When a System Turns: Rare Alignments, Irreversible Choices, and the Regenerative Turn
Frank Diana’s piece When Systems Shift – The Rare Alignment Driving Change Today struck me because it reminds us that not every moment in history is equal.
Sometimes, the stress and possibility lines that usually run in parallel actually converge — and when they do, the entire foundation of how society organizes can pivot.
Frank calls this a “rare alignment”:
A general-purpose technology (AI) powerful enough to rewire industries.
A deep domain convergence, where multiple systems—economic, social, technological, ecological—are under simultaneous stress.
And a level of knowledge democratization that gives more people the tools, agency, and access to reshape how systems work — not just react to them..
That alignment creates a window. But a window is just potential.
Chirality: Why This Window Matters
LaSalle Browne’s recent essay on chirality, The Architecture of Genuine Creativity sharpens this even more. He argues that real creativity, real intelligence—real transformation—doesn’t happen through endless pattern-matching inside the old system. It happens when a system makes an irreversible commitment that breaks its old symmetry.
It’s like a river splitting: once the water forks, you can’t push it back upstream.
A new path is carved, forever altering the landscape.
The Regenerative Turn: What We Do With the Fork
This is where my concept of a Regenerative Turn comes in. If Frank is right about the alignment—and LaSalle is right about the irreversibility—then we’re living in a hinge moment.
The old pattern-matching logic would have us use AI to optimize fragile systems, keep our supply chains efficient but brittle, and layer new tech onto outdated foundations.
But a regenerative logic asks:
What irreversible choices do we need to make now that break with extraction?
How do we design for healthy asymmetry—new attractors that pull our systems toward resilience and reciprocity, not collapse and control?
How do we hold the new shape open long enough for life to take root in it?
It’s Not Just About What We Build — But What We Can’t Unbuild
If this really is a rare alignment, then the danger isn’t just that we do too little — it’s that we squander the hinge, spending all our energy pattern-matching old models instead of stepping through a door we can’t walk back through.
The regenerative fork isn’t about optimism. It’s about commitment.
Once we choose the path, there is no going back.
That’s what makes it real.
Invitation
I keep asking myself: Where are the true chiral choices happening now?
What structural asymmetries—small or large—are people planting that future generations won’t be able to undo, and will thank us for?
If you’re seeing these shifts—big or small—I’d love to hear about them.
Maybe sharing these signals helps us see the emerging pattern that wants to be born.
Read Frank’s piece here: When Systems Shift – The Rare Alignment Driving Change Today
And LaSalle’s chirality essay if you want the brain ache! The Architecture of Genuine Creativity
If my piece resonates, you might like:
A short primer on Regenerative Possibility Chains.
A deeper dive in my Medium Series.
Explore more of my work on ecosystems, platforms, and mindsets.