Systems Philosophy and Cybernetics
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1 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This Copy of the Thesis Has Been
University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2012 Life Expansion: Toward an Artistic, Design-Based Theory of the Transhuman / Posthuman Vita-More, Natasha http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/1182 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author’s prior consent. 1 Life Expansion: Toward an Artistic, Design-Based Theory of the Transhuman / Posthuman by NATASHA VITA-MORE A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfillment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Art & Media Faculty of Arts April 2012 2 Natasha Vita-More Life Expansion: Toward an Artistic, Design-Based Theory of the Transhuman / Posthuman The thesis’ study of life expansion proposes a framework for artistic, design-based approaches concerned with prolonging human life and sustaining personal identity. To delineate the topic: life expansion means increasing the length of time a person is alive and diversifying the matter in which a person exists. -
Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity This Page Intentionally Left Blank Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity
Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity This Page Intentionally Left Blank Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity A Platform for Designing Business Architecture SECOND EDITION Jamshid Gharajedaghi AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, California 92101-4495, USA 84 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8RR, UK This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, E-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting “Support & Contact” then “Copyright and Permission” and then “Obtaining Permissions.” Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gharajedaghi, Jamshid. Systems thinking : managing chaos and complexity : a platform for designing business architecture / Jamshid Gharajedaghi. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7506-7163-7 (alk. paper) 1. System analysis. 2. Chaotic behavior in systems. 3. Industrial management. 4. Technological complexity. I. Title. T57.6.G52 1999 003—dc21 98-55939 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. -
Cybernetics and Contingency, Codes and Programs : an Account of Social System Thinking in Law and Legal Theory Today
ORBIT-OnlineRepository ofBirkbeckInstitutionalTheses Enabling Open Access to Birkbeck’s Research Degree output Cybernetics and contingency, codes and programs : an account of social system thinking in law and legal theory today https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40396/ Version: Full Version Citation: Bryson, Giulia (2019) Cybernetics and contingency, codes and programs : an account of social system thinking in law and legal theory today. [Thesis] (Unpublished) c 2020 The Author(s) All material available through ORBIT is protected by intellectual property law, including copy- right law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. Deposit Guide Contact: email CYBERNETICS AND CONTINGENCY, CODES AND PROGRAMS: AN ACCOUNT OF SOCIAL SYSTEM THINKING IN LAW AND LEGAL THEORY TODAY GIULIA BRYSON DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY (PHD) IN LAW 2018 LAW DEPARTMENT, BIRKBECK COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 1 I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own, except where explicit reference is made to the work of others. Giulia Bryson 2 ABSTRACT The thesis discusses aspects of current Social Systems Theory, with the main attention devoted both to the level of the compassing social system society and to that of function systems, especially law. Throughout, I refer to the version of social systems theory developed and presented as theory of social autopoiesis in Niklas Luhmann's mature work, while a lim- ited but important part of the thesis will explain this choice and serve as a comparative and genealogical guideline. Central will be the notion and idea of what Luhmann calls a Contingency Formula — term that both func- tions as a problem outline and that indicates how the problem can be solved, within the context of the Legal System. -
Consciousness and Its Evolution: from a Human Being to a Post-Human
Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie Wydział Filozofii i Socjologii Taras Handziy Consciousness and Its Evolution: From a Human Being to a Post-Human Rozprawa doktorska napisana pod kierunkiem dr hab. Zbysława Muszyńskiego, prof. nadzw. UMCS Lublin 2014 Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………. 8 Chapter 1: Consciousness, Mind, and Body …………………………………………………… 18 1.1 Conceptions of Consciousness …………………………………………………………. 18 1.1.1 Colin McGinn’s Conception of Consciousness ……………………………………….... 18 1.1.1.1 Owen Flanagan’s Analysis of Colin McGinn’s Conception of Consciousness ….…….. 20 1.1.2 Paola Zizzi’s Conception of Consciousness ………………………………………….… 21 1.1.3 William James’ Stream of Consciousness ……………………………………………… 22 1.1.4 Ervin Laszlo’s Conception of Consciousness …………………………………………... 22 1.2 Consciousness and Soul ………………………………………...………………………. 24 1.3 Problems in Definition of Consciousness ………………………………………………. 24 1.4 Distinctions between Consciousness and Mind ………………………………………... 25 1.5 Problems in Definition of Mind ………………………………………………………… 26 1.6 Dogmatism in Mind and Mind without Dogmatism ……………………………………. 27 1.6.1 Dogmatism in Mind …………………………………………………………………….. 27 1.6.2 Mind without Dogmatism …………………………………………………………….… 28 1.6.3 Rupert Sheldrake’s Dogmatism in Science …………………………………………….. 29 1.7 Criticism of Scientific Approaches towards Study of Mind ……………….…………… 30 1.8 Conceptions of Mind …………………………………………………………………… 31 1.8.1 Rupert Sheldrake’s Conception of Extended Mind …………………………………….. 31 1.8.2 Colin McGinns’s Knowing and Willing Halves of Mind ……………………………..... 34 1.8.3 Francisco Varela’s, Evan Thompson’s, and Eleanor Rosch’s Embodied Mind ………... 35 1.8.4 Andy Clark’s Extended Mind …………………………………………………………... 35 1.8.5 Role of Mind Understood by Paola Zizzi ………………………………………………. 36 1.9 Mind in Buddhism, Consciousness in Tibetan Buddhism ……………………………… 36 1.9.1 Mind in Buddhism ……………………………………………………………………… 36 1.9.2 B. -
Rethinking the Pragmatic Systems Biology and Systems-Theoretical Biology Divide: Toward a Complexity-Inspired Epistemology of Systems Biomedicine
Rethinking the pragmatic systems biology and systems-theoretical biology divide: toward a complexity-inspired epistemology of systems biomedicine Srdjan Kesić* Department of Neurophysiology, Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković,” University of Belgrade, Despot Stefan Blvd. 142, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia * Corresponding author: Srdjan Kesić, PhD Assistant Research Professor, Department of Neurophysiology, Institute for Biological Research ―Siniša Stanković,‖ University of Belgrade, Despot Stefan Blvd., 142, 11060, Belgrade, Serbia. Tel: +381 61 3127580 E-mail: [email protected] Short Title: Systems biology and epistemology of systems biomedicine 1 Abstract This paper examines some methodological and epistemological issues underlying the ongoing ―artificial‖ divide between pragmatic-systems biology and systems-theoretical biology. The pragmatic systems view of biology has encountered problems and constraints on its explanatory power because pragmatic systems biologists still tend to view systems as mere collections of parts, not as ―emergent realities‖ produced by adaptive interactions between the constituting components. As such, they are incapable of characterizing the higher-level biological phenomena adequately. The attempts of systems-theoretical biologists to explain these ―emergent realities‖ using mathematics also fail to produce satisfactory results. Given the increasing strategic importance of systems biology, both from theoretical and research perspectives, we suggest that additional epistemological and methodological insights into the possibility of further integration between traditional experimental studies and complex modeling are required. This integration will help to improve the currently underdeveloped pragmatic-systems biology and system-theoretical biology. The ―epistemology of complexity,‖ I contend, acts as a glue that connects and integrates different and sometimes opposing viewpoints, perspectives, streams, and practices, thus maintaining intellectual and research coherence of systems research of life. -
A Dictionary of Cybernetics
Annenberg School for Communication Departmental Papers (ASC) University of Pennsylvania Year 1986 A Dictionary of Cybernetics Klaus Krippendorff University of Pennsylvania, kkrippendorff@asc.upenn.edu This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/asc papers/224 A DICTIONARY OF CYBERNETICS by Klaus Krippendorff University of Pennsylvania version 2/2/86 A dictionary like the discipline whose terminology it aims to clarify is constantly in flux. It is aided by communal efforts and in turn aids communication within the community of users. Critical comments and suggestions, especially for including new or omitting useless entries, for improving the wording, for references that may need to be added should be directed to: Klaus Krippendorff The Annenberg School of Communications University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA 19104 NOTE: This dictionary is not intended to represent the American Society for Cybernetics nor the opinions of any of its members: neither does it replace the current Cybernetics Glossary. Klaus Krippendorff has been kind enough to make his work available to ASC members in order to stimulate discussion on the language of cybernetics. as well as on the idea of a dictionary itself. ABSOLUTE DISCRIMINATION: ->LIMIT OF ABSOLUTE DISCRIMINATION ADAPTATION: STABILITY of success in the face of a changing environment. Two kinds of adaptation are distinguished. (a) Darwinian adaptation after Darwin who observed how organisms change their internal STRUCTURE when their environment makes existing forms no longer viable. E.g., Ashby's HOMEOSTAT searches for a new pattern of behavior as soon as disturbances in its surroundings drive or threaten to drive its essential VARIABLEs outside specified limits. -
Information System Meta-Synthesis Research Based on SOA
Send Orders for Reprints to [email protected] 586 The Open Cybernetics & Systemics Journal, 2014, 8, 586-593 Open Access Information System Meta-Synthesis Research Based on SOA Shibin He*, Juhui Cao and Yi Zhang Department of Military Engineering, Logistics Engineering University, Chongqing, China Abstract: This paper is to about the main contents and basic working principles of information system meta-synthesis based on SOA. In the anterior part of the paper, we explained the current situations of the information system manage- ment and working conditions, and pointed out the reasons why we had to think over the disadvantages and advantages of information system meta-synthesis. In the middle part of the paper, we point out the basic principles of SOA, and intro- duced the layers of the SOA structure. And then, we created a probable architecture of the information system meta- synthesis based on SOA. In order to explain more clearly of this structure, the papaer described the mapping relationships between task requests and services by using nodes network structure, and some mathematics methods or models were used to analyze. Some formulas were also used to express the longest and the average distance of the services responding time. Three main physical layers were created in this architecture, public core service layer, service construction layer and service application layer. Each layer contained different services and achieved different functions. Finally, we took a cer- tain area information system as an example to illustrate the main contents of this structure, and analyzed the relationships among those layers. In the end of the paper, we summed up all the advantages and superiorities of information system meta-synthesis based on SOA, and proposed the research keynotes in the future. -
The Personalized A-Theory of Time and Perspective
The Personalized A-Theory of Time and Perspective Vincent Conitzer∗ Abstract A-theorists and B-theorists debate whether the “Now” is metaphysically distinguished from other time slices. Analogously, one may ask whether the “I” is metaphysically distin- guished from other perspectives. Few philosophers would answer the second question in the affirmative. An exception is Caspar Hare, who has devoted two papers and a book to arguing for such a positive answer. In this paper, I argue that those who answer the first question in the affirmative – A-theorists – should also answer the second question in the affirmative. This is because key arguments in favor of the A-theory are more effective as arguments in favor of the resulting combined position, and key arguments against the A-theory are ineffective against the combined position. Keywords: metaphysics, philosophy of time, philosophy of self. ∗Departments of Computer Science, Economics, and Philosophy, Duke University, Box 90129, Durham, NC 27708, USA; Email: [email protected] 1 1 Introduction In a series of unconventional but lucid works, Caspar Hare has laid out and defended a theory of egocentric presentism (or, in his more recent work, perspectival realism), in which a distinguished individual’s experiences are present in a way that the experiences of others are not (Hare, 2007, 2009, 2010). Closely related ideas appear in the writings of others. One example is Valberg (2007)’s notion of the “personal horizon,” especially considering his discussion of “the truth in solipsism” and his insistence that “my” horizon is really “the” (preeminent) horizon. Merlo (2016)’s “subjectivist view of the mental” is arguably even more closely related; he argues that “one’s own mental states are metaphysically privileged vis-a-vis` the mental states of others” and discusses in detail the relationship of his view to Hare’s. -
Siddharth Paper TITLE: the Systemics of (Meta)Design Abstract: Much Of
GA2009 – XII Generative Art Conference – Politecnico di Milano University, Italy Siddharth Paper TITLE: The Systemics of (Meta)Design Abstract: Much of our knowledge today is being informed + transformed by the advent of systems’ sciences [1], and recent advances in technology & computation. Design, when looked at from trans-disciplinarity and the contemporary systemic view, can be seen as a process of systemic intervention in the evolution of interconnected complex adaptive & dynamic living systems. A successful design-system needs to holistically understand the system/s it is dealing and identify key participatory strategies, which when applied via collectively selected points of intervention, can result in a successful integration/overlay onto the system/s that are being addressed. This brings us to the notion of MetaDesign [2, 3] Systems, seen as a contemporary design framework for strategic & systemic comprehension + intervention. It is hoped that this paper will attempt Topic: Design-Systems to address the following: Author: - Evaluate current design methodologies for holistically Siddharth understanding dynamic living systems PhD Student, Spatial Information Architecture - Develop strategies for Systemic Intervention, based on current Laboratory, RMIT insights & understanding of Systems Sciences. This would include University, Australia describing collective/ participatory methods of analysis + synthesis, www.sial.rmit.edu.au defining intervention points, and evolutionary pathways (& quanta) that constitute a MetaDesign System. References: [1] Charles François (1999), Systemics and Cybernetics in a Historical Perspective. in: Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Vol 16, pp. 203–219 [2] Giaccardi, E. (2004). "Principles of Metadesign: Processes and Levels of Co-Creation in the New Design Space". PhD Thesis, University of Plymouth, UK. -
Spangler Ku 0099D 11237 DA
Abstract This study sought to gain a deeper understanding of the types of benefits, programs, and organizational practices employers currently are providing to prevent distress among employees or to help employees become more resilient to adverse conditions. Forty-six employer representatives discussed the perceived strengths of their organizations’ approaches during interviews and discussion groups. Grounded theory methodology was employed to sample and analyze these data. Based on patterns that emerged from the narratives of these participants, a model is proposed to explain three effective approaches used by employers in addressing stress in the workplace: 1) preventing stress/building resilience, 2) providing information, resources, and benefits to employees, and 3) intervening actively with troubled employees. Trust, both in relationships and in organizational structures, emerged as a core concept explaining effectiveness of these approaches. This model may be used to frame future strategies used by employers to support healthy engaged employees and to guide investigations into social and emotional aspects related to work. iii Acknowledgments Finishing a dissertation feels similar to climbing a mountain – looking back on where you have been makes you feel a little weary, but the view from the top is quite exhilarating and immensely satisfying. You also see there are other peaks left to master. I offer warm gratitude to many people who helped me during my climb. To all of the professors over the years who created opportunities for thinking deeply and pondering life’s important questions. To Lisa Mische Lawson for helping to chart my course of study over the years in the Therapeutic Science curriculum and advice during the dissertation process. -
Stress, Cortison Und Homöostase
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RERO DOC Digital Library N.T.M. 18 (2010) 169–195 0036-6978/10/020169-27 DOI 10.1007/s00048-010-0017-2 Published online: 10 August 2010 RTICLES PRINGER ASEL Ó 2010 S B AG /A . RTIKEL A Stress, Cortison und Homöostase Künstliche Nebennierenrindenhormone und physiologisches Gleichgewicht, 1936–1960 Lea Haller Stress, Cortisone and Homeostasis. Adrenal Cortex Hormones and Physiological Equilibrium, 1936–1960 This article investigates the emergence of the concept of stress in the 1930s and outlines its changing disciplinary and conceptual frames up until 1960. Originally stress was a physio- logical concept applied to the hormonal regulation of the body under stressful conditions. Correlated closely with chemical research into corticosteroids for more than a decade, the stress concept finally became a topic in cognitive psychology. One reason for this shift of the concept to another discipline was the fact that the hormones previously linked to the stress concept were successfully transferred from laboratory to medical practice and adopted by disciplines such as rheumatology and dermatology. Thus the stress concept was dissociated from its hormonal context and became a handy formula that allowed postindustrial soci- ety to conceive of stress as a matter of individual concern. From a physiological phenomenon stress turned into an object of psychological discourse and individual coping strategies. Keywords: Stress, general adaptation syndrome, hormones of the adrenal cortex, corti- sone therapy, coping Schlüsselwörter: Stress, Allgemeines Adaptationssyndrom, Nebennierenrindenhormone, Cortisontherapie, Stressbewältigung ,,No concept in the modern psychological, sociological, or psychiatric literature is more extensively studied than stress.’’ Stevan E. -
Kybernetik in Österreich
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Universität Wien: OJS-Service Kybernetik in Österreich Ein Gespräch zwischen Robert Trappl und Albert Müller1 Albert Müller: Wie kam die Kybernetik nach Österreich? Dieses Thema ist noch wenig behandelt worden, obwohl es sich um eine wichtige Sache handelt. Eine der Besonderheiten besteht darin, dass zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt in Österreich Kybernetik selbst in der hohen Politik Aufmerksamkeit fand. Ein früherer öster- reichischer Bundeskanzler, Josef Klaus, hat in einem Buch, das er 1971 als eine Art Rechenschaftsbericht über seine politischen Aktivitäten veröffentlichte,2 unter anderem Folgendes geschrieben: „Die Kybernetisierung der Menschheit kommt mit Riesenschritten auf uns zu.“ In seiner Rolle als Finanzminister erwarb er die erste IBM 360, die er auch selbst feierlich in Betrieb nahm. Josef Klaus bezieht sich in die- sem Text auf Norbert Wiener und W. Ross Ashby, was für einen Politiker doch ziem- lich ungewöhnlich ist. Seine Begeisterung für Kybernetik und Computer brachte ihn schließlich dazu, sich als Privatschüler bei Heinz Zemanek anzumelden, der damals Leiter eines wichtigen Forschungslabors bei IBM in Wien war. Er schreibt relativ genau, wie er als Bundeskanzler um 1968 jeden Morgen vor seinem Erschei- nen im Amt zu Zemanek geht und von ihm Unterricht erhält. Zum Abschluss dieser Aus- und Weiterbildung schreibt der Bundeskanzler Klaus selbst ein kleines FORTRAN-Programm, das auf dem Computer auch zum Laufen gebracht werden konnte. – Das ist eine untypische Geschichte, wie ich glaube, man wird in Öster- reich kaum Politiker finden, die sich ähnlich verhalten haben, und wahrscheinlich wird man auch in anderen Ländern kaum Spitzenpolitiker finden, die sich in mor- gendlicher Frühe einem Privatunterricht in Kybernetik unterziehen.