Complex dynamical systems theory has been used to construct a simple dynamical model for the social transformation of the Kalahari !Kung. It consists of a two-dimensional social state space attached to each point of a two-dimensional economic model for the intertribal economic activity between the !Kung and the Bantu. The social state space is defined in terms of Ruth Benedict's concept of social synergy. The dynamics of the economic activity between the two tribes may be an economic equilibrium, a dynamical, or a preference-cone system. The overall gain from this modeling exercise may be understood as a cognitive strategy, in which anthropological and economic variables are mutually coupled. Intuition based on this exercise may be applied to other examples of social catastrophe, such as our own. (Grant, 1995)

When a bifurcation occurs and there are competing attractors (are we moving towards a violent or a nonviolent planetary society?) a dynamical model (or even just dynamical literacy) may make a desirable outcome more likely. When the basin boundaries are fractal, we may have an opportunity to obtain a large change in the outcome through a small intervention. (Abraham, 1993) This is similar to the butterfly effect of chaotic attractors, but applies to bifurcation and basin boundary, rather than to trajectories on an attractor.