1.2 Key Assumptions Setup

We are all working on different problems, but at an elemental layer, we are all working on the same problems: Making sense of reality to improve our relative positions within it. These positions are unique. No two people have the same relative position, although they may share the same absolute coordinates in space and time. Together, we share and "stitch" our distinct perspectives to create a shared understanding of reality.

These fundamental observations of how we interact with our environment are what lead to the belief that Bumponomics is the correct approach. The framework is built entirely upon these 10 key assumptions:

1. Environmental Determinism: Our behaviors and options are fundamentally defined by our environment.
2. Agency Distribution: Our environment contains two distinct classifications: things (which operate without known agency) and organisms (which possess agency).
3. The Genesis of Problems: When organisms cannot meet their inherent needs, we define these pressures and gaps as problems.
4. Consequences: Problems are not neutral; they have direct consequences for an organism's State-of-Being (its wellbeing and viability).
5. The Lifecycle of Being: States of being can be mapped to a typical 'lifecycle,' which includes distinct states and transitions such as creation, surviving, thriving, declining, cessation, and sometimes metamorphosing.
6. The S-Curve Dynamic: These lifecycles and transitions mathematically execute as S-curve type behaviors over time.
7. Ways-of-Organizing: Organisms (including humans) deploy specific ways-of-organizing depending upon their place (context), their state-of-being, and their problematic situations. These organizational modes include coordinating, cooperating, collaborating, and competing. All are valid, and most real-world situations require a hybrid mix of these.
8. The Human Exception: Humans seem biologically unique in their conscious choice to create artificial 'solutions' to their problems—solutions that often set us 'apart' from our natural environment, rather than integrating us within it.
9. Problematic Situations: The true definition of a Problematic Situation occurs when our baseline needs are not met, when we proactively grow new needs, or when our state-of-being is actively impacted by the 3Ds: Disadvantage, Dysfunction, or Demise.
10. The Vector of Progress: Problems drive action. Our choice of problems and how we tackle them determine our progress. Because Progress is a vector, it can result in either an improvement to our state-of-being (positive trajectory) or an impairment to our state-of-being (negative trajectory).

Note: A mindset of true appreciation for this variety and diversity of experience is a key trait of a successful problem transformer.