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Yuqian Ma

System Thinking and Salt

Q: Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?

A:

At first, I thought it should be “A system of scientists doing research”. Since I’m not a GMO opponent. But after reading the eight systems, I’ll choose system 6: “A system of global food supply and demand”. GMOs are just one of the solutions to solve the problem. The stakeholders here are researchers, protesters, and people, especially people in famine. Researchers care about whether GM trials increase food production. The stakes for protesters in this system are not clear, maybe ethics and risks. And people need food, no matter where it comes from.

 

Q: Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating?

A:

  1. People: Operates in a system of health and daily diet. Humans need salt to meet physical needs and improve dish taste.
  2. Traders: An economic system. Businessman focus on their profit. How to sell and deliver the goods to the destination.
  3. Government: In a country’s system of tax, border management, license to sell, etc.

Emergent Strategy Response

Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?

A: When I was watching a movie, such as Hayao Miyazaki’s anime, I felt trapped inside the director’s imagination. I like to immerse myself in a movie when it is playing. After watching it, if it keeps me thinking about the characters and the plot, I was “caught” by the author’s imagination. To free myself, I have to change the view angle from an audience to a character. Though this change even traps me in the author’s world deeper at first. I can develop the character and break the author’s world. Jumping out of the original imagination this way, I get the space to create my own story.

 

Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?

A: The principle “Less prep, more presence.” I always want to have the work ready to show pre-designed results and get the expected response. But it is impossible. Both impossible and unnecessary. After reading Brown’s article, I feel like I was putting the focus on the result, “the mass”, instead of the process, the connections. This is a mind shift. Especially using a non-native language for me now. However, it is also an opportunity to see the creative process from a different angle.

 

Borders: Salt

Possible Points:

(Read through the “Salt” article from Wikipedia to get basic ideas around “borders”.)

  • essential for life
  • food seasoning
  • salting – food preservation
  • civilization
    • the first city in Europe was a salt mine
    • around 6000BC, saltworks in Rome & China
    • different food resources of nomads and agriculturalists lead to different needs for salt
  • an important article of trade
    • salt roads
    • barter
      • the obsidian trade in Anatolia in the Neolithic Era
      • about 2800 BC, the Egyptians began exporting salt fish to the Phoenicians in return for Lebanon cedar, glass, and the dye Tyrian purple
      • the Phoenicians traded Egyptian salted fish and salt from North Africa throughout their Mediterranean trade empire.
    • in Africa, as currency
  • cities along the river Salzach related to salt
  • wars & tax
    • Venice won a war with Genoa (? & relations with the American Revolution
    • Cities on overland trade routes levied duties
    • governments imposed salt taxes on people
      • The voyages of Christopher Columbus – were financed by salt production in southern Spain
      • the oppressive salt tax – the causes of the French Revolution
      • tax, pay for Napoleon’s foreign wars
      • Salt March in India
  • Religion

Upsides:

  • food seasoning & food preservation
  • promote civilization
  • promote business
  • cities related to salt flourished
  • government got tax

Downsides:

  • cause wars
  • salt tax increases the burden on the people

Cultural differences:

(Mainly related to religion… Or I can focus on the differences between salt in Chinese and other cultural histories