Open Dialogue // The Adjacent Possible

In every moment, something new becomes possible—not through force or planning alone, but because conditions have shifted just enough for a next step to appear. Stuart Kauffman’s concept of the “adjacent possible” invites us to think of change not as a leap into the unknown, but as a movement into a space that is just barely reachable from where we are now. It’s the room that opens when a new connection forms, when a constraint lifts, or when we begin to see differently.

In this conversation, we’ll explore the adjacent possible as a way of understanding emergence, creativity, innovation, and transformation. How do systems—biological, social, ecological—navigate their edges? What enables newness to arise, and what keeps it from doing so? Can we cultivate conditions that make the adjacent possible more accessible? And what happens when we mistake the impossible for the merely not-yet?

This conversation will be free-form, which means it might meander into adjacent topics. No need to prepare or bring anything but your curiosity and an open mind.