Consilience – Wikipedia

Consilience – Wikipedia

Consilience

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigationJump to searchFor other uses, see Consilience (disambiguation).

In science and historyconsilience (also convergence of evidence or concordance of evidence) is the principle that evidence from independent, unrelated sources can “converge” on strong conclusions. That is, when multiple sources of evidence are in agreement, the conclusion can be very strong even when none of the individual sources of evidence is significantly so on its own. Most established scientific knowledge is supported by a convergence of evidence: if not, the evidence is comparatively weak, and there will not likely be a strong scientific consensus.

The principle is based on the unity of knowledge; measuring the same result by several different methods should lead to the same answer. For example, it should not matter whether one measures the distance between the Giza pyramid complex by laser rangefinding, by satellite imaging, or with a meter stick – in all three cases, the answer should be approximately the same. For the same reason, different dating methods in geochronology should concur, a result in chemistry should not contradict a result in geology, etc.

The word consilience was originally coined as the phrase “consilience of inductions” by William Whewell (consilience refers to a “jumping together” of knowledge).[1][2] The word comes from Latin com- “together” and -siliens “jumping” (as in resilience).[3]

source:

Consilience – Wikipedia

Ontological Designing: Design Philosophy Papers: Vol 4, No 2 – Willis (2015)

Original Articles Ontological Designing Anne-Marie Willis Pages 69-92 | Published online: 29 Apr 2015 Download citation https://doi.org/10.2752/144871306X13966268131514

Ontological Designing: Design Philosophy Papers: Vol 4, No 2

available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272139246_Ontological_Designing

h/t @daviding

What’s Hysteresis?

An important concept in systems, and also ‘post-pandemic’

What’s Hysteresis?

What’s Hysteresis?

Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary tells us:hys-ter-e-sis:n [NL, fr. Gk hysteresis shortcoming, fr. hysterein to be late, fall short, fr. hysteros later]

a retardation of the effect when the forces acting upon a body are changed (as if from viscosity or internal friction); esp: a lagging in the values of resulting magnetization in a magnetic material (as iron) due to a changing magnetizing force. –hys-ter-et-ic adjThere seems to be no etymological link between hysteresis and either hysterical (fr. L hystericus of the womb) or history (fr. Gk, inquiry, history, fr. histor, istor knowing, learned). This is too bad, as there are scientific connections to both words. (There is no link, scientific or etymological, to histolysis, the breakdown of bodily tissues, or to blood.)

Hysteresis represent the history dependence of physical systems. If you push on something, it will yield: when you release, does it spring back completely? If it doesn’t, it is exhibiting hysteresis, in some broad sense. The term is most commonly applied, as Webster implies, to magnetic materials: as the external field with the signal from the microphone is turned off, the little magnetic domains in the tape don’t return to their original configuration (by design, otherwise your record of the music would disappear!) Hysteresis happens in lots of other systems: if you place a large force on your fork while cutting a tough piece of meat, it doesn’t always return to its original shape: the shape of the fork depends on its history.

source:

What’s Hysteresis?

Gordon Pask – Wikipedia

Some really interesting references in here, particularly ‘interactions of actors theory’

Gordon Pask – Wikipedia

Gordon Pask

Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask (28 June 1928 – 29 March 1996) was an English authorinventor, educational theorist, cybernetician and psychologist who made significant contributions to cyberneticsinstructional psychology, experimental epistemology and educational technology. Pask first learned about cybernetics in the early 1950s when the originator of the subject, Norbert Wiener, spoke at Cambridge University, where Pask was an undergraduate student. Pask was asked to be of assistance during Wiener’s talk.[1]

Holding three doctorate degrees, Pask published more than 250 journal articles, books, patents and technical reports from funding from United States Armed Forces, the British Ministry of Defence, the British Home Office and the British Road Research Laboratory.[2] He taught at the University of IllinoisOld Dominion UniversityConcordia UniversityOpen UniversityUniversity of New MexicoArchitectural Association School of Architecture and MIT.[3]

Contents

source:

Gordon Pask – Wikipedia

Transcending Psychosocial Polarization with Tensegrity

Transcending Psychosocial Polarization with Tensegrity Biomimetic clues to collective resilience and unshackling knowledge

Transcending Psychosocial Polarization with Tensegrity

Open source real-time reporting on the web

an incomplete older website

Open source real-time reporting on the web

Toward a generic alerting real time database

A commercial white paper on escalating alerts.

Under Development and for discussion…Suggestions please!

VSM animation

About

Toward a generic alerting real time database A commercial white paper on escalating alerts. Under Development and for discussion…. Suggestions please! About

Open source real-time reporting on the web

Dynamic Capabilities — David J. Teece

classic Strategy& interview – https://www.strategy-business.com/article/00225?gko=32b8d – and source:

Dynamic Capabilities — David J. Teece
David J. Teece

IN THE NEWSTHE SCHOLARPUBLICATIONSBIOGRAPHYDYNAMIC CAPABILITIESHAAS BUSINESS SCHOOL INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS INNOVATIONTHE ENTREPRENEURBERKELEY RESEARCH GROUPTEECE FAMILY VINEYARDSVOMO ISLAND RESORTCONTACT

DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES


Dynamic capability is “the firm’s ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments” (David J. Teece, Gary Pisano, and Amy Shuen).

Dynamic capabilities can be distinguished from operational capabilities, which pertain to the current operations of an organization. Dynamic capabilities, by contrast, refer to “the capacity of an organization to purposefully create, extend, or modify its resource base” (Helfat et al., 2007). The basic assumption of the dynamic capabilities framework is that core competencies should be used to modify short-term competitive positions that can be used to build longer-term competitive advantage.

Watch Dr. Teece and others describe dynamic capabilities and strategy:

Processes

Three dynamic capabilities are necessary in order to meet new challenges. Organizations and their employees need the capability to learn quickly and to build strategic assets. New strategic assets such as capability, technology, and customer feedback have to be integrated within the company. Existing strategic assets have to be transformed or reconfigured.

Teece’s concept of dynamic capabilities essentially says that what matters for business is corporate agility: the capacity to (1) sense and shape opportunities and threats, (2) seize opportunities, and (3) maintain competitiveness through enhancing, combining, protecting, and, when necessary, reconfiguring the business enterprise’s intangible and tangible assets.

Learning

Learning requires common codes of communication and coordinated search procedures. The organizational knowledge generated resides in new patterns of activity, in “routines,” or a new logic of organization. Routines are patterns of interactions that represent successful solutions to particular problems. These patterns of interaction are resident in group behavior, and certain sub-routines may be resident in individual behavior. Collaborations and partnerships can be a source for new organizational learning, which helps firms to recognize dysfunctional routines and prevent strategic blind spots. Similar to learning, building strategic assets is another dynamic capability. For example, alliance and acquisition routines can enable firms to bring new strategic assets into the firm from external sources.

New assets

The effective and efficient internal coordination or integration of strategic assets may also determine a firm’s performance. According to Garvin (1988), quality performance is driven by special organizational routines for gathering and processing information, linking customer experiences with engineering design choices, and coordinating factories and component suppliers. Increasingly, competitive advantage also requires the integration of external activities and technologies: for example, in the form of alliances and the virtual corporation. Zahra and Nielsen (2002) show that internal and external human resources and technological resources are related to technology commercialization.

Transformation of existing assets

Fast-changing markets require the ability to reconfigure the firm’s asset structure and accomplish the necessary internal and external transformation (Amit and Schoemaker, 1993). Change is costly, and so firms must develop processes to find high-payoff changes at low costs. The capability to change depends on the ability to scan the environment, evaluate markets, and quickly accomplish reconfiguration and transformation ahead of the competition. This can be supported by decentralization, local autonomy, and strategic alliances.

Co-specialization

Over time, a firm’s assets may become co-specialized, meaning that they are uniquely valuable in combination. An example is where the physical assets (e.g., plants), human resources (e.g., researchers), and intellectual property (e.g., patents and tacit knowledge) of a company provide a synergistic combination of complementary assets. Such co-specialized assets are therefore more valuable in combination than in isolation. The combination gives a firm a more sustainable competitive advantage (Teece, 2009; Douma and Schreuder, 2013).

Asset orchestration

If capabilities are dependent on co-specialized assets, it makes the coordination task of management particularly difficult. Managerial decisions should take the optimal configuration of assets into account. Asset orchestration refers to the managerial search, selection, and configuration of resources and capabilities. The term intends to convey that, in an optimal configuration of assets, the whole is more valuable than the sum of the parts.

source:

Dynamic Capabilities — David J. Teece

Centre for Complex Systems in Transition free webinar – Applying Systems Thinking to Managing ProjectsThursday, March 25 13:00-14:00 (GMT+2 Pretoria)

source:

Webinar Registration – Zoom
CST WEBINAR SERIESYou are invited to join the CST webinar 
Applying Systems Thinking to Managing ProjectsThursday, March 25th
from 13:00-14:00 (GMT+2 Pretoria)
This webinar will take place online.
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://maties.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_19kygpw_TMSByAlPbC27WA
Join the CST webinar for a discussion on
Applying Systems Thinking to Managing ProjectsRecent evidence shows that better governance practices are helping to improve the overall performance of megaprojects. Despite the United Nations setting 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030, there are severe shortfalls in initiatives from governments, public organizations and private businesses endangering the achievement of targets set for these goals. In this webinar we will explore how we developed the Viable Governance Model for project management and how it could be applied to accelerate the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Discussants: Prof Shankar Sankaran (University of Technology Sydney, Australia) and Prof Nathalie Drouin (Université du Québec à Montréal and Exec Dir of KHEOPS)This webinar will take place online.
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://maties.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_19kygpw_TMSByAlPbC27WA 
Professor Shankar Sankaran, PhD, M., Eng., BSc, DMIT PMP®, MIEAust, CPEng., is currently a Professor of Organizational Project Management at the School of the Built Environment, at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He is a core researcher of the Centre of for Informatics Research and Innovation (CiRi) at his university. Shankar teaches project leadership, organizational project management and systems thinking in a Master of Project Management Program at his university. He has won international awards for his research on balanced leadership from the International Project Management Association. He has over 200 publications including authored and edited books, book chapters, refereed journal articles (in project and construction management and systems sciences) and conference papers. Shankar has worked on projects in India, Middle East, South East Asia and Oceania and is the current Chair of the Global Accreditation Centre of the Project Management Institute, Past President of  the International Society for the Systems Sciences and committee member of the College of Leadership and Management at Engineers Australia. His profile can be viewed at https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Shankar.Sankaran
 
Prof Nathalie Drouin, PhD, MBA, LL.B. is the Executive Director of KHEOPS, an International Research Consortium on the Governance of Large Infrastructure Projects, the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, a full professor at the Department of Management, École des Sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG UQAM), Adjunct Professor at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia and Associate Researcher at École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP), Canada. She teaches initiation and strategic management of projects in the Graduate Project Management Programs at ESG UQAM. She is looking at organizational project management, leadership issues and megaprojects. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Logistics and Transportation Metropolitan Cluster of Montreal (CARGO M) and an Audit Committee Member of Parks Canada Agency Audit Committee, Government of Canada. With Ralf Müller and Shankar Sankaran, she has won the 2019 Walt Lipke Project Governance and Control Excellence Award for the following paper: Müller, R., Sankaran, S., Drouin, N. (2019) A Model of Organizational Project Management and its Validation Project and Program Symposium Vol.2 Edition 1. 17 October p.5-20, as well as the 2019 International Project Management Association IPMA Research Award for the research work: Müller, R., Drouin, N., Sankaran, S. (2018) Balancing Person-Centric and Team-Centric Leadership in Projects. White Paper, Project Management Institute May. 
 
 
References for the talk:
Müller, R., Drouin, N. & Sankaran. S. (2019) Modeling organizational project management, Project Management Journal50(4), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F8756972819847876
Müller, R., Drouin, N. & Sankaran, S. (2020), Governance of organizational project management and megaprojects using the viable governance model, in G. Metcalf, K. Kijima & H. Deguchi, (Eds.) Springer Handbook of Systems Science, Singapore, Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0370-8_14-1#ESM
Sankaran, S., Muller, R. & Drouin, N. (2021) Crearting a ‘sustainability sublime’ to enable megaprojects to meet the United Nations sustainable development goals. 37, 813-826, https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2744

book at source:

Webinar Registration – Zoom

Systems Innovation London Hub Launch Event | Si Network – 10 May 5-6pm UK time

This will be a ‘mosaic event’ with a number of short inputs about different people and organisations working in this space in the UK/London as the Systems Innovation London Hub launches. I’m hoping to be on of the inputs. Coincidentally it’s the same night at I’m hosting SCiO’s Later At the Bar – informal, open space systmes networking 7-9pm https://systemspractice.org/events/later-bar-scio-uk-may-2021

Book (signing up for the Systems Innovation Mighty Networks site – no fee – required):

Si London Hub Launch Event | Si Network

Mon, May 10 5:00pm – 6:00pm UK time

This will be the launch event for Systems Innovation Hub London. Si London will be a unique platform for all those who wish to learn more about systems change ideas and methods and how to apply them – this event will be our launch event. During the event, we want to let you know about who we are, why we are and our plans going forwards, and how we may co-create this hub with partners and members.

We wish to take this opportunity to get introduced, for you to learn about the hub team and for us to learn about you – what is of relevance to you as we work to develop the London hub over the coming months and years. We will take the opportunity to give a short intro to what systems innovation is and why it is of such relevance to the complex challenges of today, globally, but also locally in London and the greater UK.

During the event you will get the opportunity to hear from a number of different organizations in London applying systems thinking ideas and why they think it is of importance in their area; be it public sector, finance, sustainability, or for the social sectors. We look forward to seeing you there and will use the London hub page to keep you posted running up to the event.

This will be a fully online event. Date: May 10th, 5:00pm – 6:00pm UK

source:

Si London Hub Launch Event | Si Network

Everything is Broken – American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) – YouTube

This video was produced in conjunction with the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) Speakers Series #4: “Leonard and Richards on Stafford Beer.” It includes excerpts from past ASC conferences (1995, 2011,2014) and features Ranulph Glanville (circularity), Herbert Brün (floating hierarchies), Mary Catherine Bateson (society counter-cybernetic) and Stafford Beer on structuring systems.SHOW LESS

Everything is Broken – YouTube

Everything is Broken

Everything is Broken – YouTube

CFA | PHD course (3 ECTS) | Values and decision-making. Social theories and methods for research in sustainable organizations

Call for applications to the PHD course (3 ECTS) on “Values and decision-making. Social theories and methods for research in sustainable organizations” Venue: Inter-University Center Dubrovnik, Croatia Dates: 10-13 September 2021 Course directors: Assist.-Prof. Dr. Kresimir Zazar, University of Zagreb, Croatia Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Steffen Roth, La Rochelle Business School, France, and University of […]

CFA | PHD course (3 ECTS) | Values and decision-making. Social theories and methods for research in sustainable organizations — Luhmann Conference

Process and Control Today | ‘Make systems thinking education mandatory’, IChemE President advises Lords committee

They mean Systems Engineering, I think, but anyway good

Process and Control Today | ‘Make systems thinking education mandatory’, IChemE President advises Lords committee


‘Make systems thinking education mandatory’, IChemE President advises Lords committee

17/03/2021  The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)

Stephen Richardson, President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), recommended to a House of Lords select committee held virtually on 10 March that systems thinking skills should be mandatory in engineering education for effective risk management.

The oil and gas expert and Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London was joined by nuclear expert Dame Sue Ion – an Honorary Fellow of IChemE and Honorary President at the National Skills Academy for Nuclear. They were invited to give evidence to the Risk Assessment and Risk Planning Committee regarding the resilience and risks within these sectors, as well as the challenges in developing and implementing risk assessment processes.

Their key point was the vital need to embed a systems thinking approach to new or existing system installations throughout their entire lifecycle – from design to decommission. Both emphasised these practices should be embedded from the start, in an engineer’s education and throughout their career via continuing professional development.

When asked to suggest a policy that the committee could recommend to the government, Richardson proposed making systems thinking mandatory within engineering education. Ion was in agreement with this approach and recommended ensuring systems thinking is applied at the highest levels of UK Government, particularly for those policymakers making decisions on the infrastructure required to establish robust energy systems for achieving net zero targets by 2050.

Among many topics in the session, Richardson and Ion discussed the operational risks posed by humans and technology, the use of emerging technologies to successfully manage risk, as well as the importance of educating the public on perceived and actual risk through evidence-based promotion – particularly for nuclear radiation risk. They shared risk management lessons learned from high profile incidents, such as the Fukushima nuclear power plant failure in Japan, the Piper Alpha oil and gas platform explosion in the UK, and the Grenfell Tower fire, UK.

Richardson and Ion also explained that the critical skills and expertise of professionally qualified engineers, as well as cross-sector experience-sharing to encourage diversity of thinking and good practice, are key to managing risk and investigating incidents in these sectors.

Richardson was invited to give evidence as the committee recognised his vast experience following over 40 years’ experience in teaching and investigating safety incidents in oil and gas. Ion’s expertise was sought having spent 30 years in the nuclear sector before joining the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the body responsible for providing independent advice to the UK Government.

Following the session Richardson said:

“I felt honoured to be asked to be a witness on such a critical topic. It was particularly valuable to give evidence alongside Dame Sue Ion as we were able to compare and contrast risks in nuclear and oil and gas. A risk-based safety culture is central to the role of chemical, biochemical and process engineers, which therefore makes our profession’s skills and expertise all the more important for aiding policymakers.

“In the session we stressed that to manage risk effectively it is vital to consider the big picture and create a systems perspective from the very start – which is a fundamental element contained in all IChemE-accredited undergraduate courses. This means that risk and systems become ingrained into our natural way of thinking. I also drew distinctions with some other engineering sectors which may benefit from adopting a similar systems approach at university level and, along with the vital, inescapable need for systems thinking, made this my main recommendation to the committee for future action.”

Watch the recording of the committee session online at Parliament Live TV.

source:

Process and Control Today | ‘Make systems thinking education mandatory’, IChemE President advises Lords committee

Cybernetic and Systems Engineering, Hindsight, Foresight, Insight Tickets, Wed 14 Apr 2021 at 17:00 | UK time

Cybernetic and Systems Engineering, Hindsight, Foresight, Insight Tickets, Wed 14 Apr 2021 at 17:00 | Eventbrite

APR

14

Cybernetic and Systems Engineering, Hindsight, Foresight, Insight

by Cybernetics Society — President’s Series Following£0 – £20

Event Information

Kerry Lunney and Prof. Brian Collins explore the relationship between Systems Engineering and Cybernetics and insights for resilient systems

About this Event

Hosted by our President, Dr. John Beckford FCybS, the CybSights President’s Series is a new programme that will bring interesting people together to explore the relevance and contribution of cybernetics to addressing important challenges.

Each event will consist of contributions by two different speakers. Each will be followed by individual Q&A. These are then brought together by the President in a lively and engaging plenary discussion. Each will seek areas of convergence and divergence between the ideas explored. Speakers present their own views — not official view of the Society.

Events will be held via Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 1700 to 1900.

Meetings are open to members of the Cybernetics Society and also the general public. Non-members are invited to join or give a donation. Booking is required.

The Cybernetics Society has been hosting conversations and lectures since the late 1960s.

#PS7 : April 14th 10 2021:

This event continues the exploration of the relevance of cybernetics to the contemporary world with contributions both theoretically practical and practically theoretical. The purpose of this series is not just to provide answers but to test whether the right questions are being asked.

FIRST SPEAKER: Kerry Lunney, President INCOSE

Exploring the Future Marriage between Cybernetics and Systems Engineering

Synopsis:

Working under a changing global environment in the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the velocity in technology changes and disruptors is ever increasing. Likewise, the introduction of new technologies such as AI and autonomy and the increasing prevalence of inter-connectedness can make cybernetic solutions complex systems. Thus it is key that the practice of Systems Engineering continues to evolve and support the demands of increasing system complexity. In this presentation, I will present possible pathways for collaboration and support in applying a systems approach to Cybernetics.

Kerry Lunney

Kerry Lunney is Country Engineering Director and Chief Engineer in Thales Australia. She is also the President of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and holds the Expert Systems Engineering Professional (ESEP) qualification.

Kerry has extensive experience developing and delivering large system solutions. She has worked in various industries including ICT, Gaming, Financial, Transport, Aerospace and Defence, in Australia, Asia and USA. The systems delivered include combat systems, mission systems, communication systems, road and rail ITSs, flight simulators, security systems, vehicle electronic systems, gaming systems and ICT foundation systems.

She is also a Fellow Member of Engineers Australia with the status of Engineering Executive and Chartered Professional Engineer and is a member of IEEE.

Followed by brief Q & A

SECOND SPEAKER: Prof. Brian Collins CB, FREng, Hon F.CybS

Insight, Foresight and Hindsight: A Provocation on Resilience

Synopsis:

It is said that generals fight each new war with the knowledge and technology developed for its predecessor. In this session Brian Collins will think about the need for the development of resilient societies and systems and explore ways of balancing the tension between the use of hindsight and foresight in order to generate useful insights that might achieve progress.

Prof Brian Collins

Prof. Brian Collins, CB, FREng is an Honorary Fellow of the Cybernetics Society. A physicist by background, Brian has a long and distinguished career primarily as a government scientist including being the Chief Scientist at GCHQ at the end of the Cold War, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Departments for Transport and what is now called BEIS. Upon completion of this period as CSA, Brian was appointed Professor of Engineering Policy and founded the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) at University College London. He was instrumental in establishing national and international research into the future of National and City Infrastructures through ICIF and, more recently UKCRIC, a multi-university research collaboratorium (the operating model of which was explicitly developed using cybernetic insights)

Followed by brief Q & A

Plenary Discussion

The aim of this session, moderated by John Beckford, is to draw out the complementary and competing ideas emerging from the two sessions. Speakers present their own views.

£20 Annual membership required

APR 14 Cybernetic and Systems Engineering, Hindsight, Foresight, Insight by Cybernetics Society — President’s Series

Cybernetic and Systems Engineering, Hindsight, Foresight, Insight Tickets, Wed 14 Apr 2021 at 17:00 | Eventbrite

CybSights Insights: Putting on CyBeer Goggles (in public administration) Tickets, Tue 23 Mar 2021 at 18:00 UK time

membership (£20 for the year) required

CybSights Insights: Putting on CyBeer Goggles (in public administration) Tickets, Tue 23 Mar 2021 at 18:00 | Eventbrite

MAR

23

CybSights Insights: Putting on CyBeer Goggles (in public administration)

by CybSights: The Insights Series 

Event Information

View the world as a cybernetician. Tim Falkiner explores POSIWID, isomorphism, & variety balance rooted in town planning & law.

About this Event

The Insights Series is an eclectic and learned collection of monthly events on the 4th Tuesday of each month hosted by Cybernetics Society. There will be lectures, seminars, conversations, debates, participation, all advancing our knowledge of cybernetics and related disciplines and their applications to real world needs. Speakers present their own views, without formal endorsement.

Cybernetics is the science of achievement, the great meta-discipline of our time.

The CybSights Insights series is normally curated and hosted by the Secretary, Angus Jenkinson, FCybS. Attendance is free. Non-members are invited to make an optional donation or to Join.

In this session we welcome an Australian.

We are particularly delighted to be able to welcome Tim Falkiner with his experience in town planning, law, and legilstion with ‘homeskooled’ cybernetics.

Putting on our CyBeer Goggles

The underlying object of this discussion is to have the participants exercise their ability to think in cybernetic terms. To put on “cybeer” goggles and view the world as a cyberneticist. Cybernetics is a large field, but Tim has selected three cybernetic topics to explore. In three 25 minute segments, Tim will (i) explain what he understands of each topic; (ii) give some applications of that law or technique and (iii) invite the participants to give examples of how they apply the laws and techniques in their own professions or lives.

POSIWID The purpose of a system is what it does. Our purpose often defines the extent of the system or systems. It is helpful, in considering the purpose of a system from an objective, scientific, cybernetic viewpoint; to use Stafford Beer’s concept of POSIWID.

Isomorphism – The control system is isomorphic with the system under control. The town planner, J. Brian McLoughlin, writing about urban and regional planning systems, makes the point that control systems must have the same form and operation as the systems which they control —an application of the Conant-Ashby theorem:

“… the control devices for any system have to be isomorphic with the system to be controlled, that is, they have to be of similar form. This enables us to say that the planning process must have a similar ‘shape’ to the human ecosystem.”

Balancing variety – Given the control system must be isomorphic with the system under control, and given the infinite variety involved in real-world systems, a regulator must balance the resources available to it with the system to be controlled. Problems of increasing, decreasing, and balancing variety in time are considered.

Tim Falkiner – Crown solicitor, town planner, barrister, legislator

Tim lives in Melbourne, Australia with a career blending law and town planning. This gives experience in law as a regulator, system design and the science of cybernetics. As town planner, legal officer in the Victorian Ministry for Planning and Environment and the Crown Solicitor’s Office of Victoria in the Constitution, Legislation and Advisings section, he gained wide experience of land use planning and environmental legislation. He wrote the specification for the first computerised tribunal registry system in Victoria. Tim has practised as a barrister and is a life member of the Victorian Planning and Environmental Law Association. He learned cybernetic controls systems theory in 1976 and found other parallels (e.g. between Garth Thornton’s book “Legislative Drafting” and Frederick Brook’s book on the development of the IBM System 360 and OS/360, its operating system). He is the author (1982) of “Scientific Legislation – The Use of Cybernetics and Software Engineering Knowledge to Explain What Legislation Is, How it Behaves and How It should be Designed, Maintained and Replaced” influenced by Stafford Beer’s cybernetics. He is now revisiting it to reconcile Beer’s definition of planning as a continuous process of making and discarding plans, with the difficulties, so clearly outlined by software engineers of maintaining legislation in the face of continuous change towards a future more dynamically adaptive legislative style based on cybernetic principles.

Join us, and engage in the dynamics of these key concepts

The sessions are designed for audience participation!

Cybernetics Society – a learned society developing the science of design and contextual responsiveness.

MAR 23 CybSights Insights: Putting on CyBeer Goggles (in public administration) by CybSights: The Insights Series

CybSights Insights: Putting on CyBeer Goggles (in public administration) Tickets, Tue 23 Mar 2021 at 18:00 | Eventbrite

Conference on Complex Systems CCS 2021

cxdig's avatarComplexity Digest

The Conference on Complex Systems, the flagship conference of the Complex System Society, is the most important annual meeting for the complex systems research community. Last year, the Conference was fully online because of the Covid-19 pandemics.

For 2021, this annual event will be held in Lyon, France, from October 25 to 29, 2021. We are confident to be able to welcome you in Lyon at this time of the year, for an in-person conference. Still, as we know that there might still be a number of travel restrictions at that time, some sessions will be organized as a hybrid conference.

More at: ccs2021.univ-lyon1.fr

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