A view or perspective on the world
via Ivo Velitchkov
Rebecca Todd, hanne de jaegher, and Ezequiel Di Paolo
Feb 11, 2025
What is Participatory Sensemaking and Why Should We Care?Tracing its Roots in Systems Thinking, Neurodivergence, and Marxist TheoryREBECCA TODD, HANNE DE JAEGHER, AND EZEQUIEL DI PAOLOFEB 11, 2025
What is Participatory Sensemaking and Why Should We Care?
David C Krakauer is the president and William H Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. He works on the evolution of intelligence and stupidity on Earth. Whereas the first is admired but rare, the second is feared but common. He is the founder of the InterPlanetary Project at SFI and the publisher/editor-in-chief of the SFI Press.
Chris Kempes is a professor at the Santa Fe Institute, working at the intersection of physics, biology, and the earth sciences.
Problem-solving matter
Life is starting to look a lot less like an outcome of chemistry and physics, and more like a computational processPhoto by mauribo/GettyDavid C Krakaueris the president and William H Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. He works on the evolution of intelligence and stupidity on Earth. Whereas the first is admired but rare, the second is feared but common. He is the founder of the InterPlanetary Project at SFI and the publisher/editor-in-chief of the SFI Press.Chris Kempesis a professor at the Santa Fe Institute, working at the intersection of physics, biology, and the earth sciences.
Is life a complex computational process? | Aeon Essays
BI 203 David Krakauer: How To Think Like a Complexity Scientist
BI 203 David Krakauer: How To Think Like a Complexity Scientist | Brain Inspired
[I expect to be there]
From Mike Jones on LinkedIn
One week to go!
Only a couple of spaces left for the SCiO – Systems and Complexity in Organisation Open Meeting – Manchester | 31st March 2025
Join us for a full day of practical insights, systems thinking in action, and challenging ideas from experienced practitioners.
Programme includes:
✔️ Introduction to Critical Social Learning Systems – Tony Korycki
✔️ Fundamentals of Systems Thinking – Matt Lloyd PLY
✔️ Psychological Safety as a Systemic Construct – Joan O’Donnell PhD
✔️ Multi-Methodology Approaches in Systems Thinking – Patrick Hoverstadt & Simon MacCormac
✔️ To CLD or Not, That is the Question – Peter Lacey
📍 Manchester Business School (Room 3.049)
Booth St West
Manchester
M15 6PB
🗓️ Monday 31st March | First speaker at 09:30–17:00
This is for you if you work with complexity, lead change, or apply systems thinking in your practice.
Full programme
https://www.systemspractice.org/events/scio-uk-face-face-open-meeting-manchester-march
🎟️ Final few spaces – registration link
Shared by David Ing, who draws attention to their founding website: https://web.archive.org/web/20011106081202/http://www.plexusinstitute.org/services/index.cfm?sub=2
Links below for their appeal to preserve the archives, LinkedIn group, and to sign up to stay updated.
Plexus Institute’s Journey Ends, But Navigating Complexity Never Ends
For more than two decades, Plexus Institute has been a leading advocate for the application of complexity science to organizational and social challenges. Our archives contain a wealth of materials—including research, case studies, recorded dialogues, and thought leadership—that have played a pivotal role in shaping the field of applied complexity.
However, as a completely volunteer-led organization, Plexus Institute is no longer in a position to sustain ongoing operations or effectively maintain and share this important body of work. As a result, Plexus Institute will discontinue all direct communications, programs, and organizational activities as of April 1, 2025.
A Call for Partnership: Preserving the Plexus Archives
With this transition, we are seeking a partner to help preserve and manage the Plexus archives, ensuring their continued accessibility and impact. These materials represent decades of applied complexity research and practice, and we believe their value can extend far beyond Plexus Institute.
We are looking for an organization, institute, or initiative that aligns with Plexus’ mission and can serve as a steward for these archives, curating, sharing, and making them available to complexity practitioners, researchers, and leaders. If you or your organization are interested in exploring potential models of stewardship, curation, and engagement, we welcome the opportunity to discuss this collaboration.
What This Means for the Plexus Community
As of April 1, 2025, Plexus Institute will:Discontinue all direct mailings, newsletters, and email updates.Cease all formal programs and initiatives.Maintain limited access to archives on the current Plexus website for as long as possible How to Stay Connected
Join the Plexus Institute 2025 LinkedIn Group – This group serves as a community-driven space for those who have engaged with Plexus Institute over the years—practitioners, researchers, leaders, and changemakers—and who want to continue to explore complexity science, emergent change, and systemic transformation.
What’s Next After Plexus? Stay Updated
Your participation and support have been integral to the evolving patterns of Plexus Institute’s journey. As we reach this inflection point, we invite those interested in stewarding the future of the Plexus archives to contact Denise Easton.
Just as complex systems adapt and transform, the ideas and practices of applied complexity will continue to emerge, evolve, and influence the future.
Our Enduring Mission
Fostering the health of organizations, communities, individuals and our natural environment by helping people recognize, understand and use concepts emerging from the science of complexity.”
via Ivo Velitchkov
Visiting speaker Thomas Varley Research Scientist, University of Vermont
In person and online
Talks at the Network Science Institute | Thomas Varley
I learn from Sandra Janoff – appropriately – of the sad death of Marv Weisbord, aged 93.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sandra-janoff-65bb59_facilitation-futuresearch-futuresearchnetwork-activity-7309580745893687296-Dv32
Memoriam from Sandra Janoff:
Official obituary (which is good on OD) and remembrances:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/marvin-weisbord-obituary?id=57948817
I never met Weisbord, but his thinking has been important to me – one of the original ‘energies’ in organisational development, very influential on and having worked with Peter Block and of course Sandra. Evidently Marv passed away as he lived his life – peacefully. He had retired and moved to a retirement community, where he continued to collaborate – this time on music.
Some of his pieces which were most important to me were covered here:
And here’s a lovely video with Sandra:
Sandra Janoff, Marv Weisbord, and roots into the history of human relations
A lovely 2020 interview with Dr Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge:
And his own retrospective piece, ‘my life on the learning curve’
https://blog.bestpracticeinstitute.org/my-life-on-the-learning-curve-by-marv-weisbord/
His latter musical career:
https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/102-year-old-releases-album-with-writing-partner-88/
Tribute wall:
https://www.chadwickmckinney.com/obituaries/Marvin-Weisbord/#!/TributeWall
And photos:
https://www.chadwickmckinney.com/obituaries/marvin-weisbord/#!/PhotosVideos/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/69652d03-7f5c-4ed3-b787-67fd145ec236
May his memories be a blessing.
[Just kind of ‘got’ this, finally – it’s all laid out pretty clearly – interesting!]
What is Structural Memetics? And Why Does it Matter? | It’s About Empathy – Connection Ties Us Together
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How best to explain the properties and capabilities of embodied minds? The conventional paradigm holds that living beings are to be understood as the sculpted products of genetics and environment, which determine form and function of the brain as the unique seat of intelligence. Some provision is made for emergence and complexity, as additional “facts that hold” about networks, circuits, and other components of life. Here, I present a sketch of a framework and research roadmap that differs from this view in key aspects. First, the evolutionary conservation of mechanisms and functionality indicate fundamental symmetries between the self-construction of bodies and of minds, revealing a much broader view of diverse intelligence across the agential material of life beyond neural substrates. Second, surprising competencies (not just complexity or unpredictability) in systems that have not had a history of selection for those abilities suggest an additional input into patterns of body and mind that motivates a research program on a latent space of patterns ingressing into the physical world. Emphasizing the principles of continuity and pragmatism, and using morphogenesis as a tractable model system in which to develop these ideas, I explore the implications of the following ideas: (A) Evolution favors living forms that exploit powerful truths of mathematics and computation as affordances, which contribute as causes of morphological and behavioral features. (B) Cognitive patterns are an evolutionary pivot of the collective intelligence of cells; given this symmetry between neuroscience and developmental biology, I propose that the relationship between mind and brain is the same as the relationship between mathematical patterns and the morphogenetic outcomes they guide. (C) Many mathematicians, and a non-mysterian approach to science in general, suggest that these patterns are not random facts to be merely cataloged as “emergence” when found, but rather can be systematically discovered within a structured, ordered (non-physical) space. Therefore, I hypothesize that: (1) instances of embodied cognition likewise ingress from a Platonic space, which contains not only low-agency patterns like facts about triangles and prime numbers, but also higher agency ones such as kinds of minds; (2) we take seriously for developmental, synthetic, and behavioral biology the kinds of non-physicalist ideas that are already a staple of Platonist mathematics; (3) what evolution (and bioengineering, and possibly AI) produces are pointers into that Platonic space – physical interfaces that enable the ingression of specific patterns of body and mind. This provides a new perspective on the organicist/mechanist debate by explaining why traditional computationalist views of life and mind are insufficient, while at the same time erasing artificial distinctions between life and machine, since both are in-formed by diverse patterns from the latent space. I sketch a research program, already begun, of using the tools of the fields of synthetic morphology and diverse intelligence to map out key regions of the Platonic space. Understanding the mapping between the architecture of physical embodiments and the patterns to which they point has massive implications for evolutionary biology, regenerative medicine, AI, and the ethics of synthbiosis with the forthcoming immense diversity of morally important beings.
Ingressing Minds: Causal Patterns Beyond Genetics and Environment in Natural, Synthetic, and Hybrid Embodiments
PsyArXiv Preprints | Ingressing Minds: Causal Patterns Beyond Genetics and Environment in Natural, Synthetic, and Hybrid Embodiments
June Holley on LinkedIn:
What have most system strategies been missing? An understanding of Networks of Networks and System Shifting Networks! This slide deck from my recent talk starts to integrate systems and network approaches to transformation. https://lnkd.in/e7mhJxVz
(8) Post | LinkedIn
All creative commons so feel free to slice and dice for your needs.
If you want access to the video this link takes you to the Socialroots blog. https://lnkd.in/eT4V6Cfa
We are having a second session on March 27th where several Networks of Networks will share their experience. https://lnkd.in/eT4V6Cfa
Ashish Dwivedi, Gerald Midgley
Free to Read
Michael C. Jackson, Matt Lloyd, Rajneesh Chowdhury
Open Access
Alistair J. Smith, Gerald Midgley
Open Access
Rebecca J. M. Herron, Zoraida Mendiwelso-Bendek, David E. Salinas Navarro, Eliseo Vilalta-Perdomo, Miles W Weaver
Free to Read
Jeffrey Scales, Karyne Ang, Shankar Sankaran
Free to Read
Free to Read
Free to Read
Open Access
Hannah Hesselgreaves, Catherine Hobbs, Max French, Rob Wilson, Toby Lowe
Free to Read
Andrea Clark, John Brocklesby, Arun Elias
Open Access
Mohammed Albakri, Trevor Wood-Harper
Free to Read
Open Access
Daniel Norris, Jeff Foote, Richard Greatbanks
Free to Read
Daniell Wilden, John Hopkins, Ian Sadler
Free to Read
Open Access
Open Access
Amanda Gregory, Jonathan Atkins, Ashish Dwivedi
Systems Research and Behavioral Science: Volume 42, Issue 1Pages: 1-259January/February 2025Previous IssueGO TO SECTIONExport Citation(s)ISSUE INFORMATIONFree AccessIssue InformationPages: 1-2 First Published: 26 February 2025AbstractPDFRequest permissionsEDITORIALFree to ReadFestschrift for Mike JacksonAshish Dwivedi, Gerald MidgleyPages: 3-10 First Published: 07 January 2025AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsINTERVIEWFree to ReadA Life of Systems Thinking: Michael C. Jackson in Conversation With Matt Lloyd and Rajneesh ChowdhuryMichael C. Jackson, Matt Lloyd, Rajneesh ChowdhuryPages: 11-22 First Published: 03 December 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsRESEARCH ARTICLEOpen AccessAccommodation and critique: A necessary tensionAlistair J. Smith, Gerald MidgleyPages: 23-50 First Published: 25 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsOpen AccessThe resonance of Mike Jackson’s work with the use of systems ideas in community operational researchRebecca J. M. Herron, Zoraida Mendiwelso-Bendek, David E. Salinas Navarro, Eliseo Vilalta-Perdomo, Miles W WeaverPages: 51-68 First Published: 22 December 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadEmpowering Managers to Adopt Multimethodological Intervention Strategies to Address Complex Problematic SituationsJeffrey Scales, Karyne Ang, Shankar SankaranPages: 69-82 First Published: 26 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadPragmatic ontology—Enhancing the philosophical foundation of critical systems thinking/practiceZhichang ZhuPages: 83-97 First Published: 28 October 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadCreative-Becoming Holism: Reflections on and Development of Creative Holism in the Case of Science EducationChenjia Xu, Dongping FanPages: 98-110 First Published: 21 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadThe Complementarity of Programme Logic and Critical Systems Heuristics: Critical Systems Practice for the Evaluation of Emergency Relief in AustraliaPatrick McKennaPages: 111-122 First Published: 04 December 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsOpen AccessApplying critical systems thinking through phronetic pluralism: Learning from human learning systems and the adaptive learning pathwayHannah Hesselgreaves, Catherine Hobbs, Max French, Rob Wilson, Toby LowePages: 123-141 First Published: 26 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadEnhancing collaborative advantage through critical systems thinking: An augmented viable system model intervention in a cross-sector partnership social policy contextAndrea Clark, John Brocklesby, Arun EliasPages: 142-156 First Published: 16 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsOpen AccessRevisiting Critical Systems Thinking: Enhancing the Gaps Through Sustainability and Action MethodologiesMohammed Albakri, Trevor Wood-HarperPages: 157-170 First Published: 21 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadRevisiting the Viable System Model as an emancipatory systems approachAngela EspinosaPages: 171-188 First Published: 25 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsOpen AccessMode 2 critical systems practice for complex safety decisions: Reflections from New Zealand’s dairy industryDaniel Norris, Jeff Foote, Richard GreatbanksPages: 189-205 First Published: 11 October 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadThe Utility of Critical Systems Practice: A Supply Chain Practitioner PerspectiveDaniell Wilden, John Hopkins, Ian SadlerPages: 206-218 First Published: 24 December 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsFree to ReadTranscending Systems Thinking: Critical Systems Integration and What’s Love Got to Do With ItLouis KleinPages: 219-234 First Published: 03 December 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsOpen AccessTowards a More Holistic and Pluralistic Critical Systems Thinking: The Dimension of ‘Hé’ (和)Wenxian Hetty SunPages: 235-241 First Published: 28 November 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissionsOpen AccessTowards Transformative Supply Chain Research and Practice: A Critical Systems PerspectiveAmanda Gregory, Jonathan Atkins, Ashish DwivediPages: 242-259 First Published: 26 December 2024AbstractFull textPDFReferencesRequest permissions
Systems Research and Behavioral Science: Vol 42, No 1
via Luiz Pessoa on Twitter:
NB this response:
Bechtel and Bich
Published open-access in Philosophy of Science
Abstract: Since Cannon, inspired by Bernard’s discussion of the conditions required for free and independent life, introduced the term homeostasis, many have embraced it as the main theoretical principle guiding physiology and medicine. Nonetheless, critics have argued that homeostasis is too limiting and have advanced a variety of alternative concepts such as heterostasis, rheostasis, and allostasis. We argue that the critics target a much narrower understanding of homeostasis put forward by the cyberneticists and that Bernard and Cannon embraced a far broader understanding that can accommodate the alternatives advanced by the critics and provide an integrated theoretical framework for physiology.
NEW PAPER (2025), REDISCOVERING BERNARD AND CANNON: RESTORING THE BROADER VISION OF HOMEOSTASIS ECLIPSED BY THE CYBERNETICISTSPublished open-access in Philosophy of ScienceAbstract: Since Cannon, inspired by Bernard’s discussion of the conditions required for free and independent life, introduced the term homeostasis, many have embraced it as the main theoretical principle guiding physiology and medicine. Nonetheless, critics have argued that homeostasis is too limiting and have advanced a variety of alternative concepts such as heterostasis, rheostasis, and allostasis. We argue that the critics target a much narrower understanding of homeostasis put forward by the cyberneticists and that Bernard and Cannon embraced a far broader understanding that can accommodate the alternatives advanced by the critics and provide an integrated theoretical framework for physiology.
New Paper (2025), Rediscovering Bernard and Cannon: Restoring the Broader Vision of Homeostasis Eclipsed by the Cyberneticists – Dialectical Systems
Affiliations Expand
The way in which researchers conceptualise and thus define stress shapes the way in which they approach the task of mapping the brain’s stress control pathways. Unfortunately, much of the research currently being done on stress neurocircuitry is occurring within a poorly developed conceptual framework, a framework that limits the depth of the questions that our studies ask, and even our ability to fully appreciate and make use of the data that they yield. Consequently, any attempt to improve our conceptual framework merits close attention. In that regard it is notable that in recent years it has been argued that the concept of homeostasis should be supplemented by the concepts of allostasis (literally ‘stability through change’) and allostatic load (in effect, the cost of allostasis). One of the purported benefits of this change has been that it will clarify the concept of stress. A close review of the arguments leads us to conclude that the introduction of the concept of allostasis has largely occurred as a result of misunderstandings and misapprehensions concerning the concept of homeostasis. In terms of understanding how the organism operates, it is not clear that the concepts of ‘allostasis’ or ‘allostatic load’ offer us anything that was not already apparent, or at least readily derivable, from an accurate reading of the original concept of homeostasis. Not surprisingly then, these more recently proposed concepts also offer little help in clarifying our understanding of stress. Indeed, rather than clarifying the concept of stress, the primary effort appears to be directed at subsuming the concept of stress within the concept of allostasis, which has the inadvertent effect of collapsing the study of homeostatic responses and stress responses together. This seems to be out of step with the fact that there is now considerable evidence that the brain does indeed possess certain pathways that merit the title of ‘stress neurocircuitry’. The attempt to subsume the concept of stress within the concept of allostasis is also counter-productive in that it distracts stress researchers from the important task of developing conceptual frameworks that allow us to tackle fundamental issues such as how the organism differentiates stressful from non-stressful challenges.
Defining stress as a prelude to mapping its neurocircuitry: no help from allostasis – PubMed
Very honoured Mike asked me to write a foreword for his excellent book (and the breathtaking speed at which he published is also impressive) – my foreword is only a first iteration, but the book is the real deal – I highly recommend it.
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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