Project Description
A Methodological Exploration in Systems Thinking
Our project, "Knock on Wood," presents a novel analytical framework for engaging with complex, systemic challenges. We selected two specific GovHack challenges—"Better Questions for Brighter Futures" and "Digital Confidence"—because their very nature invites a deeper, more structural level of inquiry.
- "Better Questions for Brighter Futures" is inherently meta-analytical, focused on the process of identifying risk and constructing future success.
- "Digital Confidence" addresses the systemic and often intangible issue of social trust in complex informational environments.
Both challenges resist simple, tool-based solutions and are ideal candidates for the application of a different analytical lens: the Ground State Configuration (GSC) Model.
The Framework: From Problem-Solving to System Enrichment
The GSC Model, a framework rooted in constructor theory and physics, posits that functional systems operate in a state of coherent indifference—a stable, low-energy persistence. Change is not driven by solving problems, but by decoherence events that compel a system to evolve into a state of higher informational richness.
Our approach is therefore not to "solve" the challenges, but to use the GSC model to analyze their underlying systems. The name "Knock on Wood" is a nod to the intuitive human impulse to engage with the causal fabric of our reality, which this project attempts to model in a structured way.
The Application: A Constructive A Priori-Mortem
We apply this framework through a technique we term the a priori-mortem. Where a traditional premortem identifies risks to prevent failure, our method complements this by identifying opportunities for positive evolution. For each challenge, we:
- Defined the current, stable system state ("coherent indifference").
- Analyzed how a strategic intervention (a "decoherence event") could elevate the entire system to a more complex, valuable, and resilient state.
Our submission is this analysis, complete with an interactive guide to the GSC model's core concepts. We propose it not as a replacement for empirical methods, but as a vital complement. It provides the necessary doxastic-based exploration—a structured way to examine our underlying beliefs about a system—which in turn can more effectively guide a subsequent epistemic, or evidence-based, inquiry. It is a reasoned demonstration designed to contribute a new and powerful tool to the GovHack community's analytical toolkit.
