, θ, Θ] involving four interconnected components: a type of tasks T, which generates the practice, the corresponding collection of techniques τ developed to accomplish T, the discourse used to describe, justify, explain, and produce the techniques (i.e., their technologies θ), and the underlying theories Θ that serve as a foundation of the technological discourse. As students progress in their studies of mathematics, they engage in numerous activities, which progressively determine the practices they develop'. p.489.

Laura Broley and Nadia Hardy. (2018). A study of transitions in an undergraduate mathematics program. In PROCEEDINGS of INDRUM 2018 Second conference of the International Network for Didactic Research in University Mathematics. pp.487-496. ERME topic conference.
https://indrum2018.sciencesconf.org/data/Indrum2018Proceedings.pdf

THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTS 

'ATD “postulates that any activity related to the production, diffusion or acquisition of knowledge should be interpreted as an ordinary human activity, and thus proposes a general model of human activity built on the key notion of praxeology” (Bosch & Gascon, 2014). The praxeology 𝛱 is represented by a quadruple [𝑇/𝜏 /𝜃/𝛩]: its praxis part (or know-how) consists of a type of tasks 𝑇 together with a corresponding technique 𝜏 (useful to carry out the tasks 𝑡 ∈ 𝑇 in the scope of 𝜏). The logos part (or know-why) includes two levels of description and justification: the technology 𝜃, i.e. a discourse on the technique, and the theory 𝛩, which often unifies several technologies. 

The elaboration of a reference epistemological model (Florensa, Bosch, & Gascon, 2015) as sequences of praxeologies, for a given body of knowledge, is an important step in any research carried out in the ATD framework. It is the tool that will be used by the researcher to describe, analyse, put in question or design the specific contents that are at the core of a teaching and learning process. In order to build such a model, “mathematical praxeologies are described using data from the different institutions participating in the didactic transposition process, thus including historical, semiotic and sociological research, assuming the institutionalized and socially articulated nature of praxeologies” (loc. cit. p. 2637).' pp.498-499.

Charlotte Derouet, Gaetan Planchon, Thomas Hausberger, and Reinhard Hochmuth. (2018). Bridging probability and calculus: the case of continuous distributions and integrals at the secondary-tertiary transition. In PROCEEDINGS of INDRUM 2018 Second conference of the International Network for Didactic Research in University Mathematics. pp.497-506. ERME topic conference.
https://indrum2018.sciencesconf.org/data/Indrum2018Proceedings.pdf

I came across this source as I'd read about the way chemistry as a discipline co-opted some mathematical symbols, but adapted them for their own use.

Previously: 'math' : 'threshold concept' : 'liminal' : 'learning'

iii Picking up sticks: when axes matter

It is one thing for us to break the stick, but quite another from a concept's perspective. They are accustomed to the dynamics at work, when as search terms they are exploded, or not. And, not just any concept but one that can be unique. Consider the concept, and how or where it finds itself [ in Hodges' or another model ]? Let us use the intra-INTERPERSONAL domain, as an example, and ask:

1. Is 'mood' fixed by the I-axis alone?
2. Does the humanistic axis have a role in where in the doomain the user of Hodges' model places 'mood'?
3. Acknowledging person-centredness, if the patient/client had a view, to what extent would this agree (with annonymity assured) with the professional's judgement, or a relatives / guardian?
4. What is as a result, 'mood' has become 'very low mood'? (To continue in this vein , invites complication, but we will continue.)
5. Introducing the 'Other' whatever their role and relationship, pushes us to the humanistic, but whether this is achieved in a person-centred manner (triage excluded) is a matter of opinion and judgement (evaluation).

If mood is fixed by the I-axis then if we determine the issue is 'low mood' are we introducing a combined quantitative and qualitative dimension, a continuum, at the selected point in the interpersonal domain? Writing previously about threshold concepts, I wondered, and proposed compound threshold concepts. There is a progression from the patient's subjective self-assessment, to in all likelihood of an objective measure being introduced, so spanning two domains. Definition of 'compound' aside; there is a compound structure at work.

What points 1-5 above reveal is triangulation. When it is argued that Hodges' model facilitates navigation as per my presentation on 21st April, this is a strategy from mixed-methods research in practice. Many years ago, Hodges' model was described as a 'cognitive periplus', reflecting the way ancient mariners initially charted the coastlines creating the first map, as per their culture and dispora. In the west more recently the value of social approaches and activities, especially in mental health. Care navigation is a role. Literally sign-posting to individually suited (which must be stressed) activities, resources, and agencies. So, in Hodges' model what are our three triangulation points? They are:

1. Axial;
2. Intra- InterDomain; 
3. Person-centred. 

Perhaps, we can describe 1-2 as conceptual anchors at least when dealing with a concept, while #3 is more about approach, values and philosophy. So, there is something of a 'cheat' going on, because each one is compound:

1. Axial: The axial is comprised of four points. The axes create a Cartesian plane (figure). And, as far as a patient is concerned, they mark off a point on the respective Individual and Humanistic-Sciences parts of the axes. This form of triangulation point can claim a general conceptual precision (language) in the applied terminal labels; but what happens in-between can be patently fuzzy. A mix of what may be objective and subjective.

2. Intra- Interdomain: This may be the most imprecise triangulation point. It appears the axes of Hodges' model are composite (figure). They have two-sides as a boundary. To be pedantic, in our example, one plays to the interpersonal domain, the other the sciences.

[The relationship between the axis and the domains in Hodges' model, is far from unique; but I wonder if there is something else here?]

2. Person-Centred: There is a paradoxical nature to person-centred(ness). It is also nebulous in nature, and yet in care it is definitive in practice (safety, purposes, values, professionalism, competency, ...).  It forms locus which can also be classed as a traingulation point, at the centre of the model. This is the point around which Hodges' model is built. This captures the individual's (life, care) context and situation, all influenced by their life chances as consequent health - and other - careers. Salience and our attention^ is key. Is it possible to frame our purpose(s)?

^A focus for [N] autumn.

Marrakech, Le Jardin Secret. 24th April. 1000-1830.

iii WCCS26: World Conference on Complex Systems 20-22nd April

Chaos
Making a New Science 
by James Gleick

When I first learned of WCCS26, I saw a connection, an affinity across the conference themes. This was reinforced when I read the final program for WCCS. Here was a home for the model, a way-point for Hodges' model. For an independent scholar, it was quite a trip to Ben Guerir, to the north of Marrakech; 13 hours (brief by global standards). It was a place to wave wildly, making use of the opportunity to present Hodges' model, to say - "Dear All, can you do anything with this?".

It is almost 40 years since I read James Gleik's, Chaos: Making a New Science. That was in Cornwall I think? Now, something more than book - a complexity conference.  

 After the first two keynotes - two panels: 

 Panel 1 - Complexity, Society & Global Challenges

▪ Carlos Álvarez Pereira - No Limits to Hope: Escaping from the unreasonable effectiveness of Modernity
▪ David Chavalarias - The Artificialization of Cultural Evolution: the Impact of Very Large Digital Infrastructures on Individuals and Society
▪ Louis Klein - Noospheric Singularity and the Mirror of Tamkeen
Panel Chair: Karima Kadaoui

These confirmed I was in the right place. Well, it was bit late if I wasn't! I was reminded of the slow movement, and how in healthcare, specifically client-nurse intereactions you had time to manage your time, that is your caseload to deliver person-centred care. I don't mean time-wasting, as in social chat, tea and custard creams either. This is what being professional is about, truly trying to make a difference - that lasts. So we worked through: What is; (science) what we understand; and (tech and law) what should be. Ecologically, we often refer to the size of our footprints. Panel one considered this individually and collectively - institutionally. Fascinating to reflect upon these themes and how modernity is stamping about in a rather chaotic way? We are seemingly power-less to stop this.

c/o Carlos Álvarez Pereira
No Limits to Hope: Escaping from the unreasonable effectiveness of Modernity

Three reports to the Club of Rome were displayed, spanning 'NO LIMITS TO LEARNING - Bridging the human gap' 1979; 'Limits and Beyond' 2022; 'NO LIMITS TO HOPE - Liberate the potential for Collective Learning' 2026. Should we be troubled, worried even, that the latest followed after a mere four years? There are of course, many reports as per the link above.

David Chavalarias - The Artificialization of Cultural Evolution: the Impact of Very Large Digital Infrastructures on Individuals and Society spoke about the beneficial and malign impacts of social media AI tools. Covid featured as might be expected. Within the sciences, what was worrying, was an innovation slowdown associated with AI, non-AI use, chartered around a central point (centroid). I believe the slide referred to:

Qianyue Hao & Fengli Xu & Yong Li & James Evans, 2026. "Artificial intelligence tools expand scientists’ impact but contract science’s focus," Nature, vol. 649(8099), pages 1237-1243, January. 

There was one slide:

Is this the demise of any efforts to achieve SOCIO-technical synergy? Even to the extent of realising benefits for the human in socio-technical systems? Did Covid not teach us anything about the informational difference technology can make? When so many technologies are muted by a virus? This is what we need: things to think about, question and critique. 

There used to be a series of A3 step-by-step oil painting magazines in the 1970s. One presented a desert campfire, clearly set in the east. I did try it, though not sure were the result is now. ... Such a scenario was presented by Louis Kleinand the Noospheric Singularity and the Tamkeen Process - Regenerative Hermeneutics, with the following reference provided:

Klein, L., & Kadaoui, K. (2024). Realising metamorphic transformation in the mirror of Tamkeen: Growing a shared understanding from co-reflected lived experiences. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 41(5), 738–749. https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.3058 

There was much I could identify with. And, once again, I cannot continue at this pace. We have only covered (touched!) panel one. Hopefully you now have an idea of the depth of the conference programme. More however, will follow.

See also: thefifthelement.earth

Chaos - cover: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/826080.Chaos

Global Experts call for Paradigm Shift in Medicine, Health and Education to Save Lives and Fight escalating Health Crisis

ACCESS NEWS WIRE – for PRESS RELEASE on Tuesday, 28. April 2026

A global consortium of 64 experts (72 entities, 5 continents) unveiled two coordinated consensus plus policy brief reports, outlining a science‑driven roadmap to confront escalating health crises and to tackle the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs—including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, etc.: 75% of global deaths; 82% in low-/middle income countries; 90% of all death in European region).

The centerpiece is HEAL—Healthy Eating & Active Living, ideally whole‑food plant‑predominant/vegetarian-vegan diets & daily exercise outdoors/active mobility—as the minimum, first‑line standard in health and care. The authors urge immediate action on Prevention-over-Treatment and reforming education and human‑relevant science (drug failure rate from animal studies is 90-95%, and as high as 99.6% for Alzheimer disease), with a rapid shift from disease‑centered reaction to person‑centered, lifestyle‑first cure and care.

Figure 1. HEAL means choosing a whole-food, plant-predominant (ideally vegan) diets coupled with daily exercise outdoors/in nature to kick-start better health. Credit: iStock/LightFieldStudios.

“Sustainable health is for free but cannot be downloaded or prescribed—it must be lived daily and earned across lifetime through informed lifestyle choices, with HEAL as starting point. As childhood-entrenched health literacy lasts a lifetime; embedding HEAL from primary to tertiary education is the policy priority of our generation.” —Lead author Katharina Wirnitzer | PHT, University of Innsbruck & CCCTIM

Foto 2. Katharina Wirnitzer/Keynote on Vegan Diet in Sports. Credit: ©Katharina Wirnitzer.

Why change is imperative.

• The paradox: Despite rising health spending and scientific advances, public health gains lag while ever-growing NCDs. The expert panel offers 101 consensus statements and a 10‑step policy roadmap to act across the lifespan—from individual behavior to population‑level change.

• Why HEAL, and why now: HEAL combines Healthy Eating (whole‑food, plant‑predominant; preferably vegetarian/vegan) with Active Living (regular, ideally daily, including outdoor activity and active mobility). Evidence shows synergistic benefits beyond either alone, reducing reliance on drugs and surgery while improving resilience and sustainability of health systems.

• Prevention-First (3:1): The reports recommend prioritizing prevention, health maintenance, and health promotion over treatment by 3:1 (Figure 3), making healthy choices the easy, first‑line intervention and reserving medicalized treatment for specific indications.

• Education and workforce: Embed HEAL from primary through tertiary education and continuously upskill healthcare and education professionals to deliver evidence‑based lifestyle counseling, routine assessment, and monitoring. Improve meal standards and support active mobility in schools and public spaces.

• Human‑relevant science: Accelerate the transition to non‑animal, human‑relevant methods for basic and preclinical research and for efficacy, safety and toxicity testing through funding priorities, validation, and regulatory adoption.

• Policy roadmap: Apply Health in All Policies (HiAP) to link individual choices with systemic supports (Figure 4); invest in supportive defaults (healthy public catering, active transport, public‑space design, community HEAL programs); embed HEAL in curricula; and track outcomes with robust evaluation to scale what works.

“Every dollar/euro invested in evidence-based prevention saves multiples in treatment. HEAL is the smartest first investment a health system can make.” —Bernd Haditsch | ÖGK – Austrian Health Insurance Fund, Prevention Unit
“Obesity is a disease with powerful drivers. HEAL gives every patient a proven, first-line foundation to reclaim their health.” —Fatima Cody Stanford | Harvard Medical School & MGH
“A doctor who cannot counsel patients on the Power of Lifestyle, especially on food and movement, is only half-equipped. Lifestyle education in medical school is the missing foundation of modern medicine. Helping our patients to eat a more plant-strong diet is the most powerful healing medicine we can prescribe.”
—Michael Klaper | Moving Medicine Forward
„Plant-forward diets provide a powerful opportunity to concurrently improve health and wellbeing for people, farmed animals and the environment.“ —Andrew Knight | Griffith University

Figure 3. Four areas-of-action, balanced 3:1, to achieve lifelong health. Credit: ©Katharina Wirnitzer.

“Given its cost-effectiveness, Traditional, Integrative, and Complementary Medicine will be the evidence-based mainstream of tomorrow’s global healthcare.” —Tomáš Pfeiffer | ITCIM & SANATOR
“Treatment alone will not sustain health systems. HEAL connects prevention, lifestyle medicine and integrative care to advance salutogenesis on a planetary scale. We must invest far more in creating health.” 
—Georg Seifert | WHO CC & CCCTIM, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin

“The science clearly shows that, when it comes to human health, animal protection is a win-win.
Given human health’s complexity, and since animal testing virtually fails to cure human diseases, human-relevant methods already outperform animal experimentation and must therefore be implemented with priority in science, with funds going to human-focused research.
Citizens in the EU and US have spoken clearly in favor of this transition.
HEAL can prevent many diseases, avoiding the need for animal studies altogether.“
—Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga | Universities Aarhus & Utrecht; Doris Wilflingseder | Vetmed Uni Vienna, Aysha Akhtar | Center for Contemporary Sciences, Corina Gericke & Gaby Neumann | Doctors Against Animal Experiments

 

Figure 4. Systemic application of HEAL to reach target groups and improve personal and public health across micro (individuals/families), meso (communities), and macro (state/government/federal policy) levels, ensuring optimal vertical and horizontal permeability and integration. Credit: ©Katharina Wirnitzer.

Key Actions at a Glance.

• Make HEAL the universal starting point and minimum, first‑line prevention standard.

• Implement lifestyle‑first counseling before routine prescriptions.

• Prioritize Prevention-over-Treatment with an 3:1 balance.

• Mandate lifestyle education in schools; embed HEAL across tertiary programs.

• Continuously upskill professionals for evidence‑based lifestyle counseling and monitoring.

• Accelerate adoption of human‑relevant methods to end animal experiments in research, education and regulatory testing.

  
  

Figure 5. The Power of Lifestyle: Start with the dual HEAL approach across 6 interconnected areas to improve health and well-being. Credit: ©ACLM. Graphic modification: ©Katharina Wirnitzer (permission: 24.11.2021).

Contact for further information

Katharina C. Wirnitzer—Professor for Sports Public Health with a special focus on Child Public Health

Email: katharina@wirnitzer.at | Cell: +43 (650) 5901794

University College of Teacher Education Tyrol (PHT), Innsbruck, Austria

Martha's Rule revisited ...

Last year in May, I posted about Martha's Rule. A year on, there is an update:

Evidence suggests Martha’s Rule is saving lives

'To support learning and assess the impact the programme is having, we regularly collect data from sites where Martha’s Rule is in place.

Early evidence suggests Martha’s Rule is saving lives and helping thousands of patients benefit from changes to their care.

Data from September 2024 to February 2026 shows 12,301 Martha’s Rule calls were made, with the highest proportion of calls (72%) made via the family/carer escalation process. 4,047 Martha’s Rule escalation calls (33%) related to acute deterioration.

Of those, 2,310 calls required changes in treatment. This includes 524 calls which resulted in transfers of care to high dependency or intensive care units, enhanced levels of care, tertiary centres or referral/transfer to specialists or a specialist ward. Other changes in treatment (1,786) did not require transfer of a patient from a ward in-patient setting. This includes the introduction of a new medication such as an antibiotic to treat infection, investigations including scans and procedural interventions including going to theatre.'

Source:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/marthas-rule/#implementingmarthasrule

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

"Not herself ..."   Listening  Martha	1,700 NHS staff Taking action escalation
Mills parents, guardians, friends & family   Familly input - Multidisciplinary Team   Teamwork	Martha's Rule

My prompt:
Koronka, P. '1,700 NHS staff use Martha's Rule to raise the alarm'. The Times, 1 May, 2026, p.6.

Previously: 'intuition' : 'observation' : 'listen' : 'communication' (Never as an afterthought.)

ii WCCS26: World Conference on Complex Systems 20-22nd April

Day 1

Plenary Talk: Reda Benkirane - Lost in Complexity: Welcome to the Real World

A first slide considered Abraham Maslow's book The Psychology of Science and his thought on the "law of the instrument". Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a key primer for new students to many disciplines, including nursing, and psychology. The purpose of Benikrane's focus on instruments concerns the emergence of civilisation and roles of agriculture, and war in the rise of community at several scales from village, to cities, states and nations. In terms of flow the slides highlighted the next speaker Peter Turchin's END TIMES, and two books by Johann Chapoutot, LES IRRESPONSABLES, and FREE TO OBEY.

In response to the slide with Einstein's -

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them":

- may I please class 'health - care' as a world? The thought that the medical, bio-medical, and bio-psycho-social encourages, sees enacted, and sustained a : is this fit for the problems of the 21st century. I like the slide's heading 'Beyond Complexity'. Such is the pace of change, which is labelled 'progress' that each one of us wakes up momentarily stupified and lost in complexity.

Keynote Speaker: Peter Turchin - The Great Holocene
Transformation: What Complexity Science Tells Us About The Evolution of Complex Societies

Turchin's keynote reminded me of Jared Diamond's book Guns, Germs and Steel. Reading GGS I realised there is more to 'axes' than I thought, especially from the individual to collective scales. It appears that whichever label - academia, research or education - you would like to apply, they all need a conceptual framework. Just as, individually, we all need a model of self, others and the world. This was a marvellous journey, through millennia of humanities' evolution, social, and political development, all realised through complexity. While attractors are to the fore, architecture and archaeology are regular distractors for me. Reading Holocene then had me hooked. 

Star Maker

A fellow delegate and speaker I dined with a few times encouraged me to read 'END TIMES'. I will seek it out later this year, (the next Hay-on-Wye visit?). Turchin is seeking to account for how human societies have reached their current state of organisation. The role of self-protection, seeking food, shelter, co-operation are all factors, with the emergence of religions, and agriculture. Several theories to date were covered [including, cultural multilevel selection, see Wilson et al. (2023)], plus a major project on cultural evolution: The Seshat: Global History Databank. For all the current loss and misery, conflict has paid a major role in cultural and political development. The prefix 'macro' features here. There was a social scale (people): FROM 10s - in foraging bands through TO 100,000,000s large nation-states. Mention of levels of scale, took me back to the work of Mario Bunge. The application of the Hertzsprung-Russell 'main sequence' (H-R) diagram is a great idea. I think Olaf Stapleton, author of Star Maker would have approved. 

This itself, for me, is reason enough to read Turchin. There is evolutionary biochemistry too, which is required in terms of a systems account. Is there a reflection of a main sequence construct between the SOCIOLOGICAL and SCIENCES domain of Hodges' model? 

 It is incredible the way new findings are regularly pushing even further the dates of human milestones stepping-stones. Perhaps we should always view progress in this way, and enjoy the 'moment'. There is still the puzzle of ultrasociality, and how to explain it? Turchin is seeking a mathematical history, with a journal Cliodynamics. There is another SF reference here, in Asimov's psychohistory in the Foundation books, but with less emphasis upon maths. This is encouraging for Hodges' model, and the inevitable transdisciplinary approach these questions demand.

More to follow ...

D.S. Wilson, G. Madhavan, M.J. Gelfand, S.C. Hayes, P.W.B. Atkins, & R.R. Colwell, Multilevel cultural evolution: From new theory to practical applications, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (16) e2218222120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218222120 (2023).

100,000 signatures to win a parliamentary debate about the ownership of the water industry

INDIVIDUAL

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     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

'I feel thirsty!' 'It's really hot, let's have a swim!'	... Water ...
Public services Public health	I need 100,000 signatures to win a parliamentary debate about the ownership of the water industry. Do your thing internet.https://t.co/kZz1cXBtz3 pic.twitter.com/qWaQPmPEHv — Feargal Sharkey (@Feargal_Sharkey) April 29, 2026

My source: 
https://x.com/Feargal_Sharkey

Previously: 'water' : 'pollution'

Book: "Beyond Belief - How Evidence Shows What Really Works"

Beyond Belief

INDIVIDUAL

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     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

BEYOND BELIEF	How Evidence Shows What Really Works

Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works is a book by science journalist Helen Pearson, published by Princeton University Press.

 

My source: 
Pearson, H. Trials that quietly changed our lives, Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 18-19 April, 2026. p.2 

Previously: 'belief' : 'evidence' : 'information disorder'