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Home , Heinz von Foerster, Ranulph Glanville, Stuart Umpleby

J Syst Sci Syst Eng ISSN: 1004-3756 (Paper) 1861-9576 (Online) DOI: 10.1007/s11518-017-5332-x CN11-2983/N

SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS FOR SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS

Stuart Umpleby Department of Management, School of Business, George Washington University, USA [email protected] ()

“The logic of the world is the logic of descriptions of the world.” --

Abstract The sciences and emerged in the years after World War II. These fields created many new approaches to engineering and management and contributed new ideas to existing academic fields. The new fields also identified similar concepts across a range of fields and began to create a general theory of systems. In addition the systems sciences created a variety of methods for managing complex systems, for example logistics, and computer simulations. In the 1970s there was concern about population and environment balance. Currently there is increasing concern with governance, since the rate of presentation of problems seems to be greater than the ability of our institutions to manage them. This paper will discuss the history of and cybernetics, the questions formulated and the solutions proposed, the difficulties encountered in finding a home within contemporary universities and some exciting lines of research now underway. Keywords: General , cybernetics, , complexity,

1. Introduction epistemology (how we know what exists) and In order to explain the various points of view of science (our conceptions about in systems science and cybernetics, I shall how to create scientific theories). present descriptions on three levels: The first People create scientific theories because they level, on the bottom, is the world we want to want to understand the world and because they describe: technology, population, pollution, want to be more effective in achieving their climate change, diseases, inequality. The second purposes. Theories are helpful because they are level, above the first, is science, which we use to parsimonious, meaning they explain a large organize our knowledge of the world: , number of phenomena with a small number of chemistry, , economics, psychology and statements. Heinz von Foerster once said that systems science. The third level, above the science is the observer’s digest. If people are second, is philosophy: ontology (what exists), having difficulty solving problems (at level 1), it

Systems Engineering Society of China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems 2 J Syst Sci Syst Eng may be because they have insufficient knowledge stream of new information technology, (level 2) or it may be because their rules for increasingly managers are confronted with the creating knowledge need to be modified (level 3). need to change work processes. They need We usually assume that systemic problems methods for communication and exist in the world and that systemic solutions decision-making that help people work together come from science. But some systemic problems smoothly. may lie in our conception of science. Perhaps we The effort to create theories of purposeful have trouble finding systemic solutions because systems has revealed differences in the our conception of science is too narrow or too conception of science in the U.S. and Europe. limited. In this paper about finding systemic American and European scientists usually solutions to systemic problems, sometimes I shall assume that their conceptions of science are the be describing problems in the world (level 1). same. However, in Europe the sciences are Sometimes I shall be describing changes in thought to have grown out of philosophy. For science (level 2). And sometimes I shall be example, Adam Smith (1776), who founded the describing a change in our thinking about what field of economics with his book The Wealth of science is and how to practice it (level 3). Nations, was a professor of moral philosophy. Lately scientists in the U.S. and Europe have In Europe there are several philosophical been rethinking the conception of science. traditions, for example French rationalism, Thinking about may seem German idealism, and British empiricism. In the to be far removed from systemic problems like U.S. philosophy is seen as one of the humanities reducing pollution or increasing per capita and is not usually regarded as essential to an income or preventing climate change. Why understanding of science. Among most scientists should we pay attention to philosophy? and engineers in the U.S. a philosophy of realism Although the current conception of science has is assumed to be the only correct point of view. worked well in solving problems in the natural Realism is the belief that objects are independent world, as attention has shifted to social systems of the human mind or language or our observing and purposeful systems in general – individuals, them and the faith that this view is correct. groups, organizations, nations, and some Idealism is the belief that ideas are primary, not machines – the earlier conception of science has the world, because we have immediate access to proved to be too limited. the ideas in our minds. The world, on the other Early methods in systems science often used hand, we know through our senses, which can be and computers. The emphasis was mistaken. For example, we sometimes see a “lake” on lowering costs and optimizing processes. on a road in the summer time. Constructivism, Later work often focused on understanding the belief that the mind constructs an image of the stability and instability in complex systems world on the basis of experiences and (Umpleby 2010) or on group facilitation methods interpretations, is closer to idealism than realism. for achieving agreement on appropriate actions Because they have more education in philosophy, (Umpleby 2015). Partly because of a steady Europeans often approach a scientific problem Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems J Syst Sci Syst Eng 3 with a larger set of conceptual possibilities than as a whole. The global financial is do Americans. largely unregulated. And, as illustrated by the recent financial crisis, there are inadequate 2. Some Current Systemic Problems theories and monitoring of economic and social In the 1960s and 1970s there was increased systems. interest among academics from many countries Solutions have been proposed to many of in the “world problematique” – population, these problems. There are efforts to capture or resource depletion, food production, industrial store carbon to slow or prevent climate change. development, and pollution (Boulding 1964, Educating women has been shown to improve Meadows et al. 1972). These are problems at the health and education of families, to reduce level 1. In October 2015 these topics were the number of children and to increase family discussed at a Conference on Energy, incomes. Process improvement methods Environment and Commercial Civilization held increase the productivity of organizations. There in Chengdu, China. The primary concern are efforts to increase recycling and to treat continues to be that the current use of resources wastes as resources. Individuals, businesses and is greater than what is sustainable in the long governments are adopting these solutions and term. Ocean acidification, loss of top soil and new businesses are being created to spread the species extinctions are just some of the signs use of new solutions. that human actions are reducing the carrying The financial system is also being redesigned. capacity of the Earth. And since burning fossil Some recommendations are a tax on financial fuels contributes to climate change, the sea level transactions to fund bank regulation and/or is expected to rise by a meter or more by the end international development projects. Banks that of this century. Protection of coastal cities will are so big that the government could not allow be required (sealevel.climatecentral.org). them to fail, else the economy would collapse, The challenges of economic development could be broken up. Rather than taxing labor, the within the context of environmental use of resources could be taxed, thus uncertainties, is putting new stress on encouraging jobs and recycling. Economic government structures and processes. The theory could be modified from a presumption of number of failed states is growing (Brown 2003, stability to a presumption of instability due to 2011). Failed states are countries where the loops, sometimes called government is not operating well enough to “animal spirits.” There are a few websites that insure the safety of citizens. There are, list solutions: The Alliance for Sustainability and increasingly, religious wars. Migration to avoid Prosperity, www.asap4all.com; the Club of violence and governmental instability has Rome, www.clubofrome.org. affected several countries. There is increasing Of course, implementing solutions is much inequality in incomes and wealth in some more difficult than inventing them. Any change countries (Pikety 2014). Weak governments are in the existing pattern of social relationships will present in many countries, regions and the world encounter some opposition. And powerful Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems 4 J Syst Sci Syst Eng interest groups usually act to enhance, not shared on-line. simply preserve, their privileged positions. The number of universities is growing and Perhaps the most challenging systemic problem their quality is improving. Our ability to manage is maintaining an innovative society with a fair our societies and the planet is improving. The distribution of wealth in the presence of question is whether we are learning fast enough powerful groups that seek additional advantages in order to solve problems before they cause for themselves. substantial disruption, for example through the A variety of obstacles prevent the forced migration of large numbers of people due implementation of helpful actions. Sometimes to sea level rise. Are our institutions keeping the problem is not having a solution, for pace with new problems by devising and example a vaccine against an infectious disease. implementing new solutions? Sometimes the problem is insufficient resources such as not having enough doctors and health 3. Branches of Systems Science clinics to meet the need. Really large problems, In the years after World War II several such as climate change, require a shift to more centers or institutes in systems science were sustainable sources of energy and major changes established on university campuses in the U.S. by many organizations. and in other countries. Each center was guided Fortunately, there is now a widespread by one or a few faculty members who had a recognition of the need to improve the particular interest and devised unique solutions sustainability of human civilization. We no in the form of theories or methods. Eric Dent has longer assume that the human population can pointed out that a set of eight assumptions continue to grow indefinitely on a finite planet. distinguish the work of these centers from We no longer assume that air and water are so earlier disciplines (Dent and Umpleby 1998). abundant they are “free goods.” An increasing There was a move a) from reductionism to number of people no longer think that economic holism; b) from entities to relationships, c) from systems are self-regulating and require no environment free descriptions to including the government oversight. There is now a more environment; d) from order that is designed to scientific approach to societal improvement. order that occurs automatically through Rather than seeking to implement a political self-organization; e) from deterministic to ideology, governments increasingly adopt probabilistic systems; f) from systems composed strategies of “piecemeal social engineering,” of inanimate objects to systems composed of treating reforms as experiments, and continuing knowing subjects; g) from linear causality to successful programs while ending unsuccessful circular causality; and h) from not paying ones (Campbell 1988). Inventing and testing attention to the observer to including attention to reform proposals is increasingly done by the observer (the scientist). corporations, governments, and international These eight assumptions are important for organizations. Results of experiments are two reasons. First, they show how the systems discussed at policy meetings, and reports are sciences are different from earlier schools of Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems J Syst Sci Syst Eng 5 thought. Second, they help us to understand why development. was a leading the systems sciences did not come together as a contributor to game theory (1960). General unified field: different research centers had Systems, the annual yearbook of the Society for different concerns. In addition to working with General Systems Research, was edited by different assumptions, the groups had different Rapoport at MHRI for several years. goals (Umpleby and Dent 1999). They were The Systems Approach was developed asking different questions, so they created originally at the University of Pennsylvania. different theories. I shall describe several of Key scholars were E.A. Singer, Jr. (1923, 1924), these groups to indicate the key authors and their C. West Churchman (1968) and Russell Ackoff primary interests. (1972, 1978). The early work founded the field The General Systems Theory movement, of operations research. Later they developed initiated by (1968), was conversational methods, such as Ackoff’s based, in the U.S., primarily at the Mental Interactive Planning (1981). A key idea in the Health Research Institute (MHRI) at the systems approach is that optimizing each part of University of Michigan. It was a very a system independently will not lead to a system interdisciplinary group. The director of MHRI, optimum, and attempting to optimize each part James G. Miller, looked for similarities among will probably worsen the performance of the and organizations in their whole (Churchman 1968). This work was widely matter-energy and information processes. He known in the field of management in the 1970s, identified several levels of living systems – cell, 1980s, and 1990s. A very important but less organ, organism, group, organization, nation and well-known part of their work is that both Singer supranational system, and he suggested that in (1923, 1924) and Churchman (1971) described every living system similar structures and various philosophical perspectives. This work processes could be found (Miller 1978). For greatly expands the conceptual approaches one matter–energy the processors are: ingestor, can use in analyzing systems. distributor, converter, producer, storage, extruder, Organizational Learning was a field motor, and supporter. The processors of developed primarily at Harvard University and information are: input transducer, internal MIT. It was influenced by the work of Ross transducer, channel and net, decoder, associator, Ashby (1952) and (1972). , decider, encoder, and output transducer. Chris Argyris (1985, 1993, 1999), Donald Schon There were several other well-known scholars at (1973, 1985, 1987, 1994) and later MHRI. Kenneth Boulding (1978) described the (1990) were leaders. This work was guided by similarity between biological evolution and the an analogy between individual learning and evolution of social and economic systems. organizational learning. Their ideas were based John Platt (1966, 1970) wrote a series of essays primarily in psychology. The work on on the contributions of science and technology organizational learning has been influential in to human development. Richard L. Meier (1962, management and education. 1974) examined the role of cities in economic Quality Improvement Methods were Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems 6 J Syst Sci Syst Eng developed in the U.S. in the 1930s. They were communications and complex systems, taken to Japan in 1950 and then were influential multi-disciplinary fields have had difficulty again in the U.S. after 1980 (Walton 1986). establishing themselves in universities in the Walter Shewhart (1931, 1939), Edwards Deming US. (1986, 2000), and Joseph Juran (1951, 1964) In the 1980s and 1990s almost all the were leaders in developing these methods which university centers and institutes devoted to became the most influential management systems science closed when their founders methods of the last half of the 20th century. retired and died. Many of the founders were The idea was to use statistics in monitoring scholars from Europe who had come to the U.S. processes so managers would know when to before, during, or after World War II. They had a intervene and when not to. The procedure for more theoretical and philosophical approach to making improvements is to define a process, research than did the practice-oriented brainstorm improvements, select one idea and Americans (Umpleby 2005). Some of the ideas test it, either adopt and further test it or discard it from systems science and cybernetics continue and then test another improvement idea. This to be present on university campuses in a wide method is widely taught in corporate training range of fields – engineering, psychology, programs, but less often in universities. It is management, and literature to name a few. puzzling why these methods are not the But systems science as a subject itself for foundation for all of management education in university courses largely disappeared in the U.S. universities. Probably the reason is that no field during this period. However, journals in the field in management, except perhaps project prospered and even grew as a result of articles management, takes ownership of these methods submitted by people who were teaching in a and many fields feel threatened by them. wide range of fields, but writing about systems , a method of analysis and science. computer simulation, was developed at MIT by Jay Forrester. His books Industrial Dynamics 4. Complex Systems (1961), Urban Dynamics (1969), and World A more recent research group is the Santa Fe Dynamics (1973) were all very influential. Institute in New Mexico, founded in 1984 Currently there is an effort to teach system (Waldrop 1992). Their interest is primarily in dynamics in grade schools and high schools. developing mathematical and simulation Positive and diagrams are a methods with some interest in theory and widely used systems method for identifying philosophy as well (Arthur 2014, Holland 1995, stable and unstable systems. Kauffman 1995). Agent-based modelling is a The fields of systems science have not yet new simulation method developed by this group come together as a well-integrated whole, (Hamill and Gilbert 2016). A few people have primarily because they have lacked a continuing had contact with more than one group – systems presence on university campuses. Other than the science, cybernetics, or complex systems -- but fields of systems engineering, cognitive studies, on the whole the three fields have developed Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems J Syst Sci Syst Eng 7 independently with their own journals and The shorter name of “cybernetics” was adopted associations. There is more communication after ’s book was published in between systems science and cybernetics than 1948. between either of those groups and complex Gregory Bateson (1972, 2002) and Margaret systems. Probably due to the absence of Mead (1964, 1967), two influential members of academic programs in the field, the research that the , thought that the new ideas uses the name “complex systems” has been slow of feedback and circular processes would help the to discover the earlier work. And the fields of social sciences to advance by using ideas and systems science and cybernetics have been slow methods being developed by philosophers, to adopt the methods developed in complex biologists, physical scientists and engineers systems. Each group rarely cites the work of the (Kline 2015). other two groups. The methods developed in the McCulloch, Rosenblueth, Maturana, and von field of complex systems have functioned as if Forester wanted to understand . The they are contributions to statistics and computer intent was to test available theories of knowledge simulation. from philosophy by studying the operation of the The original motive for developing the , hence, test using systems sciences and cybernetics was not just science. McCulloch called this work problem solving. There was also a search for “experimental epistemology.” They sought to general theories of living systems, of purposeful test various theories of knowledge from systems, and of cognition. In addition there was philosophy using neurophysiological the desire to develop the social sciences. I shall experiments (McCulloch 1965, Foerster 2003). now describe the history of cybernetics since Cyberneticians have tried to create a common World War II. foundation for the social sciences by focusing on circular causal and feedback mechanisms 5. A History of Cybernetics initially and later by emphasizing perception, The field of cybernetics is one of the systems cognition, knowledge, autonomy and sciences, but its development in the U.S. has had understanding. In recent years there has been an independent trajectory because it has increased attention to reflexivity. Vladimir developed an alternative epistemology. Lefebvre has created a theory of human reflexion Following World War II there was excitement that includes two systems of ethical cognition about the utility of applied science and numerous (1977, 1982). George Soros’s theory of academics wanted to discuss their wartime reflexivity connects cybernetics to economics experiences. One example was the Josiah Macy, and finance. He notes that people not only Jr. Foundation conferences in New York City, observe, they also act and participate (Soros 1987, 1946-1953. They were chaired by Warren 2014). McCulloch (Pias 2003). The title of the There were other schools of thought within conferences was “Circular Causal and Feedback the field of cybernetics. (1975a, Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems.” 1975b), who was based in the UK, created Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems 8 J Syst Sci Syst Eng conversation theory. He worked on developing enable individuals to create and maintain prototypes for teaching machines. However, his themselves psychologically. teaching machine would not just pose problems , a management consultant and and grade answers. The machine would also friend of McCulloch, Ashby, Pask and Maturana, build a model of each student – what the student created a model of an organization based on the knew already and what the student’s learning structure of the human nervous system. He called style was. Pask’s student , it the Viable System Model (1972, 1979, 1985). when he was president of the American Society Beer used this model in his consulting work with for Cybernetics from 2008 to 2014, connected the business and government organizations (Madina fields of cybernetics and design (2014). Paul 2011). Raul Espejo (1989, 1996, 2011), Markus Pangaro (2016), another former student of Pask, Schwaninger (2008) and others have extended spent some time at the MIT Media Lab and has Beer’s work. designed interactive museum exhibits. The key difference between systems science (1975, 1978, 1992) and and cybernetics lies in the treatment of Fransicso Varela (1991, 1999) worked on the information, the conception of knowledge and question, What is life? They answered by the choice of epistemology. People in systems inventing the terms allopoiesis (other production) science have sometimes used a transportation and autopoiesis (self-production). These terms analogy for information. That is, they see a can be illustrated using the analogy of a business message as being like a train that enters a station. firm, such as the Ford Motor Co. We could say Cars or words or ideas are moved around, some that a customer views Ford as an allopoietic are stored and then a new message or train leaves system. It produces something other than itself, the station. Cyberneticians have taken a more namely automobiles. However, the managers of philosophical approach to information. They Ford are most concerned with maintaining the have focused on meaning in addition to signaling company as a viable system. They must hire, and autonomy in addition to knowing. These train, and supervise employees, purchase raw additional reflections on information enable the materials, schedule production, find customers solving of deeper problems and call attention to and deliver cars to them. The Ford Motor Co. is ethics. an autopoietic system in that it produces and maintains itself through its structures and 6. Neurobiology and Epistemology processes. Maturana and Varela created the term Studying the brain to understand processes “autopoiesis” to describe the functioning of a involving information and regulation began at biological organism (1975, 1978, 1992). An MIT in the work of McCulloch, Wiener, organism must maintain itself as a viable entity Rosenblueth, Maturana, and others from the through a set of structures and processes which 1940s to the 1960s. The theoretical and function to create and maintain those structures philosophical work on cybernetics at MIT largely and processes. Similarly, cognitive processes, ended when McCulloch and Wiener both died in such as the development of self-confidence, the 1960s. Thereafter work on the biology of Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems J Syst Sci Syst Eng 9 cognition and philosophical cybernetics waves from all three conversations, and others, continued at the Biological Computer Laboratory were impinging on your ears, you could focus on (BCL) at the University of Illinois in each conversation, probably without turning your Urbana-Champaign. The director of BCL was head. Hence, you were able to control the Heinz von Foerster. Other scholars were Ross attention of the brain even if you did not know Ashby (1956) and Gotthard Gunther (1978). how you did it. Frequent visitors were Humberto Maturana 3. When you look at a person standing in front (1975, 1978, 1992), (1991, of you, simply due to optics, that person’s head is 1999) and Gordon Pask. at the bottom of your retina and the feet are at the If one is interested in systemic solutions to top of your retina. But you perceive the person as systemic problems, why study the brain? being “right side up.” Your brain has experience Abraham Lincoln once said (approximately), moving in the world and creates an appropriate “If I have 3 hours to cut down a tree, I’ll spend image. the first 2 hours sharpening the blade.” The brain 4. A common experiment in introductory is the principal tool that we use to solve problems. psychology classes is the blind spot experiment. If we do not know how it works, we shall not be Make two spots on a sheet of paper. Close your very good at using it. And if our conception of left eye and focus your right eye on the spot on how the brain works changes, our approach to the left. Now move the piece of paper slowly research, education and ethics may change as close to your eye and farther away. There will well (Foerster 2003). come a time when the image on the right Here are some examples of how the nervous disappears. This happens because there are no system works. receptor cells in the retina at the point where the 1. When you listen to a speech given by a optic nerve leaves the retina. There is a lack of person who speaks your language with an accent, sensation at that point. Since the surrounding area you may find that you have to listen very is white, the brain fills in the space with the color carefully in the beginning to understand what is that surrounds it. being said. After 10 or 15 minutes of listening 5. Put your fingers below your eyeballs and closely, you may find that you are not working as gently move your eyeballs within your head. If hard to understand. You brain has learned an you do this correctly, you will see the room jump algorithm which makes it easier for you to around in front of you. Using signals from your understand. eyes and from your muscles, your brain normally 2. When you enter a cocktail party, there are “computes a stable reality.” Moving the eyes many conversations you could join. You could relative to the head disrupts the normally stable join the conversation in front of you, to the left of reference frame. you or to the right of you. Probably you have had These and similar experiments illustrate that the experience that you can listen to each the brain helps us in many ways that we are not conversation for a few minutes and then decide aware of. The brain “constructs a reality” based which conversation to join. Although the sound on many sensory inputs. Since people have Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems 10 J Syst Sci Syst Eng different experiences – language, home life, focused on the biology of cognition and could be culture, religion, academic training, and job called biological cybernetics. experiences – each person’s “reality” is in some Table 1 Definitions of first and second order respects unique, though our knowledge of the cybernetics physical and social world has many common First Order Second Order features. Author Cybernetics Cybernetics These and many more neurophysiological Von Foerster The cybernetics The cybernetics experiments provide the biological foundation of observed of observing for second order cybernetics (Forester 1973). systems systems The experiments are important for philosophy of Pask The purpose of The purpose of science because they show that “observations a model a modeler independent of the characteristics of the observer” Varela Controlled Autonomous are not physically possible. The idea that systems systems descriptions can be independent of an observer Umpleby Interaction Interaction can be regarded as a hypothesis that has been among the between tested by experiment and disproven. This is quite variables in a observer and system observed a different view from what is assumed in a realist Umpleby Theories of Theories of the philosophy of science. As Maturana and von social systems interaction Foerster have pointed out, “Every statement between ideas made is made by an observer to an observer.” and society Our experiences are interpreted using conclusions we have drawn from earlier In 1956 there had been a split between those experiences. interested in cybernetics, learning and cognition In 1974 Heinz von Foerster proposed the term and those interested in , who “second order cybernetics” as a new wanted to build machines and write computer development in cybernetics that would focus on programs. Those who were interested in including the observer in scientific research management and sociology constituted a third (Foerster 1979). Several definitions of first and group who worked on social cybernetics. When second order cybernetics were proposed in the the observer is included in the work on social 1970s and 1980s. See Table 1. cybernetics, that field can also be considered part By the 1990s the field of cybernetics had of second order cybernetics. See Table 2. generated three areas of interest - engineering, These three points of view (engineering the biology of cognition and management of cybernetics, biological cybernetics and social social systems. The early work in cybernetics cybernetics) taken together constitute an guided work in engineering, including computer expansion of science, because the observer, both science and systems engineering. The early biologically and socially, was taken into interpretation of second order cybernetics consideration. Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems J Syst Sci Syst Eng 11

Table 2 Three versions of Cybernetics Biological Cybernetics Social Cybernetics The view of epistemology A realist view of A biological view of A pragmatic view of epistemology: knowledge epistemology: how the epistemology: knowledge is a “picture” of reality brain functions is constructed to achieve human purposes A key distinction Reality vs. scientific Realism vs. The biology of cognition theories constructivism vs. the observer as a social participant The puzzle to be solved Construct theories which Include the observer Explain the relationship explain observed within the domain of between the natural and phenomena science the social sciences What must be explained How the world works How an individual How people create, constructs a “reality” maintain, and change social systems through language and ideas A key assumption Natural processes can be Ideas about knowledge Ideas are accepted if they explained by scientific should be rooted in serve the observer’s theories purposes as a social participant An important Scientific knowledge can If people accept By transforming consequence be used to modify natural constructivism, they will conceptual systems processes to benefit be more tolerant (through persuasion, not people coercion), we can change society

One way to understand these three varieties of represents a realist view of science and also first cybernetics is to view them in relation to the order cybernetics. In this epistemology the they use. Karl Popper (1978) “observer” is excluded from discussion. The goal suggested that there are three “worlds.” World 1 is to create unbiased or objective descriptions by is the world that we observe. See Figure 1. World eliminating any influence of the observer on 2 is the ideas in the mind of an observer. World 3 descriptions. The bottom of the triangle is the descriptions of the world that are presented connecting an observer and a description in scientific articles and are stored in libraries. represents biological cybernetics or an early In Figure 1 the three sides of the triangle version of second order cybernetics. In this correspond to three epistemologies and also three epistemology the “world” is deemphasized, since emphases in the history of cybernetics – an image of the world is present in the mind of an engineering cybernetics, biological cybernetics, observer, based on his or her experiences and in- and social cybernetics. The left side of the terpretations. Referring not to the world but triangle connecting “world” and “description” rather to perceptions of the world is thought to be Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems 12 J Syst Sci Syst Eng more accurate. possible. Social cybernetics, which emphasizes the One way to understand how cybernetics has relationship between an observer and the world, contributed to the expansion of science is to is a third conception of knowledge. Observers of consider the Correspondence Principle. The social systems, such as managers of firms, are Correspondence Principle was proposed by aware of their role as actors in social systems but Niels Bohr during the development of the often do not think in terms of theories or quantum theory (Bohr 1913, Krajewski 1977). philosophies. They usually prefer procedural It states: any new theory should reduce to the rules or methods (Umpleby 2002). Hence, the old theory to which it corresponds for those third epistemology deemphasizes descriptions. cases in which the old theory is known to hold. The emphasis is on methods to guide actions in In other words a new dimension is added that the world. previously was not considered or was thought to be insignificant. All the data that was consistent with the old theory is also consistent with the new theory.

Figure 1 Popper’s three worlds Figure 2 An example of the correspondence principle

The classical approach to science would be If a new dimension is added to a scientific the left side of the triangle. Originally second field, it expands the field. The problems the field order cybernetics was associated with biological can address increase and knowledge can then cybernetics, the bottom of the triangle. More increase. Second order cybernetics, which recently second order cybernetics has meant the suggested that the observer be added to what is whole triangle, that is, it includes both the observed, expanded the field of cybernetics in the biological and the social aspects of observation. mid-1970s. Work to develop the implications of Second order cybernetics thus constitutes a this idea continues (Foerster 2014, Riegler and theory of epistemologies. The three Mueller 2016). epistemologies are different in that they focus on For several decades social scientists have different aspects of knowledge. Second order tried to imitate the physical sciences. Physics was cybernetics can be seen not as a competitor to regarded as the leading example of how to do realism but as an alternative view of knowledge science. In cybernetics the intent is to expand that unites three epistemologies – realism, science so the physical sciences become a special constructivism and (Umpleby 2007). case of a larger conception of science that By considering the purposes of all three aspects includes purposeful systems. Studies of of knowledge, more holistic descriptions are Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems J Syst Sci Syst Eng 13 inanimate objects become a special case science is to reflect on basic assumptions and (Umpleby 2014). occasionally add a new dimension to our conception of science (Umpleby 2014). A third 7. Current Work on Reconceptualiz- approach to reconceptualizing science is to study ing Science how scientific ideas change social processes as Two trajectories for advancing second order they are translated into action by purposeful cybernetics have been the work on cybernetics systems (Umpleby 2015). and design (Glanville 2014) and the work on Philosophers of science usually neglect this second order science (Riegler and Mueller 2014). last approach. They place the scientist outside the Recently there have been several efforts to system observed. But adding the observer to what reconceptualize science. Ben Shneiderman (2008) is observed places the observer within the defined science 2.0 as the result of how science is observed system. This point of view is changing in response to the internet. An Office on particularly relevant for social systems. People in Science of Science and Innovation Policy was social systems both observe and participate created in the U.S. National Science Foundation a (Soros 1987, 2014). The decisions people make few years ago to improve our understanding of change the way that social systems operate. how science contributes to society. A meeting on These various points of view of science 2.0, the Science of Science was held at the Library of science of science, and second order science are Congress in Washington, DC, in April 2016. It bringing about a wide-ranging reconsideration of focused primarily on citation analysis as a our conception of science. In recent years the method for understanding the scientific process. people working on cybernetics no longer seek to There was also concern about the lack of use the physical sciences to guide the social reproducibility of results in fields like medicine sciences, rather they are working to expand the (Ioannidis 2005). conception of science so that it more adequately Karl Mueller’s approach to second order encompasses the social sciences. There are two science is to note that there are now three levels assumptions that scientists currently make that of scientific activity (Mueller 2016). Zero order need to be altered if the social sciences are to be science is concerned with science infrastructures, successful (Umpleby 2014). such as libraries, , telescopes, particle First, in classical science (not including accelerators and satellites. The amount and cost quantum mechanics and relativity theory) the of this equipment has grown dramatically in observer can be excluded. This choice is made recent decades, stimulated in part by the need to because scientists are trying to be objective, and monitor climate change. First order science for they assume that if an experiment is done Mueller is the way most science is done now. correctly, all observers will see the same things. Second order science would operate not on data But in social systems the observer matters. A directly but rather on scientific reports. It is message is interpreted differently depending on similar to meta-analysis (Mueller 2014). who says it and who hears it. Furthermore, A second approach to reconceptualizing complexity is observer dependent. What is Umpleby: Systemic Solutions for Systemic Problems 14 J Syst Sci Syst Eng complex for one person may be simple for Acknowledgements another person and vice versa. During its preparation this article was Second, in classical science theories do not discussed with Karl H. Mueller, who offered alter the system observed. 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the human uncertainty principle. Journal of View from Within: First-Person Approaches Economic Methodology, 20(4): 309-329. to the Study of Consciousness. Imprint [86] Umpleby, S.A. (2002). Should knowledge of Academic, Thorverton. management be organized as theories or as [95] Varela, F.J. (1999). Ethical Know-How; methods? Janus Head, 5(1):181-195. Action, Wisdom, and Cognition. Stanford [87] Umpleby, S.A. (2005). A brief history of University Press, Stanford, CA. cybernetics in the . Journal of [96] Waldrop, M.M. (1992). Complexity: The the Washington Academy of Sciences, 91(2): Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and 54-66. Chaos. Simon and Schuster, New York. [88] Umpleby, S.A. (2007). Unifying [97] Walton, M. (1986). The Deming epistemologies by combining world, Management Method. Perigee, New York. description and observer. Paper presented [98] Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics, or Control at the Annual meeting of the American and Communication in the Animal and the Society for Cybernetics, Urbana, IL, 29 Machine. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. March - 1 April 2007. [89] Umpleby, S.A & Dent, E.B. (1999). The is Professor Emeritus in the origins and purposes of several traditions in Department of Management in the School of systems theory and cybernetics. Cybernetics Business at George Washington University in and Systems, 30(2): 79-103. Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor’s [90] Umpleby, S.A. (2010). The financial crisis: degree in engineering, bachelor’s and master’s how social scientists need to change their degrees in political science and a PhD in thinking. Paper prepared for the Annual Communications from the University of Illinois meeting of the Academy of Management, in Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), IL. While at Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 6-8 August 2010. UIUC he worked with Heinz von Foerster and [91] Umpleby, S.A. (2014). Second-order science: others in the Biological Computer Laboratory. logic, strategies, methods. Constructivist Since 1975 he has been a professor in the Foundations, 10(1): 16-23. Department of Management at George [92] Umpleby, S.A. (2015). A global strategy for Washington University. For twenty years he human development: an example of second directed the Research Program in Social and order science. Paper presented at the Annual Organizational Learning. He is a past president meeting of the International Society for the of the American Society for Cybernetics and Systems Sciences, Berlin, Germany, 2-7 Associate Editor of the journal Cybernetics and August 2015. Systems. He received the Norbert Wiener award [93] Varela, F.J., Thompson, E. & Rosch, E. from the American Society for Cybernetics. (1991). The Embodied Mind. Cognitive He is now serving as president of the executive Science and Human Experience. The MIT committee of the International Academy for Press, Cambridge. Systems and Cybernetic Sciences. His website is: [94] Varela, F.J. & Shear, J. (eds.) (1999). The http://blogs.gwu.edu/umpleby.