What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell is a 1944 science book written for the lay reader by physicist Erwin Schrödinger.
What Is Life? – Wikipedia
32-page version (lectures) http://www.whatislife.ie/downloads/What-is-Life.pdf
1944 book
http://herba.msu.ru/shipunov/school/univ_110/papers/schroedinger1944_what_is_life.pdf
or
http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/schrodinger-what-is-life-mind-matter-auto-sketches.pdf
THE SECOND CYBERNETICS Deviation-Amplifying Mutual Causal Processes
[PDF] THE SECOND CYBERNETICS Deviation-Amplifying Mutual Causal Processes | Semantic Scholar
Since its inception, cybernetics was more or less identified as a science of self-regulating and equilibrating systems. Thermostats, physiological regulation of body temperature, automatic steering devices, economic and political processes were studied under a general mathematical model of deviation-counteracting feedback networks. By focusing on the deviation-counteracting aspect of the mutual causal relationships however, the cyberneticians paid less attention to the systems in which the mutual causal effects are deviation-amplifying. Such systems are ubiquitous: accumulation of capital in industry, evolution of living organisms, the rise of cultures of various types, interpersonal processes which produce menial illness, international conflicts, and the processes that are loosely termed as “vicious circles” and “compound interests”; in short, all processes of mutual causal relationships that amplify an insignificant or accidental initial kick, build up deviation and diverge from the initial condition. In contrast to the progress in the study of equilibrating systems, the deviation-amplifying systems have not been given as much investment of time and energy by the mathematical scientists on the one hand, and understanding and practical application on the part of geneticists, ecologists, politicians and psychotherapists on the other hand. The deviation-counteracting mutual causal systems and the deviation-amplifying mutual causal systems may appear to be opposite types of systems. But they have one essential feature in common: they are both mutual causal systems, i.e., the elements within a system influence each other either simultaneously or alternatingly. The difference between the two types of systems is that the deviation-counteracting system has mutual negative feedbacks between the elements in it while the deviationamplifying system has mutual positive feedbacks between the elements in it.
McCulloch W. S. (1960) What is a number, that a man may know it, and a man, that he may know a number? General Semantics Bulletin 26/27: 7–18. Available at https://cepa.info/1821
McCulloch W. S. (1960) What is a number, that a man may know it, and a man, that he may know a number? [1821]
http://www.vordenker.de/ggphilosophy/mcculloch_what-is-a-number.pdf
Not sure if the link to pdf above will render in WordPress so here it is again: http://www.vordenker.de/ggphilosophy/mcculloch_what-is-a-number.pdf
Lots of very nice personal reminiscences (including of Pitts) and some sharp summaries, a review of philosophy and relevant science to date.
Complexity and organization–environment relations: Revisiting Ashby’s law of requisite variety
(PDF) Complexity and organization–environment relations: Revisiting Ashby’s law of requisite variety
Development of an Instrument to Assess Capacity for Systems Thinking☆ Author links open overlay panelKaitlynn M.CastelleaRaed M.Jaradatb
Development of an Instrument to Assess Capacity for Systems Thinking – ScienceDirect
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| We have a new webinar coming up! Join us for the second webinar in our free series on December 8th, 15:00-16:15 CET / 14:00-15:15 GMT / 9-10:15am EST. The most powerful lever to shift a system is to change what it is for, the purpose it serves. Creating a new system invariably involves establishing a new sense of purpose. But how do systems acquire a radically different purpose and how do system innovators go about developing a new purpose for an entire system? To explore the answers to these questions join us for our next free webinar where Charles Leadbeater and Jennie Winhall, from the Systems Innovation Initiative at the ROCKWOOL Foundation, will set out a new, practical framework for how to shift a system’s purpose. Register hereThey will be joined in conversation by a panel of practitioners intensively engaged in purpose driven systems change, including Stephanie Brobbey, from The Good Ancestors Movement, a social purpose venture which aims to shift the role and responsibilities of wealth in society and Karen Ingerslev, who is leading an ambitious programme of reimagination and renewal in the health systems of Jutland in Denmark. Karen and Stephanie will be joined on the panel by people pioneering practical purpose driven change in education systems. We hope you will join us for what will be a fascinating, inspiring and helpful discussion. Can’t make it? Subscribe to our mailing list for future events and early access to new practical frameworks and guides to systems innovators to be published in the coming months. Did you miss our last webinar on The Power to Shift a System? Watch it here. Look forward to seeing you on December 8th. Best wishes, The ROCKWOOL Foundation |
Open Sociotechnical Systems Thinking with Trond Hjorteland Unlisted 92 viewsStreamed live 5 hours ago 8 DISLIKE SHARE SAVE Virtual Domain-Driven Design 1.96K subscribers SUBSCRIBED The term “sociotechnical” seems to have gotten a bit or renaissance lately, which is a great thing given all the positive impact it has had on many organisations and their workers around the world over the years. It also seems to have gotten some traction outside the academic circles this time after being developed and pushed from there mostly using action research since its humble beginning in the post-war British coal mines. It is an entry into systems thinking for many, with its idea about joint optimisation of both the technical and social aspects of an organisation. A common example is setting up the team topology to match the service architecture in an attempt to cater for negative effects of Conway’s law. This is all well and good, but if we think about it, viewing the modern organisation as a sociotechnical system is a bit of a tautology; all organisations have social and technical elements that people deal with on a daily basis. As with systems thinking, the value of sociotechnical system design is more about perspective and understanding rather than any specific outcome. There is so much more to sociotechnical design than DevOps and team setup that we need in order to cope in our increasingly complex and hazardous “digital coal mines.” Disclaimer: This talk is a prototype and is loosely based on my lightning talks at DDD Europe and the recent talk at Lean Agile Exchange. Hope this will be more of a joint exploration system thinking in general and open sociotechnical systems thinking in particular than a pure lecture.
Open Sociotechnical Systems Thinking with Trond Hjorteland – YouTube
Nice. Actual research from great sources, and he points out it’s a ‘beta’ presentation 🙂
Storytelling for Systems Change Insights from the field How can stories help us change systems?
Storytelling for Systems Change | Centre For Public Impact (CPI)
I am not at all sure what is happening with the proliferation of subtitles here.
But some very interesting articles (from what I can see from the open access or otherwise available ones)
Volume 38, Issue 5 Special Issue:ISSS Yearbook: Systemic Change towards Sustainable Development: Innovative and Integrative Approaches Pages: 577-714 September/October 2021
ISSS Yearbook: Systemic Change towards Sustainable Development: Innovative and Integrative Approaches: Systems Research and Behavioral Science: Vol 38, No 5
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Free AccessIssue Information
Systemic change towards sustainable development: Innovative and integrative approachesShankar Sankaran, Rika Presier
Clarifying human agency in social systems, implications for large schools and workplaces and the Systems Thinking RoundTableSusan Farr Gabriele
Critical systems practice 2: Produce—Constructing a multimethodological intervention strategyMichael C. Jackson
Designing an inquiry-based learning system: Innovating in research praxis to transform science–policy–practice relations for sustainable developmentRay L. Ison, Kevin B. Collins, Ben L. Iaquinto
Co-exploring relational heuristics for sustainability transitions towards more resilient and just Anthropocene futuresRika Preiser, Reinette Biggs, Maike Hamann, Nadia Sitas, Odirilwe Selomane, Joy Waddell, Hayley Clements, Tanja Hichert
Open AccessA systems perspective on systemic innovationGerald Midgley, Erik Lindhult
Communication and culture: A multispecies endeavour within a shared habitatJanet J. McIntyre-Mills
Sustainable business intelligence systems: Modelling for the futureRoelien Goede
The history and future of projects as a transition innovation: Towards a sustainable project management frameworkShankar Sankaran, Mattias Jacobsson, Tomas Blomquist
If I were asked to explain cybernetics, the first thing that would come to my mind would be – error correction. The example that is often used to explain cybernetics is that of the steersman. You have a steersman on a boat moving from point A to point B. Ideally, the boat should move from point A to B in a straight line. However, the wind can change the direction of the boat, and the steersman has to adjust accordingly to stay on course. This negative feedback loop requires a target such that the difference from the target is compensated. In technical terms, there is a comparator (something that can measure) that checks on a periodic or continuous basis what the difference is, and provides this information to make adjustments accordingly. Let’s call this framework as first order cybernetics. In this framework, we need a closed loop so that we…
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Sometimes this is given as
“If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.”
and I learned it as
“You never understand a system until you start to try to change it.”
I also see Urie Bronfenbrenner quoted as saying: “you never understand a phenomenon until you try to change it”.
I would love to find the original source! I have had a bit of a dig, but got nothing but a strong collective history 🙂
Author: Carlos Gershenson Published: 2007 Physiscs, Self-organization, Complexity Theory English Cat: TS0002EN ISBN: 978-0-9831172-3-0 By clicking below you adhere to the licence governing this site Contents Download Free | 2.5Mb | Complex systems are usually difficult to design and control. There are several particular methods for coping with complexity, but there is no general approach to build complex systems. In this book I propose a methodology to aid engineers in the design and control of complex systems. This is based on the description of systems as self-organizing. Starting from the agent metaphor, the methodology proposes a conceptual framework and a series of steps to follow to find proper mechanisms that will promote elements to find solutions by actively interacting among themselves.
Design and Control of Self-organizing Systems
Carlos Gershenson
http://www.ijpis.net/ojs/index.php/IJPIS/article/view/51
The goal of this paper is to contribute to eGovernment efforts, encouraging the use of self-organization as a method to improve the efficiency and adaptability of bureaucracies and similar social systems. Bureaucracies are described as networks of agents, where the main design principle is to reduce local “friction” to increase local and global “satisfaction”. Following this principle, solutions are proposed for improving communication within bureaucracies, sensing public satisfaction, dynamic modification of hierarchies, and contextualization of procedures. Each of these reduces friction between agents (internal or external), increasing the efficiency of bureaucracies. Current technologies can be applied for this end. “Random agent networks” (RANs), novel computational models, are introduced to illustrate the benefits of self-organizing bureaucracies. Simulations show that only few changes are required to reach near-optimal performance, potentially adapting quickly and effectively to shifts in demand.
Cybersalon Xmas Lecture – 8th Dec 2021 Posted by: Karolina Janicka in 2021 events, Next Event, Writing 11 days ago 0 702 Views What can we learn from Cybernetics to help us in post-Covid recover?
Cybersalon Xmas Lecture – 8th Dec 2021 | Cybersalon
Posted by: Karolina Janicka in 2021 events, Next Event, Writing 11 days ago 0 702 Views
What can we learn from Cybernetics to help us in post-Covid recover?
We are delighted to announce that Raul Espejo, the pioneer of Cybernetics and Cybersyn system will give our annual Cybersalon Xmas Lecture in person. We will gather in Newspeak House, in Shoreditch, to discuss what Cybersyn pioneers would say about our chances of ‘bouncing back better’. To optimise or to re-boot, this is the question (or one of many).
From Stafford Beer, Janos Kornai to more modern Viable Systems Model, cybernetics can all point at solutions for our current predicament. How do you balance rapid adaptation to new circumstances with making sure you don’t fall over is the question for 2022.
Raul Espejo worked on the original Cybersyn in Chile in 1971-1973 during presidency of Salvador Allende. He has escaped safely and then has bee lecturing world-wide on the future of systems. Raul is currently based in Lincoln University.
After the talk we will host a discussion on future of systemic adaptation to Climate Change with Raul Espejo, Dr Richard Barbrook, (Westminster University) Eva Pascoe (Cybersalon.org) and Edward Saperia (Dean of Newspeak House)
CyberSanta with mince pies to followRegister Here
Ticket: 12 GBP – very limited availability, get in touch for students tickets
Venue: Newspeak House 133 Bethnal Green Road E2 7 DG
Nearest Station: Shoreditch High Street Overground/Old Street Tube Station
Sponsors:
Cybersalon.org – Think Tank on Digital Futures
Patchworks.com No 1 UK Ecom Systems Integrator
Hydro66.com Green Energy Data Centres
book at
Mikael Seppälä @mikaelseppala We’re convening a Community of Practice of stakeholders around #SystemsChange. To help the process I’m reviewing existing frameworks of capabilities employed by practitioners in the field. Am I missing something? Any efforts we should join? WIP: http://bit.ly/systemschangetraining
(2) Mikael Seppälä on Twitter: “We’re convening a Community of Practice of 🇫🇮 stakeholders around #SystemsChange. To help the process I’m reviewing existing frameworks of capabilities employed by practitioners in the field. Am I missing something? 🤔 Any efforts we should join? 🤝 WIP: https://t.co/SqZDKeAwUy https://t.co/S6ZqsUhw02” / Twitter
somehow I missed this at the time – see the thread:
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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