Articles


Featured image for “Mapping the AI Territory – Intelligence”

Mapping the AI Territory – Intelligence

The concept of intelligence is commonly understood as the ability to acquire knowledge and / or skills, and, to learn…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “Israel-Palestine Conflict Resource List 2024”

Israel-Palestine Conflict Resource List 2024

What lies at the feet of humanity today is the work of learning to address our species’ most pernicious and…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Reflections on October 7th and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”

Reflections on October 7th and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Even if you haven’t been paying close attention to the news, October 7th should still stand out as a day…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Artificial Intelligence Resource List 2024”

Artificial Intelligence Resource List 2024

The number of books and resources about artificial intelligence is slightly overwhelming, seems to be growing exponentially, and once a…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “Is Humanity Ready for the AI Revolution?”

Is Humanity Ready for the AI Revolution?

Are you ready for the AI (artificial intelligence) revolution? What does readiness mean? What is a revolution? What is responsible…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “Recommended Reading: 2023 Book List”

Recommended Reading: 2023 Book List

The Human Venture publishes a list of books and other resources annually. The list includes books that were either drawn…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “2023 Solstice Message”

2023 Solstice Message

On December 19, 2023 the Human Venture met virtually and in-person to celebrate the winter solstice, a tradition for many…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “Thinking about organizational design and the Human Venture”

Thinking about organizational design and the Human Venture

What are the consequences of using the machine as a metaphor for an organization? When I think about this, I…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Why we need hope, why we need Human Venture Leadership”

Why we need hope, why we need Human Venture Leadership

I was knocked off a treadmill. Well, not literally. But taking a program from Human Venture Leadership in 2011 knocked…
Laura Kennett
Featured image for “For my children, their children, and all children”

For my children, their children, and all children

This year, the Human Venture Associates were tasked with writing an introduction to Human Learning Ecology and the Human Venture…
Elizabeth Dozois
Featured image for “The Freedom Convoy is really a battle of narratives”

The Freedom Convoy is really a battle of narratives

by Ken Low and Alison Hagan At a recent Friday community call Ken shared his thoughts on the truckers’ Freedom…
Alison Hagan
Featured image for “The Invasion of Ukraine: A Human Venture approach to reading the news”

The Invasion of Ukraine: A Human Venture approach to reading the news

I am not a journalist. I am not a politician. I am not a historian. Nor am I an academic…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Recommended Reading: 2021 Book List”

Recommended Reading: 2021 Book List

The Human Venture publishes a list of books and other resources annually. The list includes books that were either drawn…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “Part 4: Ethics Begins with Compassion”

Part 4: Ethics Begins with Compassion

This is part four of a six part series on ethics for the Human Venture blog. Ethics is the study…
Nick Kalogirou
Featured image for “A Winter Solstice Message from Ken”

A Winter Solstice Message from Ken

The holiday season is so meaningful because we get to spend time with people we enjoy, we get to eat…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Taking time to reflect on your life meaning and purpose”

Taking time to reflect on your life meaning and purpose

In June 2021, the Human Venture Associates participated in a reflection exercise using questions adapted by Laura Kennett and Mark…
Eleanor Finger
Featured image for “What kids need…. or, things I wish I knew about parenting”

What kids need…. or, things I wish I knew about parenting

There is not much that I can think of that tests and changes you more as a human than parenting.…
Kim Rowe
Featured image for “Part 3: Ethics and Responsible Strategy”

Part 3: Ethics and Responsible Strategy

This is Part 3 of a series on responsible strategy. Here’s Part 1 on Responsible Analytics and Part 2 on…
Nick Kalogirou
Featured image for “On Memory”

On Memory

On memory and ground penetrating radar: Ken’s reflections on the remains of Indigenous children found The recent discovery of the…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Part 2: Strategy, Grand Strategy, and Values”

Part 2: Strategy, Grand Strategy, and Values

This is Part 2 of a series. Part 1: Pursuing Responsible Analytics. What is strategy? Strategy is derived from the…
Nick Kalogirou
Featured image for “Complexity Shock, Finding Patterns, and Adapting”

Complexity Shock, Finding Patterns, and Adapting

by Laura Kennett and Eleanor Finger Introduction What a year! Full of disruption and adaptation, over and over again. If…
Eleanor Finger
Featured image for “Part 1: Pursuing Responsible Analytics”

Part 1: Pursuing Responsible Analytics

Analytics and strategy help us navigate the fog of war, but don’t necessarily make us responsible or wise. The ascendance…
Nick Kalogirou
Featured image for “Recommended Reading: 2020 Book List”

Recommended Reading: 2020 Book List

The Human Venture publishes a list of books annually. The list of books includes those that were either drawn on…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “2020 Solstice Message”

2020 Solstice Message

It’s amazing to think that Ken has been with the Human Venture community for 20 years now. With that in…
Jason Low
Featured image for “Network Governance as an Empowerment Tool”

Network Governance as an Empowerment Tool

One of the functions of pioneer leadership is to build others’ capacity to understand and act in their contexts in…
Blythe Butler
Featured image for “Part 2: People in Converging Crises”

Part 2: People in Converging Crises

I wrote Part 1 of this article, Systems in Converging Crisis, in the spring, when I listed an array of crises that…
Laura Kennett
Featured image for “Learnings From Parenting: Racism”

Learnings From Parenting: Racism

“I hate black people.” – Four-year-old white girl. These are words you never wish to hear spoken at all, let…
Lindsay Mitchell
Featured image for “Part 1: Systems in Converging Crises”

Part 1: Systems in Converging Crises

We are not only in the midst of a global pandemic; we are also experiencing a convergence of several global crises…
Laura Kennett
Featured image for “An Opportunity for Civilizational Change”

An Opportunity for Civilizational Change

“There seems little doubt that we are currently in the midst of one of the great critical transitions of the…
Elizabeth Dozois
Featured image for “Deep Voices”

Deep Voices

I was inspired to write this poem after an Alumni Community Call, reflecting on the voices we pay attention to…
Kim Rowe
Featured image for “The Upside of COVID-19: What Gifts Does the Global Health Crisis Offer?”

The Upside of COVID-19: What Gifts Does the Global Health Crisis Offer?

Do you find yourself tearing up when you see videos of people singing to one another from their balconies? Are…
Elizabeth Dozois
Featured image for “Recommended Reading from 2019”

Recommended Reading from 2019

The following list of books includes those that were either drawn on in 2019 to support our on-going explorations and…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Why Pay Attention to This”

Why Pay Attention to This

There is a lot of messed up stuff going on in this world and it’s overwhelming to think about it, let alone do anything…
Laura Kennett
Featured image for “Winter Solstice Message 2018”

Winter Solstice Message 2018

The winter solstice is upon us, or more accurately, we’ve arrived at the solstice once again. The winter solstice is…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Poetry from Another Part of the Capitalist Machine”

Poetry from Another Part of the Capitalist Machine

by Anonymous This is a collection of poems from someone named Xu Lizhi. He was a Chinese migrant worker who worked…
Human Venture
Featured image for “On Either Side of Memory”

On Either Side of Memory

Memory is a critically important part of adaptive intelligence. The function of memory is to record and store relevant aspects…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Inoculating Ourselves Against Ignorance”

Inoculating Ourselves Against Ignorance

We recently kicked off our ninth Human Venture Leadership Alumni Program. The Alumni Program provides us an opportunity to support…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “The Mystery and Mastery of Strategic Thinking”

The Mystery and Mastery of Strategic Thinking

There is a show on Netflix called Churchill’s Secret Agents: The New Recruits. The reality show takes people from today…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Turning Everydayism on its Head”

Turning Everydayism on its Head

It is 8:30 am when I roll my sleepy self out of bed. Sorry people, I have yet to figure…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Perspective: The Rise of Trump”

Perspective: The Rise of Trump

This past year, the Human Venture Institute has been exploring the rise of Donald Trump as the President of the…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “2017 Solstice Reflection”

2017 Solstice Reflection

Here we are at the solstice once again, the day when the sun stands still, or at least seems to.…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Beyond Remembering”

Beyond Remembering

Remembrance Day originated as a memorial to members of commonwealth forces who died in the line of duty in the…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Life Ranging Kids: Power, Empowerment and Life Learning”

Life Ranging Kids: Power, Empowerment and Life Learning

What comes to mind when you think about power? Typically, first thoughts equate power with dominance, social status, wealth, or…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Learning to Die in the Anthropocene”

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization by Roy Scranton stirs one’s soul to…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Resistance and Human Venture Progress”

Resistance and Human Venture Progress

Resistance is in the air of our continental next-door neighbour these days. The U.S. is navigating an unfolding adaptive shock…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Witness to the Revolution”

Witness to the Revolution

The anti-war movement of the late sixties and early seventies was a short, intense period of social transformation. At the…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Stephane Hessel, The French Resistance, and the Human Venture”

Stephane Hessel, The French Resistance, and the Human Venture

Born in France in 1917, Stephane Hessel experienced a time of great sorrow and great hope for humanity. When Marshal…
Anna-Marie Ashton
Featured image for “Resistance in Action”

Resistance in Action

At the Human Venture Institute, we are committed to studying the common patterns in human striving, failure and achievement throughout…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “Truth, Understanding, and the Human Story: Whence Came This Mess?”

Truth, Understanding, and the Human Story: Whence Came This Mess?

Thoughtful people everywhere are deeply troubled by the 2016 American election, not just by the results, but the way the…
Ken Low
Featured image for “The Challenge of Truth in Reporting”

The Challenge of Truth in Reporting

A Book Review of Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus by Matt Taibbi, and Liberty and the News…
Anna-Marie Ashton
Featured image for “Change the Story, Change the Future”

Change the Story, Change the Future

Earlier in January, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture and a small group discussion at the University of…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “Sy Montgomery”

Sy Montgomery

The Soul of an Octopus and Birdology bring you close to the animals that Sy Montgomery, a naturalist, so carefully…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “The Hidden Life of Trees”

The Hidden Life of Trees

As we come to terms with human caused climate change and our ecological impact, we are re-awakening to an understanding…
Dana Penrice
Featured image for “2016 Solstice Reflection”

2016 Solstice Reflection

The solstice season is here again: one of two seasonal turning points in our 940 million kilometer journey around the…
Ken Low
Featured image for “Reading for Life Learning”

Reading for Life Learning

The winter brings us darker and colder days and nights. I love this time of year because it gives me…
Natalie Muyres
Featured image for “Human Learning Ecology in a Time of Unrest”

Human Learning Ecology in a Time of Unrest

As we are sorting through the recent events in America, it is important to recognize that this is a significant…
Dana Penrice