Tracts (N°50) - Antidote to the cult of performance. Robustness from nature

Socio-ecological disruption is no longer a prediction; it is a reality, punctuated by crises. In response, we produce sustainable development, a prescription for sobriety and rising levels of ecoanxiety. But what if we were on the wrong track? Scientific reports agree that the twenty-first century will be turbulent. Our only certainty is that uncertainty will persist and that it will increase. In the face of such fluctuation, control, optimization and performance are locking us into a very fragile and narrow path. Robustness – keeping the system stable despite fluctuations – is the operational response to turbulence. Unlike performance, robustness opens up possibilities and reconnects us to living organisms, which are robust in essence. Furthermore, recent advances in biology also provide us with an important key: robustness is built first and foremost on heterogeneity, redundancy, randomness, waste, slowness, incoherence... in short, robustness is the antithesis of performance. The shift towards robustness reverses all the paradigms of our time and helps us move beyond an epidemic of burnout. With no regrets.