Systems Thinking: ‘The Imagination Machine’​, ‘Sandtalk’​, and ‘Being a Human’​ Published on February 9, 2022 Status is online Dr Mike C Jackson OBE

(1) Systems Thinking: ‘The Imagination Machine’​, ‘Sandtalk’​, and ‘Being a Human’​ | LinkedIn

source

Magic circles – by Gordon Brander – Subconscious

Magic circles

There’s this lens from games studies that I keep coming back to, the “magic circle”.

All play moves and has its being within a playground marked off beforehand either materially or ideally, deliberately or as a matter of course. Just as there is no formal difference between play and ritual, so the “consecrated spot” cannot be formally distinguished from the playground. The arena, the card table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis courts, the court of justice, etc, are all in form and function playgrounds, i.e. forbidden spots, isolated, hedged round, hallowed, within which special rules obtain. All are temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart.
Johan Huizinga, 1938, “Homo Ludens”

So, a “magic circle” is a name for the space in which a game takes place. When we step into the magic circle, the we suspend the rules of ordinary life, and allow the rules of the game to mediate our interactions.

continues in source: Magic circles Gordon Brander Feb 7

Magic circles – by Gordon Brander – Subconscious

Luhmann Control Of Intransparency shanchuan huang

(PDF) Luhmann Control Of Intransparency | shanchuan huang – Academia.edu

General systems theory shows that the combination of self-referential operations and
operational closure (or the re-entry of output as input) generates a surplus of possible
operations and therefore intransparency of the system for its own operation. The system
cannot produce a complete description of itself. It has to cope with its own unresolvable
indeterminacy. To be able to operate under such conditions the system has to introduce
time. It has to distinguish between its past and its future. It has to use a memory function
that includes both remembering and forgetting. And it needs an oscillator function to
represent its future. This means, for example, that the future has to be imagined as
achieving or not achieving the goals of the system. Even the distinction of past and future
is submitted to oscillation in the sense that the future can be similar to the past or not. In
this sense the unresolvable indeterminacy or the intransparency of the system for itself
can find a temporal solution. But this means that the past cannot be changed (although
selectively remembered) and the future cannot be known (although structured by
distinctions open for oscillation). © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Syst. Res., Vol. 15, 359–371 (1997)

PCT in 11 Steps An outline of PCT written as a proposal for a series of TV programs.

Living Control Systems Publishing

Article

Website:

From a tweet by @kihbernetics

Designing Freedom Together Download (.pdf)

Discussion: Designing Freedom Together – Academia.edu

Abstract

This paper tells the story of developing, collaboratively, a visionary whole system
transition architecture within a UK regional transport context in 2021. It is written,
in the first person, by the two authors whose focus of interest is in complex
living systems, characterized by emergence, abundant creativity and surprise.
They view design as an inherent aspect of ongoing change, which can be built
intrinsically into the living system, not as a stage in a sequential procedure. They
view themselves as participants in the system as well as providers of the underpinning
methods.
The objective of the work was to enable evolutionary systemic change, which
holds the potential for transformation. The overall approach was rooted in collaborative
visioning. The authors see vision as an aspirational and yet responsible
sense of the future which is shared by multiple people, and acts as a reference
point for developing agreement and coordinating action. The architecture was
developed iteratively in an outside-in approach starting from the systemic context
and aims to enable everyone to be both choreographers and dancers, finding
and optimizing their contribution based on their unique capabilities and
characteristics.
The approach reframes boundaries as opportunities for mutual learning, in
contrast to barriers to be overcome or connections to be engineered, and it raises
questions of where boundaries could be designed, including the boundaries
around organizations themselves. It enables collaborative activities to be identified
which cannot be handled by transactional interaction alone.
The authors welcome dialogue to feed a process of mutual learning
with others.

Roger Duck

Our article Designing Freedom Together is a case study of enabling exploration of transformational systemic change. At its heart is the collaborative development of a visionary whole system transition architecture, in which boundaries are viewed as opportunities for mutual learning. The specific context was regional transport, but the methodology is of more general application. We would de delighted to exchange ideas and experience with others in the interest of mutual learning. The paper is published in Organization Development Review, 2021, Vol 53, No 5.

source:

Systems Thinking Ontario – 2022-02-21

022-02-21

February 21 (the third Monday of the month, dodging Valentine’s Day, to run into Family Day!) is the 97th meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. The registration is at https://double-binds.eventbrite.ca .

Schizophrenia, Alcoholism, Double Binds: From Practice to System Theory

Is there a pattern where you see a system is stuck? In the 1960s-1970s, anthropologist Gregory Bateson was working with cases of schizophrenia and alcoholism, leading to the development of systems theories on double-binds.

In the Bateson (1971) article, a systems theory was built to explain why the 12 step program from Alcoholics Anonymous seemed to work.

022-02-21 February 21 (the third Monday of the month, dodging Valentine’s Day, to run into Family Day!) is the 97th meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. The registration is at https://double-binds.eventbrite.ca . Schizophrenia, Alcoholism, Double Binds: From Practice to System Theory Is there a pattern where you see a system is stuck? In the 1960s-1970s, anthropologist Gregory Bateson was working with cases of schizophrenia and alcoholism, leading to the development of systems theories on double-binds. In the Bateson (1971) article, a systems theory was built to explain why the 12 step program from Alcoholics Anonymous seemed to work.

Systems Thinking Ontario – 2022-02-21

What Dominic Cummings Gets Wrong His ideas are worth engaging with but his worldview contains a fundamental flaw Sam Freedman

What Dominic Cummings Gets Wrong – Comment is Freed

Examples of systems maps Systems maps come in all shapes and sizes. How they look depends on the people involved in making them and the purpose for which they were made.   You might have heard the saying: All models are wrong, but some are useful. That also applies for systems maps. They are not an exact representation of a system, but they help us to think about systems and gain new insights.   Just like our thinking and understanding is never final, a systems map is never “finished” and should not be seen as the outcome or “deliverable”of a project. The true outcomes of a systems mapping project are the decisions made and actions taken based on the thinking that was supported by the systems map.

Examples | Hannah Hartwich

Hannah’s SI introduction to systems mapping session was recommended (by someone who is very rigorous about systems mapping)

Five worlds practices for systems transformation | Meetup

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Five worlds practices for systems transformation

Hosted By Novi M.

Details

We’re kicking off 2022 with a great topic, systems transformation, and even more amazing presenter, Benjamin P Taylor.

Benjamin will introduce his ‘five worlds’ model for systems transformation, and explain the theory behind it and the practical impact of working with it.
How might this perspective impact your organisation and your work?

• the importance of sensemaking worlds
• their interactions and pathologies
• the risk of schismogenesis
• transduction and the impact of information flows
• better possibilities

Benjamin is passionate about systems | cybernetics | complexity and working in organisational transformation and development. He is on the board of Systems and Complexity in Organisation, the systems practitioner professional body, and is writing two books on systems thinking and public service transformation. He hosts the Systems Community of Inquiry blog and convenes and support various systems communities of practice, and is Managing Partner of networked consultancy RedQuadrant, which he co-founded in 2009, and Chief Executive of the Public Service Transformation Academy, a not-for-profit social enterprise partnership he co-founded in 2016. He has also lectured in applied systems thinking at Cass Business School, City University, and at Nottingham Business School and Oxford Said/HEC Paris.

You can find out more about Benjamin and his work at https://www.bentaylor.com/

If this sounds interesting to you, join us on February 23, 2022, at 18:30CET.

This meetup will take place online, it will be recorded and available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQlpHIlteQKrWvpfMcxhKw

Novi M.

In preparation for the meetup, a short introduction to five worlds and context specific approach https://antlerboy.medium.com/which-world-do-you-live-in-916c41f529fa

Wednesday, February 23, 2022
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM GMT

Wednesday, February 23, 2022 Five worlds practices for systems transformation

Five worlds practices for systems transformation | Meetup

source

What is Systems Leadership? The emerging approach to driving… | by Josep M. Coll | Medium | Medium

Josep M. Coll

Jan 31

What is Systems Leadership?

The emerging approach to driving regenerative economics and sustainable transformation

I’m excited to start sharing my thoughts and insights on systems leadership. This field has emerged, to me, as a unifying field of study and practice that encompasses all areas of my work on systems transformation. Working on my latest book, which is about applying Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking to sustainable transformation from a living systems and regenerative perspective, I discovered the relevance, and beauty, of systems leadership. As I deepened my interest, I felt compelled to write about it. So here I’ll try to write it from the HEART. That is, to offer Holistic, Engaging, Actionable, Rigorous and Transformative content for those interested in system-level change. In this first article, I share the contextual and conceptual foundations of systems leadership, as well as practical insights on how to bring it into practice.

continues in source:Josep M. Coll Jan 31 · 10 min read · Listen What is Systems Leadership?

What is Systems Leadership? The emerging approach to driving… | by Josep M. Coll | Medium | Medium

source:

The unlikely encounter between von Foerster and Snowden: When second-order cybernetics sheds light on societal impacts of Big Data – David Chavalarias, 2016

The unlikely encounter between von Foerster and Snowden: When second-order cybernetics sheds light on societal impacts of Big Data

David Chavalarias

First Published January 6, 2016 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951715621086

Abstract

Although information and communication technologies (ICT) have created hope for a shared pluralistic world, democratic principles are far from being respected in the public digital environment, and require a detailed knowledge of the laws by which they are governed. Von Foerster’s conjecture is one of the early theoretical results that could help to understand these laws. Although neglected for a long time, the advent of the overlying layer of recommendation and ranking systems which is progressively occupying the web has given empirical evidences of this conjecture, which predicts the consequences of increasing inter-individual influences on social dynamics and the susceptibility of these latter to manipulation. With both von Foerster’s conjecture and the Snowden revelations in the background, we analyse the impact of ICT on human societies and their governance, in view of the fact that they have a massive impact on the way in which people influence each other in their tastes and actions.

Keywords 

Information and technology governance, social media, Big Data, information and communication technologies, Snowden revelations, ranking systems, recommendation, social networks

In 1976, at Cuernavaca, Heinz von Foerster, founder of the second-order cybernetics and precursor in the field of complex systems, intervened during a seminar given by Ivan Illich, a thinker in political ecology. According to the analysis made by the latter of his notion of counter-productivity – auto-deregulation and auto-disorganisation of a system, which becomes foreign to the elements from which it is made up¹ – von Foerster made a visionary conjecture:

What you are trying to describe is the relationship of circular causality between the whole (a human community for example) and its parts (the individuals from which it is comprised). On the one hand, individuals are related to each other, and on the other hand they are related to the whole. The bonds between individuals can be more or less “rigid” – the technical term I use is “trivial”. The more trivial they are, by definition the less the behaviour of one of them provides information to the observer who already knows the behaviour of the others. I will make the following conjecture: the more trivial the inter-individual relationships, the more the behaviour of the whole will appear to the individual elements from which it is made up as having its own dynamics which escape their control.

I am aware that this conjecture is paradoxical, however it is important to understand that it has a meaning only because, here, we adopt the point of view internal to the system, of the elements concerning the whole. For an observer outside the system, it is obvious that, on the contrary, the triviality of the relationships between these parts promotes conceptual control, in the form of a model. When the individuals are related trivially (as the consequence of mimetic behaviour for example) the dynamics of the system are predictable, but the individuals feel powerless to steer or redirect its course, even though the behaviour of the whole continues to be simply the result of individual reactions to the predictions of this same behaviour. The whole appears to become autonomous with respect to its conditions of emergence, and its development to be immobilised as its destiny.

This proposal was referred to by Jean-Pierre Dupuy as “von Foerster’s conjecture” (Dupuy, 2006). In 1987 it was given the status of a theorem, in the context of information theory, during collaborative work with Moshe Koppel and Henri Atlan (Koppel et al., 1987).

Three years after 1984, which had not delivered on its literary promises, few individuals were inclined to accept that a mathematical theorem could account even to a small degree for social phenomena. Still today, some affirm that such generalities in the social domain cannot be founded, first of all because the notion of experimentation at the scale of a society is itself problematic. We will however show that information and communication technologies (ICT), which have become ubiquitous in our societies, provide us with an example of what von Foerster called “rigid relationships”, a terrain for experimentation and an empirical validation of von Foerster’s intuition. The implications of this conjecture are numerous, and in particular make it possible to shed original light on the recent revelations of Edward Snowden, which provide an indisputable demonstration of the fact that access to an “external” view of our digital societies has become a strategic issue for many actors.

continues in source: The unlikely encounter between von Foerster and Snowden: When second-order cybernetics sheds light on societal impacts of Big Data

The unlikely encounter between von Foerster and Snowden: When second-order cybernetics sheds light on societal impacts of Big Data – David Chavalarias, 2016

Got from Mark Johnson in this thread on Ivan Illich’s evolving thinking:

MAR 10 Mind The Gap by Enlightened Enterprise Academy Follow 142 followers Free Actions and Detail Panel Share this event Register Event Information Overcoming the Dangerous Systems Thinking Capabilities Gap

Mind The Gap Tickets, Thu 10 Mar 2022 at 15:30 | Eventbrite

Working with energy for connection  The next step on from traditional leadership, team cohesion, organisational dynamics / collaboration and culture-change courses. This course starts to move into the very practical ways to this seldom-explored and developed area of energy, vibration, connection and care. 

Course And Events – We Evolve, Energetics for Change

Lots of people in and around the systems | complexity | cybernetics field work with ‘energy’ – and lots of people are not comfortable with something which does not have a scientific explanation and smacks of ‘woo woo’. Yet this is valued work, and not just among the fringes- what do you think?

Esther Hall is a systems thinker who is (for example) offering an ‘energetics for change’ course:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gqmwte2nvxz7bag/Working%20with%20Energy%20for%20Connection%20branded%20flyer%20Nov%2021%20v3.pdf?dl=0