SE3E3 - Guy & Heidi Burgess - Part 1

Part 1 of 2. Lamar and Tom talk with Heidi and Guy Burgess who have been life and professional partners for more than 50 years. They received their PhDs in sociology in the same year from the University of Colorado.

In the late 1980s they received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to start a conflict resolution "theory-building center" that is now known as the Conflict Information Consortium. In addition to directing the Consortium, both Guy and Heidi taught peace and conflict at the University of Colorado, the University of Denver, and in George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, now the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

As Co-Directors of the Consortium, the Burgesses have been able to self-design rather unusual careers which combined theory building, practice, and teaching using theories and strategies from many disciplines, not just sociology.  Drawn to complexity and systems theory very early by Kenneth Boulding's work, they almost always tried to focus on the big picture, focusing particularly on difficult conflict problems from international conflicts to environmental and public policy conflicts in the United States.

In the early 1990's they also began focusing on the use of computer-based information systems and the Internet to disseminate conflict knowledge to as many people as possible. This resulted in the development of two extremely large knowledge bases: CRInfo (The Conflict Resolution Information Source) and the follow-on Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project which produced a second very large online knowledge base called Beyond Intractability (BI)

The Burgess' current focus is on hyper-polarization and constructive approaches to conflict. They have a free Substack newsletter that focuses on those topics, and will soon be releasing (on BI) a free guide (i.e., growing online book) on those topics.

To Learn more:

Beyond Intractability (BI) Website: https://www.beyondintractability.org/

BI Newsletter: https://beyondintractability.substack.com/

The US in 2024: An Election that Worked and a Democracy that Doesn’t by Heidi and Guy Burgess: https://beyondintractability.substack.com/p/newsletter-306

"Massively Parallel Problem Solving and Democracy Building: An Ongoing Response to the Threats to Democracy in the U.S": (https://toda.org/policy-briefs-and-resources/policy-briefs/report-200-full-text.html)

The Perception Gap: https://perceptiongap.us/

BeHumankind at Really Useful Change: https://www.reallyusefulchange.com/ 

Meet Lamar and Tom

Lamar Roth and Tom Klaus are lifelong friends exploring how to get to a 3rd Space - a space where two or more people with opposing viewpoints, ideologies, and worldviews can come together to hear, listen, share, and connect with one another. Together Lamar and Tom hope to carve out a 3rd Space where everything can be on the table for open, straightforward, honest, and, yet kind and respectful inquiry. 

Want to watch us do the podcast? Visit the Klaus Haus Productions YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KlausHausProductions. 

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Credits:

Wild Opinions and Nonsensical Musings by Lamar Roth & Tom Klaus

Images by Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Roth Images, and Cyberlink AI

Photos by Lamar Roth are copyrighted by Roth Images, all rights reserved. For more information, visit https://www.rothimages.com/. For permissions or additional information: [e-mail].

Getting to 3rd Space with Lamar and Tom is produced and sponsored by Klaus Haus Productions LLC and Acorn Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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No living creature was harmed in the production of this film but a lot of Colombian coffee was consumed.

Original Publishing Date: February 3, 2025