Our Changing Human Nature.

Our Place in Nature

One of the deepest assumptions of Judaism and its offspring, Christianity, is that there is an important difference between human persons and everything else that exists in Creation. We alone are made in God’s image. We alone are the stewards of the earth. It is said in Genesis that we have “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the ...

Changing our Brains: Systemic Causality in Complex Human Systems

When we change our mind about something, does it change our brains? According to George Lakoff, the way we view the world is conditioned by frames, metaphors and narratives that, over time, become hard-wired in our brains. It is not easy to overcome established patterns of thought (or our instincts) when trying to make sense of new information. Is the brain organized to enhance or suppress spec...

Insights into Human Nature Can Improve Our Safety Systems

748 P&T® • December 2004 • Vol. 29 No. 12 It is widely recognized that system failures cause errors. Well-designed systems that employ technology, where appropriate and when used correctly, offer the best chance of preventing errors. But has our growing attention to systems and technology caused us to overlook interventions that can improve our mental performance? While we are beginning to bett...

Changing Nature of Warfare

Chapter 1 THE CHANGING NATURE OF HUMAN SERVICES AND SUPERVISION

Demographic, economic, political, technological, social, cultural, and programmatic forces are changing human services and human service organizations in the 21st century (Cohen & Cohen, 2000). The delivery of human services has been dramatically affected and, in some cases, threatened by significant legislative initiatives, modernization of organizational structures, interagency collaboration ...