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[PDF] The science of the unknowable: Stafford Beer’s cybernetic informatics | Semantic Scholar

• DOI:10.1108/03684920410523535

The science of the unknowable: Stafford Beer’s cybernetic informatics

Andrew Pickering

Published 2004

Kybernetes

This paper explores the history of Stafford Beer’s work in management cybernetics, from his early conception and simulation of an adaptive automatic factory and associated experimentation in biological computing, through the development of the Viable System Model and the Team Syntegrity technique for discussion and planning. It also pursues Beer into the fields of micro‐ and macropolitics and spirituality. The aim is to show that all of Beer’s projects can be understood as specific instantiations and workings out of a cybernetic ontology of unknowability and becoming: a stance that recognises that the world can always surprise us and that we can never dominate it through knowledge. The thrust of Beer’s work was, thus, to construct systems that could adapt performatively to environments they could not fully control.

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[PDF] The science of the unknowable: Stafford Beer’s cybernetic informatics | Semantic Scholar

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Articles

Articles

• Richardson K, Tait A (2015). On the dynamic structure of complex networks. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, Forum, 31 December 2015.
• Richardson K, Tait A (2013). When spreadsheets go bad. OR Insight 26, 270-277.
• Sipple J W, Vink J, Francis J, Williams J, Morgan J, Brady S, Tait A (2012). Making data open & useful: providing enhanced access to public data through web and app tools to facilitate better local decisionmaking. Presented at 6th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain, 5-7 March 2012.
• Richardson K, Goldstein, J A, Allen, P M, Tait A (2008). Complexity and Neo-Expertise. E:CO Annual 2008, pp. ix-xiv.
• Richardson K, Tait A (2008). Confronting Complexity. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, Volume 10 Number 2, 2008.
• Brady S, Tait A (2006). Arizona and New York Schools Push the Envelope. Perspectives on Performance, Volume 5; Issue 2 – October 2006.
• Tait A (2006). Speed Confrontation Management. Victor Svetlov has produced a Russian translation of this paper. (EPUB) (Mobipocket/Kindle)
• Tait A (2006). Mario’s career crisis.
• Tait A (2006). Modeling confrontations using Options Boards.
• Koehn D, Tait A, Crannell M (2005). Absolving the Sin of Collaboration. “inside collaboration”, Volume IV Issue V 06/05.
• Crannell M, Howard N, Norwood G, Tait A (2005). A C2 system for ‘winning hearts and minds’: tools for Confrontation and Collaboration Analysis. Proceedings of the Tenth International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, McLean, VA, 13-16 June 2005.
• Crannell M, Howard N, Norwood G, Tait A (2004). How to assess an exit strategy: Measures of Merit for compliance. Proceedings of the 2004 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Coronado Bay Resort, San Diego, CA, 15-17 June 2004.
• Brady S, Tait A (2004). No Organization Left Behind — “Mass Market” Data Envelopment Analysis. Invited paper at CORS/INFORMS Joint International Meeting 2004, Banff, Canada, 16-19 May 2004.
• Baan A, Howard N, Tait A (2003). “COM as Shooter” — Operational Planning using C2 for Confronting and Collaborating. Proceedings of the 8th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, National Defense University, Washington, DC, 17-19 June 2003.
• Smith R, Howard N, Tait A (2002). Commanding Anti-Terrorist Coalitions: A Mid-East Illustration. Proceedings of the 7th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, 11-13 June 2002.
• Tait A, Flower A (2001). Information security…let’s talk business. White paper for finance industry.
• Smith R, Howard N, Tait A (2001). Confrontations in War and Peace. Proceedings of the 6th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, 19-21 June 2001.
• Richardson K, Tait A, Lissack M (1999). The potential role of group decision support tools in the coherent management of complex projects. IRNOP IV, September 1999.
• Stubbs L, Tait A, Howard, N (1999). How to Model a Confrontation — Computer Support for Drama Theory. Proceedings of the 1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Naval War College, Newport, RI, June 29 – July 1 1999.
• Howard N, Tait A (1998). Power: an approach based on drama theory. Presentation to Symposium on Analytical Approaches to Studying Power and Influence in Contemporary Political/Military Affairs, DERA, Farnborough, October 1998.
• Tait A (1997). ‘Facilitation Environments’ for Negotiation and Mediation. Cooperation – or Conflict, 11 (4), July 1997.
• Tait A (1997). Drama without Tears. Operational Research Society Tutorial Papers, YOR10.
• Williams T M, Eden C, Ackermann F, Tait A (1995). Vicious Circles of Parallelism. International Journal of Project Management, 13 (3), 151-155.
• Williams T M, Eden C, Ackermann F, Tait A (1995). The Effects of Design Changes and Delays on Project Costs. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 46, 809-818.
• Bennett P G, Tait A, MacDonagh, K (1994). INTERACT: Developing Software for Interactive Decisions. Group Decision and Negotiation, 3, 351-372.

Posters

• Cognitive mapping poster
• Confrontation analysis poster

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Articles

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Improvisation Blog: Luhmann and Biology

Luhmann and Biology

Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory is one of the most impressive achievements in the social sciences in the second half of the 20th century. Widely appreciated and mainstream in Germany and across mainland Europe, it remains far less well-known in the Anglo-Saxon world, beyond the realms of systems theorists who knew about Luhmann’s hinterland, cybernetics, Maturana, etc. 

Loet Leydesdorff is about to publish a new book detailing the intellectual relationships that Luhmann had with Habermas and the intellectual elite in the 60s and 70s. This history is important because its not just our institutions that are in a mess at the moment, but our disciplines – not least, sociology. 

For those who want to critique Luhmann, his dependence first on the biological cybernetics of Maturana and Varela is a cause to claim “biological reductionism”, or his later fascination with Spencer-Brown as a kind of sophistry which doesn’t convince Leydesdorff.  It’s remarkable that despite these criticisms, and indeed the criticism by Maturana that Luhmannn had misappropriated his theory, that Luhmann is the only figure from mainstream cybernetics to have had a major transformative impact on a discipline, with important work drawing on it – from Kittler’s media theory (again, pretty much unknown to Anglo-Saxon media departments) to Yuk Hui’s recent and brilliant “Recursivity and Contingency” which is spreading around the world. People reading Hui will learn about Ashby, Maturana, Von Foerster, Simondon, etc from this.

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Improvisation Blog: Luhmann and Biology

Cybernetics & Human Knowing A Journal of Second Order Cybernetics, Autopoiesis & Cybersemiotics Guest Column: The Relevance of Cybernetics in the 21st Century Column Author:  Larry Richards

Guest Column: The Relevance of Cybernetics in the 21st Century | Cybernetics & Human Knowing

Learning for Timely Action: An Introduction to the Cybernetics of Collaborative Developmental Action Inquiry (CDAI) ASC Pages Author:  William R. Torbert Aftab Erfan

Learning for Timely Action: An Introduction to the Cybernetics of Collaborative Developmental Action Inquiry (CDAI) | Cybernetics & Human Knowing

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Webinar Registration – Zoom

Phumlani Nkontwanais an Associate Lecturer on the MBA & PGDip modules at the USB, Stellenbosch University. He is currently pursuing his PhD in the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University. He also teaches Systems Change and Social Impact Executive Course at the GSB, Cape Town University. He is chief executive officer of Fuata Africa – a small boutique entrepreneurship development consulting outfit mainly practising in six African markets (http://www.fuataafrica.com).

Dr John van Breda is a Senior Researcher and programme coordinator for transdisciplinary research at the Centre of Complex Systems in Transition (CST). John holds post-graduate degrees in philosophy, theology and sociology as well as PhD with a specific focus on developing context-relevant transdisciplinary research approaches for conducting solution-oriented research in a developing world context. His expertise is in transdisciplinary methodologies and methods for tackling complex social-ecological systems challenges. The title of his PhD is as follows: “Methodological Agility for Sustainability Transitions in the Context of the Anthropocene” which can be accessed here: http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/106959.

Register here:

Webinar Registration – Zoom

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Yes! Our World Is Complex, and More Than The Sum Of Its Parts | by Kenneth Silvestri | ILLUMINATION | Jul, 2020 | Medium

Yes! Our World Is Complex, And More Than The Sum Of Its Parts: Lessons From Gaia

“Between us is the genesis of ability to perceive and respond to the complexity of this time.” -Nora Bateson

I doubt if anyone can deny that we live in a complex world. And who can disagree with the dictionary definition of complexity: the “quality or state of being composed of interconnected parts”?

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Yes! Our World Is Complex, and More Than The Sum Of Its Parts | by Kenneth Silvestri | ILLUMINATION | Jul, 2020 | Medium

book at:

Systems Thinking Study club – “A little illustrated book of Organization” Tickets, Fri, 7 Aug 2020 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

Summer book club kickoff event

It is still not late to join the bookclub if you weren’t able to make yesterday’s event.

Here is a recap of what was discussed.

1. Weekly meeting on Fridays noon-hours for the next 5 weeks. Will be extended based on progress of the reading and review. To participate register on Eventbrite and the calender invite will be sent to you:

2. The bookclub schedule:

Session #1 – 14 August 2020: 12-1 PM/ET

Preread required for session #1: Book pages 1-25

Session #2 – 21 August 2020: 12-1 PM/ET

Preread required for session #2: Book pages 26-49

Session #3 – 28 August 2020: 12-1 PM/ET

Preread required for session #3: Book pages 50-75

Session #4 – 4 September 2020: 12-1 PM/ET

Preread required for session #4: Book pages 76-99

Session #5 – 11 September 2020: 12-1 PM/ET

Preread required for session #5: Book pages 100-118 and wrap-up

3. If you haven’t bought the book yet, here is the link to buy the same:
https://www.flipsnack.com/stevemorlidge/the-little-book-of-organisation-special-edition/full-view.html

4. For the 1st meeting on 14th August, the plan is to read pages 1-24.  Please plan to read something every day in order to move forward. While you read, please make notes of things that you relate to, things that you would like to clarify/discuss, other frameworks/methods that you can compare this book to.

Please let me know if you have any questions. See you on August the 14th.

Cheers,

Srikanth

Six-week summer book club and review of “A little illustrated book of Organization”

Systems Thinking Study club – “A little illustrated book of Organization” Tickets, Fri, 7 Aug 2020 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

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Wicked Problems toolkit | xynteo.com

c/o Systems Innovation

WICKED PROBLEMS TOOLKIT

Trying to create a positive and lasting impact in our complex, interconnected world is incredibly difficult. It can sometimes feel downright impossible.

If you are faced with a complex problem and overwhelmed by the size, scale and intractability of it, this toolkit is for you. It doesn’t matter if you work in business, in government, or in the NGO world – our process works equally well in all contexts. 

These step-by-step guides to some of the methods and tools Xynteo regularly uses in our work will equip you with the knowledge and mindset you need to tackle complex problems – helping you understand them, analyse them, and find points of intervention

01An introduction to wicked problemsWhat makes a problem ‘wicked’ and seemingly impossible to solve?

02A step-by-step guide to system mappingFollow this guide to build your own system map.

03A step-by-step guide to backcasting

Follow this guide to ideate solutions by working backward from your goal.

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Wicked Problems toolkit | xynteo.com

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Anticipatory Dysfunction – Systems Thinking – Open Learning Commons

Anticipatory Dysfunction

Systems Thinking

1

 / 

2

judithlrosen1 14h

Once again, at the suggestion of David Ing, here’s a Facebook post that he felt would be appropriate for this venue and he asked me to post it:

https://medium.com/the-spike/seventy-teams-of-scientists-analysed-the-same-brain-data-and-it-went-badly-e0d96c23dbf4 1

Sometimes, when human beings are engaged in science, our Anticipatory nature leads us into Anticipatory Dysfunction. This is why I constantly caution people who are saying “trust science!”… Not all people doing science are good at it. And not all have good intentions, either, but that’s not what this story is about.

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Anticipatory Dysfunction – Systems Thinking – Open Learning Commons

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Acting Cybernetically | Cybernetics & Human Knowing

Ben Sweeting says:
I’m pleased to announce the publication of a special issue of Cybernetics and Human Knowing titled ‘Acting Cybernetically’. This comprises a selection of papers from the 2019 conference of the American Society for Cybernetics held at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. The conference was organised by Tom Scholte, Pille Bunnell and myself. The special issue has been edited by myself and Tom.
Follow this link for an overview: http://chkjournal.com/?q=node/357
You will find that several features (forward, commentary, two columns) are available open access, although the main papers require a subscription to see more than a preview. If you don’t currently, I do encourage you to subscribe or to ask your institution to do so – it is good value and helps support the infrastructure of our discipline.
Additional papers from the conference are published in other issues in this volume as regular articles and in the ASC Pages column.
Best wishesBen

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Acting Cybernetically | Cybernetics & Human Knowing

Cybernetics & Human Knowing

A Journal of Second Order Cybernetics, Autopoiesis & Cybersemiotics

Acting Cybernetically

• All
• Volume 27

Issue: 2Year: 2020Table of ContentForeword: Acting CyberneticallyCommentary: You’re a Cybernetician. Act Like One!Articles: Acting Cybernetically?Bridging Bateson’s Gap: Participating Cybernetically in a More-Than-Human WorldActing Cybernetically: Practicing Design Theory and Theorizing Design Practice as a Participatory Learning JourneyA Fun Palace: A Mixed Reality Event Through the Looking Glass of CyberneticsColumn: Guest Column: The Relevance of Cybernetics in the 21st CenturyASC Pages: Learning for Timely Action: An Introduction to the Cybernetics of Collaborative Developmental Action Inquiry (CDAI)Featured Artist: Donna Ruff

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Organizing in the age of systems: Ivan Illich’s critical contributions to organization studies

Cadernos EBAPE.BR

On-line version ISSN 1679-3951

Cad. EBAPE.BR vol.18 no.2 Rio de Janeiro Apr./June 2020  Epub July 10, 2020

https://doi.org/10.1590/1679-395177954x 

ARTICLE

Organizing in the age of systems: Ivan Illich’s critical contributions to organization studies

LUCAS CASAGRANDE¹  
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8327-4810

NILO CORADINI DE FREITAS² 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2327-8297

¹UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL (UFRGS) / ESCOLA DE ADMINISTRAÇÃO, PORTO ALEGRE – RS, BRAZIL

²UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL (UFRGS) / PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ADMINISTRAÇÃO, PORTO ALEGRE – RS, BRAZIL

ABSTRACT

This essay presents Ivan Illich’s critique of institutionalization in modern society and its evolution to the Age of Systems, the problems that arise, and its imbrication with technological choices. The essay explores the author’s thoughts and the contributions of his dialogues to the Organization Studies. The study presents the idea of institutional imbalance and correlates it with the concept of manipulative tools as opposed to convivial tools, assuming, therefore, that technique is not something neutral. The study then discusses how industrial society reifies the human being and becomes a great functional social system, a ‘body with organs,’ which needs the institutions ‘school,’ ‘health’, and industry. Industrial society creates disabling professions that specialize individuals until their full alienation and mediation, and it incorporates a system of mass surveillance in the subjectivity of each one. Against this, different propositions of withdrawing power, or deconstructing rules are possible, as shown by Giorgio Agamben.

Keywords: Ivan Illich; Conviviality; Age of Systems; Alternative Organizations; Institutionalization

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Organizing in the age of systems: Ivan Illich’s critical contributions to organization studies

and

should be required listening for all people wanting to ‘solve problems’, offering advice on Twitter, etc…

https://overcast.fm/+TKZKHuE9Q

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/n8hw3d/149-3050-feral-hogs