DOCSLIB.ORG

Complexity Files/Leonard Cybernetics Bestiary.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Complexity Files/Leonard Cybernetics Bestiary.Pdf Cybernetics Bestiary Allenna Leonard March 2008 Many concepts from systems and cybernetics are familiar to us through old sayings, fables, nursery rhymes and everyday use as well as newer metaphors and examples. Here are a few of them to look at in a new light. The Cow that Jumped Over the Moon Ridiculous, of course, unless you happen to be looking up a sloping field at moonrise at a cow on the crest of the hill. Ok, the cow probably stepped rather than jumped, but you get the picture. Or put another way, the picture you, as the observer, get depends a lot on who you are and where you are and how you think about the world. What you see isn’t what someone else – with an equally valid context – sees. You have to duplicate the conditions if you want to duplicate the observation…and it will never be exactly the same because you are you. The Dog that Did Not Bark Sometimes what isn’t there is what is most significant. Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective, Sherlock Holmes, was a very observant man. He noted that, since the dog hadn’t barked; someone the dog knew, not a strange intruder, had committed the crime. It is easier to see something that is present that shouldn’t be than something that should be there and isn’t. More Than One Way to Skin a Cat There can be many paths to the same outcome – a condition Ludwig von Bertalanffy referred to as equifinality. It can apply to entrepreneurship, learning to play or environmental catastrophe. This concept has an interesting parallel in the development of cybernetics and systems theory in which thinkers from mathematics and physics; social and life sciences; and management and engineering came to understandings of circular causality and dynamic processes that arrived at similar conclusions from widely different sources. Bateson’s Polyploid Horse Gregory Batson, in Mind and Nature, related a fable of a horse that was much bigger – exactly twice the size of an ordinary Clydesdale. The problem was that multiplying the size by two multiplies the weight and the amount of food needed to sustain it by eight, the diameter of its windpipe and esophagus and its surface area by only four, and so on. In short, the animal would not be viable. A viable creature twice the size of a Clydesdale would be –-- an elephant. It would have thick legs to support its weight, a digestive tract capable of handling the amount of food it required and so on. Scalability implies multiple and different inherent limits within its constant circumstances: in this case, gravity, oxygenation, and food energy requirements, among others. Maturana’s Frog In a paper associated with Humberto Maturana * called ‘What the frog’s eye tells the frog’s brain’, the frog’s interpretations of the behaviour of moving objects are described as falling into three categories: if it is small and moving, it’s food; if it is the same size and moving, it’s a potential mate; and if it is larger and moving, it’s a threat. These three categories work more often than not and serve the frog’s survival well. But, if the situation changes, the frog does not notice. For instance, it will not try to eat a fly immobilized on a pin but will try to eat a rubber fly tossed in the air. In the same way, our choices cannot take into account new variables with old measurement frameworks. We need to test the frameworks (or the assumptions) from time to time to make sure they are still providing critical information and that no new variables have arisen. Vickers’ Trapped Lobster Geoffrey Vickers is well known for his quote “The trap is a function of the nature of the trapped.” His illustration was a lobster trap. It lures the lobster in but the lobster’s perceptual map of the world doesn’t allow it to see the way out – which is counter-intuitive if you’re a lobster. A man, or an otter, would not be trapped in a similar way because they would try to get out the way they came in. But humans can be trapped too if the trap lures them into a dilemma that their mind-set cannot escape. The Canary in the Mine Coal miners, who worked in conditions where combustible or poisonous gas was always a risk, took canaries down the shafts with them. The canary is much more sensitive to the accumulation of gases than a human is and will keel over long before the miner would notice. But the miner did watch the canary, and knew to leave when the canary collapsed. Such indicators have played an important role in picking up early indications that something is going wrong while there may still be time to address the problem. The Elephant in the Room The elephant in the room has become a metaphor for the big problem no one wants to bring up because it represents an unpleasant truth that the powers that be don’t want to hear or a problem that the people in the room do not understand or have no resources to solve. Either way, pretending the elephant isn’t there means that any efforts that are made are likely to be irrelevant or detrimental. The Snake Eating its Tail The ouroboros is a symbol of cyclicality that is often used to represent self- reference, self-reflexivity or self-recreation. The snake or dragon eating its own tail is complete in and of itself. It is in some senses closed to outside information, reminding us that self-reference both helps us make sense of our perceptions and experiences and blocks us from seeing what might be beyond the frame of our own human senses or our traditions and understandings. The symbol is also sometimes used to refer to the union of opposites such as ying and yang or life and death. The Cheshire Cat The Cheshire cat, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland represents an intermittent, but probably significant pattern. Some people see it some of the time but it appears and disappears just when you think you might be getting a handle on it. It can also be considered as part of a transitional stage in emergence where the situation has yet to coalesce into an understandable and describable state. The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back Every system has limits. Once those limits are reached, the system collapses. Often from the lightest touch or the smallest increment of additional load. So it is with the camel. The ‘last straw’ marks the difference between a system under stress and a system in collapse. The Boiled Frog A frog placed in a pot of hot water will notice immediately and jump out. But, a frog placed in tepid water does not notice if the heat is turned on and the water heats up slowly. A cautionary note that sometimes-slow incremental changes detrimental to survival may not register until it is too late. The Foxes and Rabbits Foxes eat rabbits and rabbits multiply quickly. In a simplified predator/prey cycle, if foxes eat too many rabbits, the population of rabbits falls and the next generation of foxes doesn’t have enough to eat and dies back. Then, with fewer foxes, the remaining rabbits multiply. The increased population of rabbits means that there is more for the foxes to eat and so it goes. Such population cycles are a good model of predator/prey relationships in nature and also in society. McCulloch’s Rat In ‘The heterarchy of nervous nets’ Warren McCulloch reported a simple experiment that proved that there was no sumum bonum that applied across the board but that preferences depended on the particular choices or their order. (Kenneth Arrow and John Nash dealt with the same issue through mathematics.) When offered a choice between food and sex, the rat chose food. When the choice was between sex and avoiding electric shock, the rat chose to avoid the shock. When food was paired with avoiding electric shock, food was the preferred choice. The Butterfly Effect One of the most striking metaphors of chaos theory is the idea that a butterfly on one side of the world can cause a storm on the other side. In other words, even very small changes in initial conditions can change outcomes in dramatic ways. Once the small variation has occurred, a process begins that leads to a chain of events that could not have been predicted. Battling Barnacles Many of us have enjoyed walking along the shore and marveling at the collection of seaweed and barnacles along the tidal pools. All looks peaceful and the only motion we see is that of the waves moving the plants and washing over the barnacles. But, if you were a researcher studying barnacles using time-lapse photography you would see a very different picture. The barnacles are banging together like cars at a dodgem ride in the amusement park, jostling for better position and pushing each other out of the way. But, their motion is too slow for us to see. Illiterate Elk In Northern Arizona, the elk population traditionally varied according to the amount of rainfall – which translated into more foliage for them to eat. In wet years more elk were born; in dry years fewer. When ranchers began to graze cattle on the land, there was always plenty of water because the ranchers pumped it up for their cows. Now, elk can’t read, so it wouldn’t have done any good for farmers to put up a sign that said “No Elk Allowed”.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Science of the Unknowable: Stafford Beer's Cybernetic Informatics
    The Science of the Unknowable: Stafford Beer’s Cybernetic Informatics Andrew Pickering University of Illinois Department of Sociology Urbana, IL 61801 [email protected] Cybernetics and New Ontologies: An interview session with Andrew Pickering Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen [email protected] The Steno Institute University of Aarhus Working Papers from Centre for STS Studies Department of Information & Media Studies University of Aarhus Published by The Centre for STS Studies, Aarhus 2006. Editorial board: Peter Lauritsen, Simon Kiilerich Madsen, Finn Olesen. Andrew Pickering: The Science of the Unknowable: Stafford Beer’s Cybernetic Informatics Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen: Cybernetics and New Ontologies: An interview session with Andrew Pickering © The authors, 2006. Printed at Fællestrykkeriet for Sundhedsvidenskab, University of Aarhus. Cover design: Annette Bjerre Design. ISBN 9788791386121 (print) ISBN 9788791386138 (web) The Centre for STS Studies Department of Information & Media Studies Helsingforsgade 14 DK-8200 Aarhus N Tel: +45 8942 9200 Fax: +45 8942 5950 [email protected] http://imv.au.dk/sts The Science of the Unknowable: Stafford Beer’s Cybernetic Informatics Andrew Pickering University of Illinois Department of Sociology [email protected] This essay derives from a larger project exploring the history of cybernetics in Britain in and after World War II.1 The project focusses on the work of four British cyberneticians—Grey Walter, Ross Ashby, Stafford Beer and Gordon Pask; here I focus on Stafford Beer, the founder of the field he called management cybernetics, and his work in informatics.2 Anthony Stafford Beer was born in London in 1926. He joined the British Army in 1944 after just one year as an undergraduate in London, and served in India and Britain.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice Chris Blackmore Editor
    Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice Chris Blackmore Editor Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice 123 Editor Chris Blackmore The Open University, Walton Hall MK7 6AA Milton Keynes United Kingdom First published in 2010 by Springer London In association with The Open University Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA United Kingdom Copyright c 2010 The Open University All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmit- ted or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS (website www.cla.co.uk). Open University course materials may also be made available in electronic formats for use by students of the University. All rights, including copyright and related rights and database rights, in electronic course materials and their contents are owned by or licensed to The Open University, or otherwise used by The Open University as permitted by applicable law. In using electronic course materials and their contents you agree that your use will be solely for the pur- poses of following an Open University course of study or otherwise as licensed by The Open University or its assigns. Except as permitted above you undertake not to copy, store in any medium (including electronic storage or use in a website), distribute, transmit or retransmit, broadcast, modify or show in public such electronic materials in whole or in part without the prior written consent of The Open University or in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
    [Show full text]
  • When the Map Becomes the Territory: Korzybski and Cyberculture
    When the Map Becomes the Territory: Korzybski and Cyberculture Thierry Bardini Département de Communication Université de Montréal Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Thierry Bardini Département de Communication Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville Montréal QC H3C 3J7 Canada Email: [email protected] 2 Abstract: I examine in this paper the direct and indirect influences that Alfred Korzybski had on contemporary cyberculture. I consider two different but sometimes intertwined lines of thought, genres and/or disciplines: (1) science-fiction, and (2) communication and/or media studies. In the first case, I consider Korzybski’s direct influence on William Burroughs and Alfred van Vogt and thus his indirect influence on Philip K. Dick (PKD) and the 1980s genre of cyberpunk literature. In the second case, I show how Korzybski’s direct influence on Gregory Bateson, among other cyberneticians of the first hour (McCullogh and Northrop), and Neil Postman, contributed in shaping one of the leading modes of thought in this domain, i.e. “media ecology.” Altogether, I argue that Korzybski’s legacy in contemporary culture greatly exceeds the “map is not the territory” slogan: instead, through such notions as “the unbearable aporias of being”, the power of the conjunction and the relation between language and power (“control”), he helped shape today’s modes of thought. 3 Introduction This paper is about maps and territories, but about special kinds of maps and territories; digital (and not virtual) maps and territories. So I start with a serious question: say at the sattelite resolution of Google maps, for instance, doesn’t the map look like the territory? And if the territory itself is digital (as in cyberspace), isn’t the map the territory? In order to give some elements of answer to these questions I examine here the direct and indirect influences Alfred Korzybski had on contemporary cyberculture.
    [Show full text]
  • Edited by Allenna Leonard EFLECTIONS on the FESTIVAL
    AM ERICAN SO CIETY FOR CYBERNETICS Number 3 NEWSLETTER Edited by Allenna Leonard August 1980 EFLECTIONS ON THE FESTIVAL By Shelly Clemson AFTERTHOUGHTS - EDITORIAL COMMENT By Roger Conant Participants in the First Annual Cybernetics estival at Sunset, Maine basked in sunshine, We will not convince the world tha t we have omaraderie, and participative labor for two anything worthwhi le to offer as a group/disci­ ovely days. Roger and Shirley Conant, hosts pline, if we cannot apply our understandings tc f the "happening", survived the brief trans­ ourselves. Do we understand self-organization! ormation of their summer homestead into a Then we should be able to bootstrap and self­ onference center. ASC folk from Washington, D.C. organize into a li:vely society. Do we under­ aryland, Virginia, Orono, ME., Chicago (Conant's stand circular causality? Then we should be Lnter home), New Hampshire (Larry Heilprin's able to apply positive feedback to our own op­ nmner home), Boston and Jakarta, Indonesia erations. Do we understand control and commun­ ~arry Clemson's parents) gave the meeting a ications? Then we need to modify the design of Lobal perspective. our own existing channels of communications anc Despite the overall mood of casual raillery, develop new ones to enhance both our internal ~ighty issues were the order of the day. Basic interactions and those wh;ich we have with the ;sumptions, such as the proper role of profess­ external environment. Tf we fail we shall not >nal societies, the unique mission of ASC, and only be an organizational flop, we shall as te desirability and rate of membership expansion practitioners have given a'l!lple evidence that !re on the agenda.
    [Show full text]
  • EMERGY SYNTHESIS 5: Theory and Applications of the Emergy Methodology
    EMERGY SYNTHESIS 5: Theory and Applications of the Emergy Methodology Proceedings from the Fifth Biennial Emergy Conference, Gainesville, Florida Edited by Mark T. Brown University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Managing Editor Sharlynn Sweeney University of Florida Gainesville, Florida Associate Editors Daniel E. Campbell US EPA Narragansett, Rhode Island Shu-Li Huang National Taipei University Taipei, Taiwan Enrique Ortega State University of Campinas Campinas, Brazil Torbjorn Rydberg Centre for Sustainable Agriculture Uppsala, Sweden David Tilley University of Maryland College Park, Maryland Sergio Ulgiati Parthenope University of Napoli Napoli, Italy December 2009 The Center for Environmental Policy Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences University of Florida Gainesville, FL ii 39 A Call to Empower Gaia William Perk and Cornelius Crane ABSTRACT Nature doesn’t use dollars; we need a cosmic accounting system… R. Buckminster Fuller Since the seminal “emergy methodology” of the late H. T. Odum and colleagues essentially meets what Bucky Fuller was insisting is needed, the current issue we intend to address is, “how do we get humanity to accept this “cosmic accounting?” Obviously, participants in this event are prime candidates to help bring this about. We suggest putting the parlous state of our planet, Gaia, at the top of the list of urgent reasons for such a transformed accounting system. Then we propose to use Bucky’s insistence on “new forming, not reforming” to focus on the recapture of the “commons”—by creating appropriate “Trusts” for that purpose—which will utilize emergy and emdollars throughout its activities in behalf of the “commons”. And guiding the activities of such Trusts will be the Fuller Challenge: “To make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” Finally, effective organization of such Trusts will be ensured by the seminal cybernetic management strategies and praxis of the late great Stafford Beer.
    [Show full text]
  • Systemic Innovation and How Can It Be Done Effectively?
    1 Joined–Up INNOVATION WHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE DONE EFFECTIVELY? SYSTEMS INNOVATION DISCUSSION PAPER Geoff Mulgan Charlie Leadbeater January 2013 About Nesta Nesta is the UK’s innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta Operating Company is a registered charity in England and Wales with company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE www.nesta.org.uk © Nesta 2013. CONTENTS WHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE INFluENCED? 4 Joined–UP INNOVATION: wHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE DONE EFFECTIVELY? 5 INTRODUCTION 6 1 BACKGROUND AND DEFINITIONS 6 2 UNDERSTANDING SYSTEMS 10 3 UNDERSTANDING HOW TO CHANGE SYSTEMS 15 4 WHAT CAN YOU DO? 20 ENDNOTES 24 THE SYSTEMS INNOVATOR: WHY succEssFUL INNOVATION GOES BEYOND PRODUCTS 25 AckNOWLEDGEMENTS 26 1 THE ART OF ARRIVING LATE 27 2 THE NEED FOR SYSTEMS INNOVATION 29 3 SCHOOLS, CONTAINERS AND TWEETS 31 4 INFRASTRUCTURES, ALLIANCES AND MOVEMENTS 35 5 THE VARIETY OF SYSTEMS 40 6 LEADING SYSTEMS CHANGE 45 7 THE NEW RULES OF INNOVATION 49 ENDNOTES 54 ANNEX: FURTHER READING 55 4 SYSTEMS INNOVATION WHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE INFluENCED? Introduction Over the past few years there has been growing interest in systemic innovation. We are defining this as an interconnected set of innovations, where each influences the other, with innovation both in the parts of the system and in the ways in which they interconnect.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cybernetic Brain
    THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN SKETCHES OF ANOTHER FUTURE Andrew Pickering THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO AND LONDON ANDREW PICKERING IS PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER. HIS BOOKS INCLUDE CONSTRUCTING QUARKS: A SO- CIOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PARTICLE PHYSICS, THE MANGLE OF PRACTICE: TIME, AGENCY, AND SCIENCE, AND SCIENCE AS PRACTICE AND CULTURE, A L L PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, AND THE MANGLE IN PRAC- TICE: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND BECOMING (COEDITED WITH KEITH GUZIK). THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, LTD., LONDON © 2010 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED 2010 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pickering, Andrew. The cybernetic brain : sketches of another future / Andrew Pickering. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Cybernetics. 2. Cybernetics—History. 3. Brain. 4. Self-organizing systems. I. Title. Q310.P53 2010 003’.5—dc22 2009023367 a THE PAPER USED IN THIS PUBLICATION MEETS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD FOR INFORMATION SCIENCES—PERMA- NENCE OF PAPER FOR PRINTED LIBRARY MATERIALS, ANSI Z39.48-1992. DEDICATION For Jane F. CONTENTS Acknowledgments / ix 1. The Adaptive Brain / 1 2. Ontological Theater / 17 PART 1: PSYCHIATRY TO CYBERNETICS 3.
    [Show full text]
  • The Coherent Architecture of Team Syntegrity ® : From
    THE COHERENT ARCHITECTURE OF TEAM SYNTEGRITY®: FROM SMALL TO MEGA FORMS Truss, J., Cullen, C. and Leonard, A. Team Syntegrity Inc. (TSI), 150 Yonge Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5M 3H4 E-mail: [email protected] Professor Stafford Beer’s book Beyond Dispute: The Invention of Team Syntegrity, (Wiley 1994) describes the invention of a group methodology for dealing with complex issues. Beer applied principles of managerial cybernetics to work out how to achieve high levels of ‘syzygy’ (cooperation and commitment) in groups that are large enough to satisfy issues of requisite variety, and small enough to accomplish something. The result is Syntegration®, a collaborative group process for thirty people that takes five days. In 1992, Team Syntegrity Inc. (TSI) was founded to find viable markets for Syntegration, and to continue the development of the methodology together with Beer. Delving deeply into the underlying geometry of the icosahedron, Joe Truss led the development of a suite of applications of the TS method that remove the constraints of thirty people and five days. Truss showed how the TS method could be used for groups of virtually any size, in sessions lasting from one to many days, without compromising the mathematical integrity of the technique. This paper describes the development of the TS protocols since Beer invented Syntegration and explains how the application of TS architecture and protocols can support viable, connected, self-organizing and truly empowered groups and learning communities. Keywords Syntegration, Management, Cybernetics, Community, Collaboration INTRODUCING TEAM SYNTEGRITY Since 1992, TSI and its growing international network of licensees and practitioners have delivered well over 100 Syntegration® events in many contexts, countries and languages, building on the early experiments and theoretical bases reported by Beer in Beyond Dispute: The Invention of Team Syntegrity (Beer, 1994).
    [Show full text]
  • Stafford Beer's Cybernetic Informatics
    The Science of the Unknowable: Stafford Beer’s Cybernetic Informatics I 29 The Science of the Unknowable: Stafford Beer’s Cybernetic Informatics Andrew Pickering I Abstract tive on information science and information systems, This essay explores the history of Stafford Beer’s work in man- intended to bring out the singularity of the cybernetic agement cybernetics, from his early conception and simulation approach. of an adaptive automatic factory and associated experimenta- From the 1950s on Beer was a remorseless critic of tion in biological computing up to his development of the the ways in which computers were being deployed in Viable System Model of complex organizations and its imple- mentation in Chile. The essay also briefly pursues Beer into the industry, essentially to replace existing paper systems. arenas of politics and spirituality. The aim throughout is to show He felt that this did nothing to change existing organi- that all Beer’s projects can be understood as specific instantiations zational forms and that something more imaginative was and workings out of a cybernetic ontology of unknowability and required. His argument was that the postwar world was becoming: a stance that recognizes that the world can always a new kind of world. Specifically the pace of change had surprise us and that we can never dominate it through knowl- increased markedly since the war, and the important edge. The thrust of Beer’s work was thus to construct informa- tion systems that can adapt performatively
    [Show full text]
  • Abstracts of Plenaries WOSC 2014
    Our self-organising world: from disruption to reparation Systems and cybernetics applied to technology, design, governance and power Keynote Abstracts and Congress Schedule Dear All, WOSC 2014 will offer both strong foci on systemic thinking and on structures for effective policy processes. It is more than 40 years since Fernando Flores invited Stafford Beer to work with the Chilean Government in the implementation of a democratic socialist economy. Beer created Project Cybersyn in the context of Allende’s Chile. In addition to introducing his work to a young generation of local scientists and professionals he made of Norbert Weiner and Ross Ashby familiar names. In parallel to Beer’s work Humberto Maturana was working from the Universidad de Chile, in collaboration with Francisco Varela, the theory of autopoiesis. Heinz von Foerster, father of second order cybernetics, joined them during part of this period. These are all names shaping the contributions to WOSC 2014. Beer’s vision of the early 1970s, particularly his vision of an economy in real-time, has grown in maturity, not only through the extraordinary technological developments of the past four decades but also through the increasing relevance of cybernetics as an applied epistemology to governance. Together with the extraordinary potentials of digital technology in real-time, the epistemologies of systemic embodiment, ecological networks, organisational closure, self-organisation offer new insights and avenues to deal with the driving topic of this Congress: “Our Self- organising World: from disruption to reparation”. This narrative is offered by the following contributions of our keynote speakers. Abstracts for Plenaries 1. Fernando Flores An Encounter with Cybernetics in the Chile of the 1970's: A personal story In the Chile of the early 1970's I had the opportunity to work with Stafford Beer in the Cybersyn project.
    [Show full text]
  • The Science of Service Systems
    Janie Chroust, 2010 International Federation For Systems Research “Systems for Education, Engineering, Service and Sustainability” Proceedings of the Fifteenth IFSR Conversation G. Chroust, G. Metcalf (eds.) April 10 - April 15, 2010 Kloster Pernegg (Austria) SEA-Publications: SEA-SR-28 Institute for Systems Engineering and Automation Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria [email protected] August 2010 ISBN 3-902457-28-8 2 Impressum Schriftenreihe: SEA-Publications of the Institute for Systems Engineering and Automation J. Kepler University Linz Systems for Education, Engineering, Service and Sustainability - Proceedings of the Fifteenth Fuschl Conversation G. Chroust, G. Metcalf (editors) April 10 - April 15, 2010 Kloster Pernegg (Austria) Printing sponsored by the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR) © 2010 International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR) (except where stated differently) Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Printed: WLK Druck, A-2340 Mödling, Austria ISBN 3-902457-28-8 Institute for Systems Engineering and Automation www.sea.uni-linz.ac.at 3 Welcome to the IFSR Conversation 2010! .............................................................. 5 Looking back at Pernegg 2010 ...............................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Building a Decentralized Global Political Economy
    A SYSTEM THAT WORKS: BUILDING A DECENTRALIZED GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY USING THE VIABLE SYSTEM MODEL Jon Li Institute for Public Science & Art 1075 Olive Drive #4, Davis CA USA, 530-753-0352, [email protected] ABSTRACT A political economy that enhances personal freedom requires effective but limited regulation. The Viable System Model by Stafford Beer offers a way to analyze an organization’s communication problems, maximize resource use, minimize waste, and adapt to a changing environment by clarifying what to regulate. Jon Walker’s “VSM Quick Guide” and Allenna Leonard’s “Personal VSM” ground the reader. VSM is applied to a community of 65,000 people in Davis, California, USA, in a way that could be used in other places around the world, to help identify strategies to better meet human needs, enhance the local economy, reduce environmental damage, and encourage natural healing processes. Given the recursive nature of the VSM, this method could be used at every level from person to family/neighborhood/village/community/ district/ region/ state/nation/continent/planet, emphasizing the system in focus. “National Government: disseminated regulation in real time, or ‘How to run a country’” by Stafford Beer describes how to construct “quantified flow charts” to identify which statistics to measure daily as regulation at a particular level of recursion. REDEFINING THE SOCIAL CONTRACT When someone says “bureaucracy,” you probably think – delay, confusion, even obstruction. What if we could eliminate MOST of the organizational confusion – just disappear it – along with half the bureaucracy itself? THAT is the claim of this paper: A 1950s British scientific discovery that precipitates a complete revolution in social science as we know it.
    [Show full text]