Joe Brewer
Joe has a unique background in physics, math, philosophy, atmospheric science, complexity research, and cognitive linguistics. More than a decade ago, he left the academy to trail blaze a path for other research practitioners to follow. Awakened to the threat of human-induced climate disruption while pursuing a Ph.D. in atmospheric science, he switched fields and began to work with scholars in the behavioral and cognitive sciences with the hope of helping create large-scale behavior change at the level of global civilization.
He was an active member of the Center for Complex Systems Research at the University of Illinois studying pattern formation in physical and social systems before joining renowned linguist, George Lakoff, at the Rockridge Institute in Berkeley to analyze political discourse and reveal the structures of meaning in human language.
When Rockridge closed its doors in 2008, Joe launched his first social enterprise—a research consultancy called Cognitive Policy Works whose mission was to apply insights from cognitive science to social change efforts. It was here that he built up a global network of collaborators in the nonprofit, governmental, and social impact business domains.
In 2012 he joined forces with Lazlo Karafiath to lay foundations for the new field of culture design, culminating in the birth of Culture2 Inc. Along the way, he has contributed to the formation of the International Centre for Earth Simulation—a globally-focused research foundation dedicated to the integration of more than 100 sciences that study the changing Earth.
In 2015, he joined the Evolution Institute as a Culture Designer-in-Residence to help birth a professional society for the study of cultural evolution. As the co-investigator on a planning grant from the John Templeton Foundation, his role is to serve as the dedicated staff person who oversees the culture design of organizational structure, development of websites and digital communication platforms, analysis of grand challenges for the field, formation of collaborative research projects, and the establishment of new institutional activities that accelerate the growth and maturity of cultural evolutionary studies.
He has spoken at many global conferences on the science of social change and the human dimensions of planetary sustainability. And has given workshops on three continents about the workings of the human mind and the strategic tools for designing and enacting positive change in the world.
Specialties: Research Design, Writing, Speaking, Idea Integration, Communicating Complex Ideas, Inspiring Others! ;-)
He was an active member of the Center for Complex Systems Research at the University of Illinois studying pattern formation in physical and social systems before joining renowned linguist, George Lakoff, at the Rockridge Institute in Berkeley to analyze political discourse and reveal the structures of meaning in human language.
When Rockridge closed its doors in 2008, Joe launched his first social enterprise—a research consultancy called Cognitive Policy Works whose mission was to apply insights from cognitive science to social change efforts. It was here that he built up a global network of collaborators in the nonprofit, governmental, and social impact business domains.
In 2012 he joined forces with Lazlo Karafiath to lay foundations for the new field of culture design, culminating in the birth of Culture2 Inc. Along the way, he has contributed to the formation of the International Centre for Earth Simulation—a globally-focused research foundation dedicated to the integration of more than 100 sciences that study the changing Earth.
In 2015, he joined the Evolution Institute as a Culture Designer-in-Residence to help birth a professional society for the study of cultural evolution. As the co-investigator on a planning grant from the John Templeton Foundation, his role is to serve as the dedicated staff person who oversees the culture design of organizational structure, development of websites and digital communication platforms, analysis of grand challenges for the field, formation of collaborative research projects, and the establishment of new institutional activities that accelerate the growth and maturity of cultural evolutionary studies.
He has spoken at many global conferences on the science of social change and the human dimensions of planetary sustainability. And has given workshops on three continents about the workings of the human mind and the strategic tools for designing and enacting positive change in the world.
Specialties: Research Design, Writing, Speaking, Idea Integration, Communicating Complex Ideas, Inspiring Others! ;-)
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Papers by Joe Brewer
Over the course of several weeks, a total of 236 SSCE members from around the world completed an online questionnaire in which they could nominate up to ten such challenges, providing a brief description and rationale for each. Additionally, SSCE members were also asked to indicate their level of understanding and mode of training in core domains (cultural studies and evolutionary theory), how they see their current work fitting into the wider world of cultural evolutionary studies, and how they see themselves contributing to the grand challenges facing the society.
The responses to the initial grand challenges survey are summarized in this report.
Books by Joe Brewer
How and where does systemic change manifest? How does it unfold? What are the leverage points, the forces and dynamics at play? What are the conditions for its empowerment and enablement? How do agency and structure come into the picture? We would like to look at the subject from various perspectives and disciplines, in research and praxis, exploring the visible and the invisible, space and time, unity and diversity, level and scale, movement and rhythm.
Available on print on demand.
Drafts by Joe Brewer
Creating the society in this way gives us the opportunity to apply key insights from our field to the work at hand. Throughout the early stages, it became clear that a diversity mandate1 would be needed to specify the structural features for us to achieve our mission and advance cultural evolutionary studies together. The procedures outlined here are meant to address this mandate in an equitable and transparent manner.
Our hope is that the outcome of this election will seed a “cultural genome” with the social norms and values that our members have requested of us.
A message has come through loud and clear—the Cultural Evolution Society needs to be a role model for the future of scientific societies in its policies and practices. This will require active introspection and intentional design throughout its birthing process.
Over the course of several weeks, a total of 236 SSCE members from around the world completed an online questionnaire in which they could nominate up to ten such challenges, providing a brief description and rationale for each. Additionally, SSCE members were also asked to indicate their level of understanding and mode of training in core domains (cultural studies and evolutionary theory), how they see their current work fitting into the wider world of cultural evolutionary studies, and how they see themselves contributing to the grand challenges facing the society.
The responses to the initial grand challenges survey are summarized in this report.
How and where does systemic change manifest? How does it unfold? What are the leverage points, the forces and dynamics at play? What are the conditions for its empowerment and enablement? How do agency and structure come into the picture? We would like to look at the subject from various perspectives and disciplines, in research and praxis, exploring the visible and the invisible, space and time, unity and diversity, level and scale, movement and rhythm.
Available on print on demand.
Creating the society in this way gives us the opportunity to apply key insights from our field to the work at hand. Throughout the early stages, it became clear that a diversity mandate1 would be needed to specify the structural features for us to achieve our mission and advance cultural evolutionary studies together. The procedures outlined here are meant to address this mandate in an equitable and transparent manner.
Our hope is that the outcome of this election will seed a “cultural genome” with the social norms and values that our members have requested of us.
A message has come through loud and clear—the Cultural Evolution Society needs to be a role model for the future of scientific societies in its policies and practices. This will require active introspection and intentional design throughout its birthing process.