Ecology and Society - Vol. 14, No. 1 (2009)

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Resilience: Accounting for the Noncomputable

Stephen R Carpenter, University of Wisconsin
Carl Folke, Stockholm University; Beijer Institute
Marten Scheffer, Wageningen University
Frances Westley, University of Waterloo

Abstract
Plans to solve complex environmental problems should always consider the role of surprise. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to emphasize known computable aspects of a problem while neglecting aspects that are unknown and failing to ask questions about them. The tendency to ignore the noncomputable can be countered by considering a wide range of perspectives, encouraging transparency with regard to conflicting viewpoints, stimulating a diversity of models, and managing for the emergence of new syntheses that reorganize fragmentary knowledge.

Key words
resilience; adaptation; transformation; surprise

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