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Post | LinkedIn

Rethinking my unknown-unknowable matric from over thirty years ago

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Post | LinkedIn

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Singapore Institute of Management launches centre for systems leadership, Leadership & Management – THE BUSINESS TIMES

Singapore Institute of Management launches centre for systems leadership

THU, NOV 12, 2020 – 9:38 PMGAYLE GOHgaylegoh@sph.com.sg

THE Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) has launched a Centre for Systems Leadership to train youths, professionals and organisational leaders to lead more successfully through systems thinking.

The centre, to be located in the existing SIM Management House in Namly Avenue, will run an 18-day programme for working professionals, spread over six months. It will also offer bespoke programmes, tailored for leadership teams in organisations and enterprises.

This is in addition to the 30-hour programmes it will run for youth leaders and final-year undergraduates from February. The centre is also planning its first systems leadership conference that same month.

Learning programmes will be run on-site. However, the centre is also working with collaborators to roll out online options from the first quarter of next year, said Seah Chin Siong, SIM’s president and chief executive.

Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs, officiated at the centre’s launch event on Thursday evening.

She said: “The more complex our problems, the more leaders need the skills and discipline of systems thinking.” She added that the new centre can help to build capacity in Singapore to emerge stronger from the Covid-19 pandemic, and to develop resilience against future disruptions.

Systems thinking and leadership gained prominence in the 90s as a way of approaching issues and problem statements holistically, as part of interconnected systems and not disparate parts. Dr Peter Senge, an American systems scientist, is credited for popularising the concept as a management strategy.

SIM’s Mr Seah told The Business Times: “The pandemic has shown people across the world the stark reality of how life can become when existing systems and structures, which we take for granted, no longer function properly.

“In a post Covid world, leaders and organisations will have to strive to better understand the complexities and inter-connectedness underlying the systemic structures which we have built over the years.”

He added that systems thinking has helped organisations and companies overcome disruptions brought about by market shifts, new technologies and low-cost startups. He cited Barnes & Noble as an example of a company that used systems thinking to reinvent their business model; others, like Kodak, failed to comprehend how changes in the industry’s ecosystem would eventually undermine their own innovation efforts

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Singapore Institute of Management launches centre for systems leadership, Leadership & Management – THE BUSINESS TIMES

original in Italian (I read with Chrome translate)

Won’t another drop kill us? Climate crisis, social crisis and the experience of Covid-19 – Scienza & Pace Magazine

Science & Peace Magazine

by the Interdisciplinary Center for Peace Sciences – University of Pisa

Environment Economy

Won’t another drop kill us? Climate crisis, social crisis and the Covid-19 experience

 November 16, 2020cispmag  0 commentsclimate change , climate , sustainability , ecological transition

by Matteo Villa

 
Recognize the links

In this Global Strike for Our Future initiative , the organizers (Fridays For Future and Earth Strike from Lucca) propose a reflection on the link between the Coronavirus crisis and the ecological crisis. The point is essential: as fact discuss or to t the beginning of the pandemic of This Magazine, the spread of the virus and its many ramifications are essentially part of a deep crisis in the relationship between us and the nature of which we are a part. Many contribut e stud i have since been published and we can take a cue from these, other jobs, and the most recent events to reflect on the kind of bonds that we are often tempted not to try to understand and recognize.

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Won’t another drop kill us? Climate crisis, social crisis and the experience of Covid-19 – Scienza & Pace Magazine

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Gregory Bateson

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Narrative structure of A Song of Ice and Fire creates a fictional world with realistic measures of social complexity | PNAS

Narrative structure of A Song of Ice and Fire creates a fictional world with realistic measures of social complexity

 View ORCID ProfileThomas Gessey-Jones,  View ORCID ProfileColm Connaughton,  View ORCID ProfileRobin Dunbar,  View ORCID ProfileRalph Kenna, Pádraig MacCarron,  View ORCID ProfileCathal O’Conchobhair, and  View ORCID ProfileJoseph YosePNAS first published November 2, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006465117

1. Edited by Kenneth W. Wachter, University of California, Berkeley, CA, and approved September 15, 2020 (received for review April 6, 2020)

• Article
• Figures & SI
• Info & Metrics
•  PDF

Significance

We use mathematical and statistical methods to probe how a sprawling, dynamic, complex narrative of massive scale achieved broad accessibility and acclaim without surrendering to the need for reductionist simplifications. Subtle narrational tricks such as how natural social networks are mirrored and how significant events are scheduled are unveiled. The narrative network matches evolved cognitive abilities to enable complex messages be conveyed in accessible ways while story time and discourse time are carefully distinguished in ways matching theories of narratology. This marriage of science and humanities opens avenues to comparative literary studies. It provides quantitative support, for example, for the widespread view that deaths appear to be randomly distributed throughout the narrative even though, in fact, they are not.

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Narrative structure of A Song of Ice and Fire creates a fictional world with realistic measures of social complexity | PNAS

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Visualisation Techniques for a Complex World – Palladio – Trusted Advisers

PALLADIO

VISUALISATION TECHNIQUES FOR A COMPLEX WORLD

In 1999, Frederic Vester published a report to the Club of Rome named “The Art of Interconnected Thinking”. The main focus of the book is about understanding complex systems, and how a number of interconnected models, what he called the Sensitivity Model, can help us do so. The Sensitivity Model is an IT-based approach, today in the ownership of Malik Management. While other IT-based approaches try to connect some 200+ variables into a database, Vester is frugal in comparison, with 10-20 variables. The advantage of his approach over the more mathematical siblings is the acceptance and use of fuzziness. We simply cannot expect to be able to get a total picture of our system with sharply differentiated concepts and mathematical variables, so stop trying to do it anyway. The consequence is: we better accept that whatever model we use, it will be incomplete and partially wrong. It would be foolish to attempt something that is 100% correct. Therefore, a more realistic ambition is to create a model which is relevant to the pragmatical perspective of the beholder, and is sufficiently apt to produce this relevance.

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Visualisation Techniques for a Complex World – Palladio – Trusted Advisers

can’t believe I missed this…

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An Introduction to Complex Systems Science and its Applications — New England Complex Systems Institute

AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPLEX SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND ITS APPLICATIONS

Cite as:

Alexander F. Siegenfeld and Yaneer Bar-Yam, An introduction to complex systems science and its applications, Complexity 2020 (July 27, 2020).

AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPLEX SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND ITS APPLICATIONS Cite as: Alexander F. Siegenfeld and Yaneer Bar-Yam, An introduction to complex systems science and its applications, Complexity 2020 (July 27, 2020).

An Introduction to Complex Systems Science and its Applications — New England Complex Systems Institute

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The pandemic exposes human nature: 10 evolutionary insights | PNAS

The pandemic exposes human nature: 10 evolutionary insights

 View ORCID ProfileBenjamin M. Seitz, Athena Aktipis, David M. Buss, Joe Alcock, Paul Bloom,  View ORCID ProfileMichele Gelfand, Sam Harris,  View ORCID ProfileDebra Lieberman, Barbara N. Horowitz,  View ORCID ProfileSteven Pinker,  View ORCID ProfileDavid Sloan Wilson, and Martie G. HaseltonPNAS November 10, 2020 117 (45) 27767-27776; first published October 22, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009787117

1. Edited by Michael S. Gazzaniga, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, and approved September 16, 2020 (received for review June 9, 2020)

• Article
• Info & Metrics
•  PDF

Abstract

Humans and viruses have been coevolving for millennia. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19) has been particularly successful in evading our evolved defenses. The outcome has been tragic—across the globe, millions have been sickened and hundreds of thousands have died. Moreover, the quarantine has radically changed the structure of our lives, with devastating social and economic consequences that are likely to unfold for years. An evolutionary perspective can help us understand the progression and consequences of the pandemic. Here, a diverse group of scientists, with expertise from evolutionary medicine to cultural evolution, provide insights about the pandemic and its aftermath. At the most granular level, we consider how viruses might affect social behavior, and how quarantine, ironically, could make us susceptible to other maladies, due to a lack of microbial exposure. At the psychological level, we describe the ways in which the pandemic can affect mating behavior, cooperation (or the lack thereof), and gender norms, and how we can use disgust to better activate native “behavioral immunity” to combat disease spread. At the cultural level, we describe shifting cultural norms and how we might harness them to better combat disease and the negative social consequences of the pandemic. These insights can be used to craft solutions to problems produced by the pandemic and to lay the groundwork for a scientific agenda to capture and understand what has become, in effect, a worldwide social experiment.

• COVID-19
• evolution
• evolutionary medicine
• evolutionary psychology
• cultural evolution

Insight 1: The Virus Might Alter Host Sociability

Insight 2: “Generation Quarantine” May Lack Critical Microbial Exposures

Insight 3: Activating Disgust Can Help Combat Disease Spread

Insight 4: The Mating Landscape Is Changing, and There Will Be Economic Consequences from a Decrease in Birth Rates

Insight 5: Gender Norms Are Backsliding, and Gender Inequality Is Increasing

Insight 6: An Increase in Empathy and Compassion Is Not Guaranteed

Insight 7: We Have Not Evolved to Seek the Truth

Insight 8: Combating the Pandemic Requires Its Own Evolutionary Process

Insight 9: Cultural Evolutionary Forces Impact COVID-19 Severity

Insight 10: Human Progress Continues

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The pandemic exposes human nature: 10 evolutionary insights | PNAS

For those interested, a history of readings for my @sfiscience Summer School lectures are available at the link below. I have yet to update for 2020, but will very soon.

In the meantime, plenty of notes, book recommendations, and Summer School drama.https://t.co/l2k7lYxwm7

— Simon DeDeo (@SimonDeDeo) October 27, 2020

source (with much more):

CSSS Lectures

CSSS 2019 — Cultural Evolution

Our 2019 lectures went from the biological priors of the visual system to meta-cultural knowledge production. A few sources that will enable you to follow up, or go more deeply, into the ideas in play:

1. Three books on cultural evolution: Cognitive Gadgets, by Celia Heyes / Existence, by David Brin / A Culture of Growth, by Joel Mokyr

2. Short introductions to the basic concepts: Information theory for intelligent people / Bayesian reasoning for intelligent people

3. Empirical research into the social and cognitive roles of novelty and transience: Exploration and exploitation of Victorian science in Darwin’s reading notebooks / Individuals, institutions, and innovation in the debates of the French Revolution / Sameness attracts, novelty disturbs, and outliers flourish in fan fiction online.

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CSSS Lectures

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The role of “System 3” thinking – Planet Lean on the drivers of improvement

Nov 16, 2020Michael Ballé

The role of “System 3” thinking

FEATURE – This compelling article explores how our brain constantly looks for emotional resonance with the environment around us. Is this System-3 type thinking the key to enabling joint problem solving?

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Words: Michael Ballé, lean author, executive coach and co-founder of Institut Lean France.

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Nobel prize recipient Daniel Kahneman distinguishes two different thinking pathways according to whether we think hotly, which is quickly and automatically, or coldly, that is slowly and reflexively:

• With the system 1 thinking process, the brain forms thoughts that are fast, automatic, stereotypical, emotional and often unconscious – think of the first thing that comes to mind when you are presented with an object, an idea or a situation.
• With the system 2 thinking process, the brain calculates wilfully a response by directing attention to the situation, figuring it out and formulating a deliberate response.

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The role of “System 3” thinking – Planet Lean on the drivers of improvement

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Max Boisot – The City as a Complex Adaptive System – YouTube

Max Boisot – The City as a Complex Adaptive System

27 Sep 2020

The first seminar in this Series took place on Thursday 18 November 2010 at the Lighthouse. The ATLAS Collaboration will conduct experiments at the very edge of science, using one of four detectors located on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Collaboration consists of over 3000 scientists working in over 174 research institutes and universities located in 38 countries around the globe. In such a complex and spatially extended network (what we would today call a complex adaptive system) how do the knowledge flows allow the creation of one of the most sophisticated technological objects ever built? Drawing on a conceptual framework, the Information-Space or I-Space, Max Boisot described and tried to make sense of the ATLAS collaboration’s culture. He explored the lessons that the management of globally distributed ‘big science’ projects such as the ATLAS collaboration hold for other complex adaptive systems such as cities. Source Glasgow Caledonian University CC BY-NC-SA https://edshare.gcu.ac.uk/143/ References Max Boisot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Boisot I-Space Institute http://www.ispaceinstitute.com/

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Max Boisot – The City as a Complex Adaptive System – YouTube

https://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/short-courses

Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates: We are open for Short Course bookings

Dartington always endeavours to provide a safe and supportive environment for all of our visitors. We are therefore not taking bookings for courses between 5 November – 2 December. If you have already made a booking for this period you will be contacted and given further details. We are taking bookings as normal for courses beyond the lockdown period and will continue to monitor the situation closely. We will refund or transfer your booking if we need to cancel any courses for covid-related reasons.

When you do arrive, there will be some changes to our usual practices but a warm welcome awaits you! We’ve put together some information about what we’re doing to keep you safe – you can read it here (pdf)(link is external). For peace of mind, we’re also making our risk assessments available – you can read them here.

Schumacher College delivers a unique brand of small-group experiences which embrace learning through head, hand, and heart. This takes place in the classroom, the gardens, the kitchen – it is part of everything we do. Short course participants join our learning community on courses ranging from a weekend to three weeks. Join us to discover things about yourself, make deep friendships with students from around the world and start a lifelong connection with the College. We hope that your involvement with Schumacher College will help to sustain you and we look forward to welcoming you in the near future.

Ecology of Movement (Online Course)

Mon, 23/11/2020 to Sun, 03/01/2021With Lizzy Hawker

A short course over 6 weeks using movement to connect us to ourselves, the natural world around us and each other. In a time where many of us are again, or still, facing restrictions on movement and daily life developing a personal practice of movement can ground us and remind us of the freedoms that we always have.

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Booking deadline: 20 Novemberread more

Science and the Soul of the World

Sat, 23/01/2021 to Sat, 27/02/2021With Matthew T. Segall

Participatory Knowing in Goethe and Whitehead: This short course explores how participatory ways of knowing can transform the natural sciences. It focuses on two towering exemplars of this approach, the German poet and naturalist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) and the British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947).

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Booking deadline: Sunday 10 January 2021read more

Schumacher Experience 2021

Mon, 01/02/2021 to Fri, 05/02/2021With Satish Kumar, Colum Pawson and Stephan Harding

Immerse yourself for a week in the vibrant community of Schumacher College. This course is designed to give you space to enquire into what has meaning in your life, and what role you wish to play in the world, while also being inspired and invigorated by some of the concepts and ideas the college is based upon and participating in the rich daily life of the Schumacher community.

Booking deadline: 10 January 2021read more

Power Of Love 2021

Fri, 12/02/2021 to Sun, 14/02/2021With Satish Kumar and June Mitchell

This is a chance to spend an intimate weekend, hosted by Satish Kumar to consider the role of love in our lives and how we can use it to live in a more fulfilling way. It will be an opportunity for discussion and deep reflection, incorporating the wisdom of poets and mystics, to consider the most powerful force on earth.

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Booking deadline: 10 January 2021read more

Changing the Frame (spring 2021)

Mon, 01/03/2021 to Thu, 01/04/2021With Kate Raworth, Rob Hopkins, Tom Crompton, Manda Scott, Jonathan Dawson and Jay Tompt

This course provides an opportunity for a deep dive, in the company of internationally recognised scientists, writers and artists in various media, into the science underlying the process by which we make sense of the world and how we can use this knowledge to become more effective communicators in the service of liberation. In addition to a study of the science underlying effective communication, there will be ample opportunity for solo and/or collaborative creativity, coached by our team of writers and artists.

Booking Deadline: 18 January 2021read more

Soulful Connection with Trees (March 2021)

Fri, 19/03/2021 to Sun, 21/03/2021With Kara Moses and Robin Bowman

A weekend of connecting deeply with trees in diverse ways, from identifying species and understanding basic tree biology, to intimate sensory experience and deep soulful connection.

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Booking deadline: 5 February 2021read more

Creative Facilitation in a Time of Environmental Emergency 2021

Mon, 22/03/2021 to Fri, 26/03/2021With Jenny Mackewn and Robert Poynton

Our beautiful planet earth is under pressure, her diverse habitats are being destroyed, her wild animals are going extinct, What must we do?
We need to develop and deepen our Wild Facilitation skills and use these creative methodologies to collaborate with individuals, groups, teams, communities, organizations and governments so that we can work together to serve and save the earth. We need to act fast.

Booking Deadline: 8 February 2021read more

Pilgrimage to Gaia 2021

Mon, 29/03/2021 to Thu, 01/04/2021With Stephan Harding, Satish Kumar and Dr Fiona Tilley

There is an ever-growing rise in people choosing to take time out of their daily lives to walk pilgrimage routes in the UK and other well-known place around the world. This course will explore the different ways intentional walks are nourishing people’s lives; from the Deep Time Walk, to forest bathing, to sacred pilgrimages and labyrinths to protest walks and pilgrimages for change. During the week there will be an opportunity to experience different styles of pilgrimage as well as meet those who have crafted the art of being a pilgrim in their lives.

Booking deadline: 19 Feb 2021read more

Nourishing The Soul 2021 with Satish Kumar

Fri, 09/04/2021 to Sun, 11/04/2021With Satish Kumar and June Mitchell

Participate in a weekend meditating, walking and spending time in nature away from the daily stresses of life and discover the importance of bringing soul into the heart of everything you do.

Booking deadline: 26 February 2021*read more

Finding Your Voice Weekend 2021

Fri, 16/04/2021 to Sun, 18/04/2021With Ruairi Edwards and Christine Cairns

Discover who you are through song. This is a chance to find your own authentic voice with the support of a community of like-minded people. Maybe you are part of a choir and need the courage to step into the limelight? Maybe you want to sing but lack the confidence? Led by Ruairi Edwards – one of the UK’s most sought-after choral conductors and vocal coaches, this course offers the unique combination of individual attention to developing your technique combined with the sheer joy of experiencing communal voice.

Booking deadline: 5 March 2021read more

How We Remember the Wildest Songs of Ancient Land

Mon, 19/04/2021 to Fri, 23/04/2021With Carolyn Hillyer and Nigel Shaw and Dr Fiona Tilley

Will you reach for this primordial memory that long time ago belonged to you?
Will you hold this powerful intuition, for once you knew it to be true?
Will you trust to this unfettered spirit, for it is free and surely yours?
Will you take this ferocious courage left for you by those who came before?

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Booking deadline: 1 March 2021read more

Deep Ecology Reviving 2021

Mon, 26/04/2021 to Fri, 30/04/2021With Per Ingvar Haukeland and Stephan Harding

As the global crisis deepens, there is renewed interest in deep ecology as a philosophical and practical foundation for compassionate engagement with the world’s problems. This course brings deep ecology right up to date by reviving our deep ecological senses with new ways for connecting to our place and to the community of all beings and by developing our own personal ecological wisdom using the powerful Tree of Life model.

Booking Deadline: 15 March 2021*read more

Forest Gardens and Edible Ecosystems 2021

Mon, 26/04/2021 to Fri, 30/04/2021With Martin Crawford, Caroline Aitken and Jane Gleeson

Learn how to design, implement, and maintain forest gardens and other sustainable agroecological systems. Participants will experience both recently planted and well established 25-year old forest gardens, as well as other agroforestry in and around Dartington.Includes sessions on harvesting, preserving and cooking with forest garden produce.read more

Balancing the Brain 2021: Neuroscience meets Ancient Wisdom

Mon, 10/05/2021 to Fri, 14/05/2021With Dr Iain McGilchrist , Satish Kumar and June Mitchell

We have impoverished our understanding of the world by focussing so much on mechanism. The proper relationship of the two brain hemispheres is one that balances head and heart; one that gives weight to reason, intuition and imagination.

It is this connection that offers us remarkable insights into the unique harmony between ancient wisdom and cutting-edge neuroscience.

Booking Deadline: 29 March 2021read more

Contemplative Action: coming from the heart in this ecospiritual moment

Sat, 15/05/2021 to Wed, 19/05/2021With Prof Rupert Read, Deepak Rughani, Skeena Rathor and Kanada Elizabeth Gorla

The idea of this course is to investigate deeply the spiritual orientation(s) that best suits the country’s growing truth-telling, Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA) movements – movements that are almost certainly our last chance at averting or softening societal collapse.

Booking Deadline: 3 April 2021*read more

Non-Violent Communication 2021

Tue, 01/06/2021 to Fri, 04/06/2021With Satish Kumar and Thomas d’Ansembourg

A practical workshop to learn the basics of the NonViolent Communication process according to Dr. Marshall Rosenberg.

Participants will be invited to actively participate.

Course deadline: 21 April 2021*read more

Co-creating the Emerging Future 2021: The Schumacher Certificate in Leadership and Facilitation

Mon, 07/06/2021 to Fri, 18/06/2021With Jenny Mackewn

Led by Jenny Mackewn, with special contributors. This is a unique course introducing you to inspiring teachers and thinkers supporting you to develop your own personal leadership qualities and achieve your goals.

Join us for an eight-month journey that consists of:  A period of preparation,  a residential intensive and an 8 month community of practice through Virtual or Face-to-Face meeting.

Booking deadline: 26 April 2021read more

Gardening as a Spiritual Practice 2021

Thu, 08/07/2021 to Sun, 11/07/2021With Emma Clark, Satish Kumar and June Mitchell

Gardening has a profound impact on the heart and soul. There will be talks by Satish Kumar on how we are all connected via the profound spiritual essence that is Nature and how through gardening we can connect intimately with nature; and by an expert on Islamic gardens, Emma Clark, on how gardening may be seen as a sacred art and on the spiritual symbolism of the Paradise Garden. Your experience will also include walks around the beautiful Dartington grounds and Qigong bamboo exercises led by the well-known and experienced practitioner June Mitchell.

Booking Deadline: 27 May 2021
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The Power of Ritual And The Poetry of Surrender – 2021

Fri, 30/07/2021 to Fri, 06/08/2021With Colin Campbell, Lucy Hinton, Andrew McAulay, Satish Kumar and Wewo Kotokay

Join Colin Campbell, Lucy Hinton and Andrew McAulay for a process of deep ritual and bring together two areas of practice; nature vigil, and breathwork techniques. This is a chance for relational interaction to contribute to the regeneration of people, and the ‘other-than-human’ kin who speak a language that is both strange and achingly familiar.

Booking Deadline: 30 April 2021*read more

Organic Gardening for soil health 2021: A beginner’s guide to growing soils for healthy produce and people

Fri, 06/08/2021 to Sun, 08/08/2021With Jane Gleeson, Colum Pawson and Julia Ponsonby

This course will set you up with the basics of how to garden in a way that looks after the people, the plants and the whole ecosystem. Learn how to sow seeds, make great compost, look after your soil all in a way that restores the connection between human life and soil life.

Booking Deadline: 25 June 2021*read more

Personal Resilience for Me, You and Us – 2021

Mon, 06/09/2021 to Fri, 10/09/2021With Dr Chris Johnstone and Professor David Peters

At a time of uncertainty in our world, the learnable skills of personal resilience strengthen our capacity to deal with difficult situations and rise to the occasion. Drawing upon psychological, relational and eco-spiritual perspectives, the course focuses on ways to cultivate resilience in ourselves (me), in other people (you), and within the teams, groups or communities we belong to (us). 

Booking Deadline: 26 July 2021*read more

Gaia’s Kitchen 2021

Mon, 11/10/2021 to Wed, 13/10/2021With Julia Ponsonby, Colum Pawson and Caroline Walker

For our Gaia’s Kitchen short course, we will cook together a menu of lunches and suppers using garden produce and including some favourite menus inspired by our college cookbooks. We will also prepare chutney, sauerkraut, minced fruit for minced pies and a fruit cake which can be eaten at Christmas.

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Booking deadline: 30 August 2021read more

Transition Design: Seeding and Catalysing Systems-Level Change 2022

Mon, 20/06/2022 to Wed, 29/06/2022With Terry Irwin, Gideon Kossoff and Cameron Tonkinwise

This course provides an introduction to Transition Design, a new approach to seeding positive, systems-level change and catalysing the transition of entire societies toward more sustainable long-term futures.

Booking deadline: 9 May 2022read more

https://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/short-courses

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Improvisation Blog: Games and Cells

Thursday, 12 November 2020

Games and Cells

A game is another name for a conversation. When people play together, or talk together, they are creating a game which lives through their participation. The ‘playing’ is the dynamic which maintains the boundary of the game, just as the internal and external processes of a cell maintain its boundary with its environment. Games are like cells.

Like all whole systems, there is a meta-system which maintains the integrity of the whole. Games have rules, and rules are determined by the meta-system. The game lives as a viable entity because of the dynamic relationship between the rules of the game and the play. The rules might be thought of as a meta-game.

The relationship between the meta-game and the game is very much like the relationship between the shifts of entropy in play, and the shifts of maximum entropy of possible moves. Maximum entropy determines the maximum amount of disorder available to the game – in effect this relates to the maximum moves allowed by the rules at any point. The entropy of play relates to the constraints (rules) imposed by the metasystem. Both the rules and the play can evolve. 

This is rather like the game “Nomic”, where moves in the game change the rules.

There is an interesting question as to when a game comes to an end: the constraints produced by the meta-system mean that the entropy of play is zero. 

If a conversation or dialogue is a game, then they can come to a pause, but somehow the “talk” goes on in other ways.  The pause in a game is also the result of the entropy of play hitting zero – at least within a particular frame of play. The rules of a game can enforce this pausing-zeroing – like the games and sets in tennis, or timed halves in football. Their purpose is to impose pattern on the sequence of events, so as to set up the conditions for an eventual ending. 

In education, summative assessment does the same thing: it sets up the conditions for an ending of the game. Appeals, mitigations, etc, open the thing up again, but this too is demarcated to create a pattern which is designed to come to an end.

Formative assessment, by contrast, is the actual “playing” of the game. 

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Improvisation Blog: Games and Cells