In conflicts we seek to judge the way forward: the good guys and the bad guys; injustices; fairness; breaching principles etc. There is a need to design the way forward taking into account the fears and needs of all parties.

Information comes in over time. Yet we have to make the best use of the information that we have. In such a system there is a mathematical need for creativity. There is a need to go back and put things together differently. This is not a matter of choice. Otherwise we get trapped in concepts and perceptions that are inadequate.

Research at Harvard shows that something like ninety per cent of the errors of thinking are errors of perception. Errors of logic are rare. If perception is limited or inadequate the outcome will be rubbish no matter how excellent the logic.

Goedel’s theorem points out that from within a system it is impossible to logically justify the starting points. Such starting points are arbitrary perceptions and assumed values. There is a need to be able to change perceptions.

The behaviour of self-organising information systems like the human brain demands new ideas and new possibilities. Otherwise we are locked into old patterns. We are also locked into selective perception which forces us to see things only through the old patterns.

Two thousand years ago China was far ahead of the rest of the world in science and technology. This rapid progress came to an end when scholars started to believe that you could move from “certainty” to “certainty”. As a result they never understood the importance of “possibility” and “hypothesis”. Progress came to a dead end. Today we are in a similar situation with the belief that analysis of information is enough.