| We Advance by Letting Go of Assumptions “Know where you came from and where you're going.” (Jewish proverb) From Innovation to Insight When I first set out to solve rural poverty, I was not thinking about structural complexity, organizational design, or the deeper laws that govern systems. I was thinking about mangoes, the farmers who grew them, the insects that destroyed them, and the belief that with the right technology, applied precisely and thoughtfully, everything could change.
The guiding question was always the same: how to help farmers move from poverty to prosperity. I approached the challenge as a farmer by upbringing, a scientist by training, and eventually as an entrepreneur creating the tools farmers truly needed. With the Biofeed team, we focused on a devastating and familiar problem, fruit fly infestation. Rather than relying on pesticide sprays, we developed a scent-based solution that lured flies to a feeding formula containing a killing agent. It proved more effective than we imagined, reducing infestation by over 95% and eliminating the need for sprays. For the first time, we felt we had found a breakthrough with real, lasting potential. When Technology Is Not Enough Every farmer who worked with us saw their income rise, often dramatically. Yet, most farmers in the region were not part of the program, and many could never be, whether they did not grow export crops, were unaffected by fruit flies, or faced other constraints. As a result, the broader community remained unchanged and would have remained so even if the program expanded. Poverty persisted not because the technology failed, but because its scope was too narrow and disconnected from the broader ecosystem's structure. This was when I began to realize that even the most effective tools, offered freely and with the best intentions, could not overcome systemic poverty. In my own country, I had seen entire rural communities prosper, not just a few exceptional individuals. That quiet contrast stayed with me, revealing a deeper truth: the real barrier was not the tools themselves, but the systems into which they were introduced. My early certainty gave way to doubt, and new questions emerged: Why do so many rural communities remain poor, despite having access to technology and funding? And what enables others to thrive? From the Individual to the System In search of answers, I broadened my perspective, shifting focus from the individual farmer to the organization, and from isolated interventions to the design of entire supply chains and trade systems. This shift gave rise to Dream Valley, a company built to offer farmers a comprehensive solution, from agricultural inputs and growing practices to access to premium export markets. The model delivered measurable results, yet even with its broader scope, it fell short of achieving lasting change across entire communities. The Shift to Structural Thinking The real transformation did not begin with what I did, but with how I started to think. I stopped seeing farmers as isolated individuals and began to understand them as parts of larger systems. This shift from the personal to the structural changed everything. It exposed the limits of even the most effective tools and made it clear that when a system is misaligned, no amount of intervention can produce real progress. The challenge was no longer about solving problems within the existing design; it was about uncovering the logic of organizational structures and learning how to redesign the architecture of impoverished communities so they could become prosperous. Once I began thinking in systems, a different line of inquiry took shape. I moved beyond tools and techniques, beyond markets and technologies, and eventually beyond agriculture itself. New questions arose, not about inputs or methods, but about structure: what holds a system together, what causes it to fragment, and what enables it to evolve? This line of questioning led me beyond economics into the deeper logic of structure itself. Regardless of where I began, whether with crops, tools, or trade, I consistently arrived at the same insight. Lasting change does not come from tactics; it comes from the design of the system. At that point, a deeper question emerged. Why do we treat societal challenges differently from those in physics, engineering, or mechanics? If universal laws govern all systems (or they are not universal), then those laws must also apply to human societies. And if that is true, then discovering and applying those laws is not theoretical work; it is the foundation for building anything that endures. That was the moment my search shifted from seeking better solutions to building better systems, and from there, to identifying the principles that make those systems work. It became clear that what we lacked was not effort, funding, or knowledge, but a framework for understanding why some organizational structures thrive while others fail. Prosperity, I came to see, does not arise from isolated interventions. It emerges from systems that are aligned, evolving, and structurally coherent. That insight eventually led to the concept I would come to define as the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity. Discovering a Universal Pattern Clarity arrived while I watched a lecture by Prof. Yuval Noah Harari, titled "World History – Lesson 1" (Hebrew), in which he traced the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the rise of modern societies. He described a familiar sequence: energy and matter form atoms, atoms form molecules, molecules become organisms, and organisms generate cultures. Suddenly, I realized that societies are not separate from nature, but a continuation of it, an expression of the same underlying forces that shape all matter and life. Just as stars, cells, and ecosystems arise through structure, so too do human societies, shaped by patterns that repeat, align, and evolve across scale and time. By then, I had already formulated the Prosperity Formula and the Prosperity Principle, but this new understanding provided the missing framework I had been seeking. Societies do not exist outside the reach of universal laws; they embody them. Once that is recognized, it becomes possible to study social and economic systems with the same disciplined approach used in biology, chemistry, and physics. From that insight, the next steps unfolded naturally. I began by integrating complexity into the Prosperity Formula, and from there, it was only a short and necessary step toward articulating the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity. The Birth of a Law The Universal Law of Increasing Complexity did not emerge from theory or abstraction, but from a long process of investigation grounded in scientific practice. For years, I have sought to understand why poverty among smallholder farmers in developing economies persists so widely, despite countless interventions. I examined commonly cited explanations, including insufficient technology, lack of funding, limited knowledge, poor motivation, and even corruption, and tested them through real-world experience. Again and again, I found that while these factors influenced outcomes, none could explain the persistent patterns of stagnation and failure. When the usual answers fell short, I looked elsewhere. That search led me to study the organizational structures of communities, companies, and societies across history. This journey, which I describe in my forthcoming book Designed to Prosper, revealed that prosperity is not the result of effort alone, but of well-aligned structures shaped by shared purpose, coherent direction, and rising interdependent complexity. Therefore, shared vision and mission, anchored in core values, are not luxuries of success; they are its foundation. As patterns emerged, it became clear that these structural principles were not limited to specific cultures or sectors. The breakthrough came with the realization, sparked by Prof. Harari’s framing of history, that the same logic that governs atoms, organisms, and ecosystems also shapes the evolution of societies. These are not separate domains, but expressions of a single, unfolding process. From that moment, I had two tasks: to articulate the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity, and to test whether it holds as a universal law. The law proposes that for any system to grow and endure, regardless of its domain, it must increase its structural complexity over time in a coherent and aligned manner. When it fails to do so, it becomes vulnerable to stagnation or collapse. The poverty of hundreds of millions of farmers is not a failure of will, but the consequence of outdated systems that could not evolve. Why So Many Efforts Fail Throughout human history, the basic structures of human organization have changed only a handful of times. These include bands and tribes, villages, cities, limited liability companies (LLCs), and, more recently, the Kibbutz model. Such transitions did not result from deliberate design, but rather emerged through trial and error, and the imitation of models that proved effective. Despite their profound impact, the differences between these structures have often gone unrecognized. As a result, development efforts frequently overlooked organizational form and instead focused on visible inputs such as technologies, infrastructure, or funding. The outcomes were predictably disappointing. Repeated failures and persistent poverty were not the result of flawed intentions, but of a mismatch between what was provided and what the receiving systems could absorb. Resources flowed into organizations that could not carry the weight, nor transform it into lasting progress. It is like building a skyscraper on the foundation of an old hut; the structure simply cannot support the demands placed upon it. Without the ability to evolve and absorb the increasing complexity of modern life, even the most promising interventions eventually collapse. This is where the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity becomes essential. It enables us to see beyond surface-level barriers and recognize deeper structural limitations. And when structure is the source of failure, the law provides a clear framework for identifying weaknesses and designing systems capable of growth, resilience, and sustained prosperity. Sustainable Change Begins with Structure This is why I write about structure, and why I have devoted myself to studying complexity. If we are serious about lifting people out of poverty, not as a one-time success, but as a lasting transformation, then we must design systems capable of sustaining and renewing progress over time. To do that, we must understand the laws that govern structure itself. For those focused on agriculture, rural development, or the broader pursuit of human flourishing, the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity offers both a powerful insight and a practical tool. It enables us to move beyond short-term solutions and start addressing the deeper patterns that either sustain or hinder growth. The law explains why talent, no matter how abundant, cannot overcome misalignment within systems. It shows why funding, though necessary, cannot create prosperity on its own. It reveals why even the most advanced technologies fail when they are not embedded in systems that can hold, direct, and amplify their value. History teaches us that breakthroughs in every domain came not from increasing effort, but from redesigning systems to manage higher complexity and channel resources more effectively. The form may vary, from a cooperative to a company or a country, but the principle remains constant: sustainable change begins with structure. When we stop treating poverty as a matter of individual circumstance and start designing for systemic emergence, we unlock a different future. One in which farmers rise not by luck or exception, but through systems built to carry them forward. Why I Write About the Universe That is why, throughout this column series, I have explored and will continue to explore topics that may initially seem far removed from agriculture: trust, pressure, coherence, entropy, emergence, and even the evolution of the universe. These are not diversions from the mission of poverty reduction. They are essential lenses through which we test the validity of the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity, allowing us to rely on it with confidence. Only by observing how systems evolve across different domains can we understand why some structures generate enduring prosperity while others, despite absorbing vast resources, stagnate or collapse. Some may wonder why I have followed this line of inquiry so far beyond its original starting point. Why not remain focused on crops, pests, prices, and yields? But the better question is this: if we are not willing to trace the problem to its root, how can we ever hope to solve it? The truth is that we cannot solve rural poverty without understanding the deeper structural forces that produce and sustain it. Poverty is not merely a lack of income or resources; it reflects the design of the systems in which people live, systems that restrict the flow of energy, knowledge, and opportunity. To address poverty meaningfully, we must learn how these systems are structured, how they evolve, and how they either support or suppress those within them. From Models to Principles History shows that many of the world’s most prosperous models, whether modern corporations, LLCs, or kibbutzim, succeeded not because their founders understood structural complexity, but because they happened upon configurations that worked. In Israel, for example, farmers moved from traditional villages to Kibbutzim not out of theoretical understanding, but because they observed clear and tangible results. When I founded Biofeed and later Dream Valley, I did not choose the LLC structure based on abstract principles. I chose it because it reliably delivered outcomes that others could not, but also because this is what I knew. Millions around the world make similar decisions. They adopt models with which they are familiar or those that appear to succeed elsewhere, often without understanding the structural principles that make them effective. Yet the downside of imitating without comprehension is that we risk applying tools to systems that cannot support them, or setting expectations that the structure was never designed to fulfill. A model that thrives in one context may falter in another, and without structural insight, we are left to guess why or blame each other. This is what makes the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity so essential; it reveals why certain models succeed not by chance, but because their structure aligns with the demands of increasing complexity. It helps us anticipate how systems will respond to pressure, growth, and change. And it provides a design framework for building new systems with greater capacity for resilience, adaptability, and sustained progress than anything we have inherited. That is the work that lies ahead: to uncover the hidden architecture beneath our systems and to construct new ones based not on habit or imitation, but on universal principles. When we understand how something truly works, how it is structured, how it evolves, and why it endures, we gain the ability to teach, replicate, and adapt it across various contexts, cultures, and conditions. Our aim is not to build a model suited to one environment, but to identify principles that hold across many. When we succeed, no one will be able to say, 'It works only there,' as they do about the Kibbutz model, because we will have created systems designed to flourish across diverse conditions. Most importantly, we will hold the knowledge to refine and adapt these systems with intention, just as engineers tailor their designs to fit the task. This is the journey we are on; it is not a departure from agriculture, but a passage through it into the deeper foundations of how life, structure, and prosperity emerge. From fruit flies to export logistics, from cooperative farming to the architecture of complexity, the work has always centered on one evolving question: how do we build systems that prosper not only for a moment, but for generations? This Is Only the Beginning That question remains the guiding force behind my work, and I believe this is only the beginning. From here, we will continue to test, refine, and challenge the Universal Law of Increasing Complexity. Only if it proves truly universal, applicable across cultures, domains, and time, can we trust it to fulfill its promise: to transform impoverished rural communities into thriving, interdependent, and resilient societies. To date, the law has been tested in numerous settings, and in each instance, it has remained consistent and predictive. Let us hope it continues to stand the test of time. ====== Special Note
Before the release of my upcoming book, Designed to Prosper, I’ve shared a key article that captures its core insights on the Wikifarmer platform, a valuable space for anyone interested in agriculture and farming. The article is part of an international competition designed to showcase innovative ideas in the agrifood sector. If the message resonates with you, I would be truly grateful if you could help extend its reach by reposting it. You can read the article and share it through the links below, and please remember to tag #Wikifarmer when you share/repost: LinkedIn
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Thank you for helping bring these ideas to a broader audience. |
