Many of you probably know by now that there have been some recent revisions and updates to the MBM Philosophy. Later I’ll post about some of this specific revisions. I want to use this post to try to answer the question, “Why does MBM get updated?” The short answer is in the title of the post. One of the core aspects of MBM (and free societies) is discovery. We’re committed to using the best ideas and mental modes (that are consistent with the MBM principles), so naturally there are going to be times when better thinking emerges. Focusing on reality and being committed to change when better things come along naturally lends itself to an evolving philosophy.

While these types of revisions/updates may appear to be only-once-every-so-many-years, the reality is the thinking behind the changes is continually evolving. (In other words, there is a “Republic of Science” of sorts focused on learning more about MBM). At some point, after the thinking is tested and accepted, the changes become official. This is why it seems as if every-so-often changes are happening — the official announcements are only every-so-often. If it was announced every time a new idea or new potential mental model might become part of MBM or testing a new method/tool was happening, you’d be covered up with announcements.

Looking at the most recent revisions, I’d loosely put them into the following categories:

1. Our thinking has evolved because the world has changed, and we must change with it.
2. Our thinking has evolved because we’ve found a better way to do things.
3. Updates reflect a better way to articulate or communicate what is already there with little or no substantial evolution in the body of MBM knowledge.

As you learn more about revisions and updates to the MBM philosophy, I encourage you to engage in the challenge process to study and understand the changes. I promise you any revisions made go through a great deal of challenge and are not done lightly.

In the next few posts, I hope to point out and get discussions going about some of the specifics of the revisions. I’ll do my best to point out at least one from each of the categories above. As always, feel free to leave comments if you have specific thoughts or questions.