How to Avoid Path Dependency: Learnings from Neuroscience, Physics and Organizational Theory

PechaKucha Presentation Abstract In 1814, the polymath Pierre Simon Laplace posited that “We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future”. This presentation will examine this core idea – the fact that what will happen next is determined by what happened before – from different vantage points: neuroscience (Hebbian plasticity, Canalization), economic theory (Bayes's Theorem) and organisational theory. How and how much does legacy narrow down what is possible next? How can we, at the individual and collective levels, carve out the space for alternative, unexpected futures?