Adaptive Humanism

Abstract

We believe that while humanity is experiencing a time of transition and transformation, it is “stuck” within limiting narratives. Those narratives prevent individuals and societies from exploring new options and from acting upon those alternatives; that is, from co-creating a future. We propose the concept of Adaptive Humanism, a process of moving from limiting to quantum narratives: a process of conscious (that is, self-aware) and continuous adaptation to a new situation, as well as critical examination of both challenges and opportunities offered by that new environment. We present real-life examples, compiled during interviews conducted by the authors, of limiting narratives, as well as a brief exploration of limiting narratives from the perspectives of psychology, philosophy, and sociology. Further, we propose that the theoretical framework and practices of Theory U create a non-judgmental open space to get “unstuck” and to move from limiting to quantum narratives, meaning self-correcting narratives oriented to and emerging from the future.