The Adjacent Possible — A New Language for an Emerging Future

In Part One and Part Two of this series, we explored how a systemic lens and the Three Horizons framework help us understand the profound transitions shaping our world.

Now, let’s take a step further. You’ve seen the collapse of Horizon 1, the disruptions of Horizon 2, and the fragile potential of Horizon 3. What’s clear is that we’re heading into an unknown, complex future — and we are woefully unprepared to meet it.

Here’s the problem: our reductionist, linear minds cannot grasp the interplay of complex feedback loops that shape systemic change. We look at the world like it’s a domino chain, one event neatly triggering the next, but that perspective is obsolete. The forces shaping our time — climate, technology, social inequality, cultural shifts — aren’t linear. They’re dynamic, adaptive, and deeply interconnected.

To navigate this complexity, we need to evolve how we think. And every time humanity has faced complexity, we’ve created something transformative: a new language.

Complexity Demands a New Language

Marshall McLuhan and Robert Logan gave us a roadmap for this. Every major leap in human history required a new language to manage complexity. Speech allowed us to coordinate social systems. Writing and math emerged in Mesopotamia to organize agriculture, trade, and cities. Science helped us explore the natural world. Computing gave us the tools to analyze and process massive amounts of information. The internet connected us globally, enabling networks of shared knowledge.

And now, we stand at the edge of a new era. Giles Hutchins calls it the age of Quantum Complexity, and it demands a quantum language. This is not about quantum physics alone. It’s about embracing a way of thinking that reflects the interdependent, non-linear, and emergent nature of our world.

The Three Horizons framework, coupled with systemic thinking, gives us a foundation for this new language. It helps us move beyond reductionism to see systems as living, dynamic entities, shaped by feedback loops and interconnected forces. But it’s not just about seeing systems — it’s about seeing emergence.

The Concept of Emergence

Emergence is the phenomenon where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. It’s how life organizes itself — how new patterns, behaviors, and systems arise from the interactions of smaller elements. Emergence is what happens when a flock of birds moves in perfect synchronicity or when billions of neurons in your brain give rise to consciousness.

In the context of the Three Horizons, Horizon 3 is the ultimate field of emergence. It is not a fixed destination; it’s a dynamic, ever-evolving space where the seeds of the future are sown. These seeds grow in the pools of potentiality created by the interplay between Horizon 1 and Horizon 2.

From a systemic perspective, here’s how emergence happens:
1. Disruption: Horizon 2 disrupts the energy fields of Horizon 1, creating instability and opening space for new possibilities.
2. Adaptation: The interplay between the two horizons generates feedback loops — some reinforcing the old system, others feeding the emergent system.
3. Emergence: Pools of potentiality form within Horizon 3. These are the fields where new paradigms, technologies, and ideas coalesce into the systems that will define the future.

Emergence is not predictable. It cannot be controlled. But it can be nurtured. The question is: are we ready to nurture it?

Building Capacity and Capability

To step into the Adjacent Possible and embrace emergence, we must build capacity and capability:
• Capacity is the ability to see. It’s about understanding the patterns, flows, and interdependencies that shape systems. It’s about recognizing the feedback loops and interplay that give rise to emergence.
• Capability is the ability to act. It’s about turning understanding into agency — designing systems, fostering innovation, and creating the conditions for Horizon 3 to thrive.

But here’s the challenge: building capacity and capability requires a deliberate cognitive shift. It requires us to ask tough questions:
• Are you fluent in this new quantum language of complexity?
• Can you zoom out and see the systemic interplay between horizons?
• What is your cognitive Diet? Are you consuming knowledge from Horizon 1, or are you searching for new sources that help you see the disruptions of Horizon 2 and the potential of Horizon 3?
• Are you building the tools, ideas, and networks to nurture the Adjacent Possible?

A New Way of Thinking

This new quantum language isn’t invented from scratch — it draws on frameworks that already exist:
• Systems Theory: Seeing the interconnected nature of systems and understanding their behavior as a whole.
• Complexity Theory: Exploring how order emerges from chaos and how small changes ripple across systems.
• Commons Theory: Governing shared resources collectively, inspired by Elinor Ostrom’s principles.
• Quantum Theory: Understanding reality as a web of interconnected, emergent possibilities.
• Ancient Wisdom: Learning from cycles, relationships, and regeneration that have guided human systems for millennia.

Together, these perspectives offer a framework for understanding and shaping the future. They give us the tools to see the world not as a collection of isolated events but as an evolving dance of interdependent forces.

The Adjacent Possible

Stuart Kauffman’s concept of the Adjacent Possible describes the realm of futures just within our reach. It’s the space where creativity, innovation, and transformation thrive. But the Adjacent Possible isn’t inevitable — it must be nurtured.

The disruptions of Horizon 2 and the collapse of Horizon 1 create opportunities to plant the seeds of Horizon 3. But without capacity to understand these disruptions and capability to act on them, those opportunities will wither.

The future isn’t waiting for us to catch up. The Adjacent Possible is unfolding now. The only question is: will we step into it with the courage, vision, and systemic understanding needed to shape what comes next?

The Future Unfolding

The collapse of Horizon 1 is inevitable. The disruptions of Horizon 2 are relentless. And the emergence of Horizon 3 is not guaranteed. But within this chaos lies the opportunity to build a thriving, regenerative future.

This is the moment to ask yourself: Are you ready to embrace the complexity of the future? Are you willing to learn the quantum language of systemic thinking, to move beyond reductionist paradigms, and to step into the Adjacent Possible with intention and courage?

The future isn’t just something that happens to us. It’s something we create. And the question isn’t whether change is coming — it’s already here. The question is whether we’ll have the capacity, the capability, and the vision to shape it.

The Adjacent Possible is waiting. The only thing left to do is step into it.