On LinkedIn he says:

Dr Mike C Jackson OBE

Pleased to say that my new book ‘Critical Systems Thinking: A Practitioner’s Guide’ has landed. It is available from Wiley, Amazon, etc. from 19th June.
The book is my best attempt to distil 40+ years experience of researching and using Systems Thinking (ST) in a way that is accessible to practitioners.
The book offers an introduction to Systems Thinking and Critical Systems Thinking (CST); a description of the best known systems approaches; a guide to the mindset needed to become a systems thinker; advice on Critical Systems Practice (CSP) and case studies; and a discussion of Systemic Leadership.
It is designed for leaders and managers in government, business, the public sector, the professions, and beyond who want to understand the potential of ST and use it in their work.
It complements ‘Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity’ , Wiley, 2019, my earlier comprehensive account of the history of ST and the different systems approaches.
I hope you like it and find it useful.

Post | LinkedIn

June 2024	“Resequencing Systems Thinking: Practising, Theorizing and Philosophizing as Systems Changes Learning, at Year 6 of 10” [view abstract and presentation slides]	David Ing	Presentation at 68th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, Washington, DC
May 2024	“Resequencing Systems Thinking: Practising, Theorizing and Philosophizing as Systems Changes Learning” [view abstract and presentation slides]	David Ing	Expert Led Session for Centre for System Studies, University of Hull, UK

Publications | Coevolving Innovations

https://coevolving.com/commons/publications

how developmental biology might contain the secrets to life, intelligence, and immortality

KASRA

JUN 08, 2024

Prelude: Michael Levin is a scientist at Tufts University who many have described as one of the most revolutionary biologists of our age. His work has been featured everywhere from Scientific American to the Lex Fridman podcast and The New Yorker. I spent the past month reading a bunch of his papers and interviews in an attempt to answer the question: what is Michael Levin on about and why does it matter? The essay below is the result of that investigation.

A Revolution in Biology – by Kasra – Bits of Wonder

https://www.bitsofwonder.co/p/a-revolution-in-biology

[Gerald now has an excellent one-hour whistlestop intro to systems thinking and practice, which he’s been kind enough to deliver several times for Commissioning Academies – I think this is a version of that]

In today’s uncertain world, we need innovative tools to address novel challenges. This course introduces a systems approach to understanding and influencing human action, enabling you to more effectively navigate risks and seize opportunities in contexts where people play a crucial role.

While this course is designed for anyone interested in behavior change, it holds particular relevance for individuals looking to drive strategic change in organizations, policymaking (especially health and security), or service design.

Dates: June 24th through June 28th, 2024
Start: 9:30 am EST / 3:30 pm CET / 6:30 am PST
End: 12:30 pm EST / 6:30 pm CET / 9:30 am PST

Registration Open: Wednesday, April 12th, 2024

Early Bird Registration Prices Apply: April 12th – May 31st

Understanding and Shaping Complex Social Psychological Systems In today’s uncertain world, we need innovative tools to address novel challenges. This course introduces a systems approach to understanding and influencing human action, enabling you to more effectively navigate risks and seize opportunities in contexts where people play a crucial role.While this course is designed for anyone interested in behavior change, it holds particular relevance for individuals looking to drive strategic change in organizations, policymaking (especially health and security), or service design.Dates: June 24th through June 28th, 2024Start: 9:30 am EST / 3:30 pm CET / 6:30 am PSTEnd: 12:30 pm EST / 6:30 pm CET / 9:30 am PSTRegistration Open: Wednesday, April 12th, 2024Early Bird Registration Prices Apply: April 12th – May 31st

Understanding and Shaping Complex Social Psychological Systems — New England Complex Systems Institute

This is the end-May 2024 monthly events mailing from SCiO.  Click on the flags or group titles below to go to the events that interest you. Please remember that you can attend online events organised by any of the SCiO groups if they are held in a language you speak/understand (and you are a member if it is a member-only meeting). Further details of events may be available by clicking on the event titles below and you can also book each event directly from the Book now text.

Only SCiO UK and SCiO Nederland are continuing to have meetings over the next two months but do please note that some groups post events and add details quite late, so it is always worth checking the website – also for changes to dates and times. Please click here to see all the events in a browser.

SCiO Belgium	SCiO DACH
SCiO Espana	SCiO Finland
SCiO India	SCiO Ireland
SCiO Nederland	SCiO UK

___________________________

Several professional development courses are taking place over the next two months:

07 June 2024                PoS2 Patterns of Strategy – Core Module (1.0d),  £500 +VAT

14 June 2024                 PoS3 Patterns of Strategy – Core Module (1.0d),  £500 +VAT

21 June 2024                 Grammar of Systems 3 (1.0d),  £500 +VAT

Click on the titles for more details and to enquire about booking.

Best Regards

Steve

SCiO – Systems & Complexity in Organisation

Mobile      07712 140422         

e-mail      steve.hales@systemspractice.org                       

website    www.systemspractice.org  

This message is confidential to the intended recipient. It does not constitute a legally binding document on the part of either the sender or the recipient. If this message has been received by you in error please reply to: steve.hales@systemspractice.org  with UNSUBSCRIBE as the title  

Systems and Complexity in Organisation Ltd is a company registered in England with Company Number: 3499590 Registered address: Unit 14 Tower Street, Century Building, Brunswick Business Park, Liverpool  L3 4BJ  UK

______________________________________________________________

  SCiO UK

SCiO UK Virtual Development Event – June 2024

Tue, June 18, 2024 – 18:30 – 20:30 GMT+1

SCiO’s Development Events offer an opportunity to draw upon the collective expertise of SCiO members in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. By taking Development Events online, using the Zoom meeting platform, we aim to make them accessible to more SCiO members Development Events are both for members who are just starting out on a journey to explore Systems Thinking approaches, and for those who have many years of exploration and practice.

Members only; FREE; Online event; English Book now

SCiO UK Virtual Open Meeting – July 2024

Mon, Jul 8, 2024 – 18:30 – 21:00 GMT+1

SCiO organises Open Meetings to provide opportunities for practitioners to learn and develop new practice, to build relationships, network, hear about skills, tools, practice and experiences. This virtual session will be held on Zoom.

Disability inequality in the healthcare workforce: how my journey through the systems thinking apprenticeship helped to add a new perspective to the problem – Elisse Grint

Interactive Planning in Action? – Dr Tim Curtis

All welcome; FREE; Online event; English  Book now

______________________________________________________________

  SCiO Nederland

SCIO-NL webinar (in English): Selling Horses, and Seeing Systems on a Road Less Travelled by Bill Bellows

Wed, Jun 12, 2024 – 19:00 – 20:30 CET+1

Coming month, the 12th of June, we are happy to have Bill Bellows join us for an inspiring talk.Bill is an old-time friend and collaborator with our member Frans Leijse; both of them are experts in the work of W.E. Deming and have recently been successful in bringing together a group of professionals in a purposeful and liberating way.On the 12th of July(!) Bill will be in the Netherlands and we will continue the conversation live in Vianen for anybody who wants to join us there.

This is what Bill himself wrote on his talk: From The Road Not Taken to Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, poet Robert Frost crafted timeless images of rural scenes as well as life’s everyday journeys. Through his prose, he also gave sage advice, including guidance on the secret to selling a horse; “Take care to sell your horse before he dies. The art of life is passing losses on.”  Yet, what can be said of those who will receive these losses, be they co-workers, customers, or, more broadly, fellow members of society?  And, how does this impact how systems are managed?
In a very pragmatic sense, our ability to manage systems depends on our ability to see and think about systems. To paraphrase Robert Frost in his poem, The Road Not Taken, this presentation will provide insights to seeing and managing systems on a road less travelled, in which the focus shifts from actions to interactions, with a detailed explanation of both paths.All welcome; Free; Online Event; English  Book now

SCIO-NL monthly meeting June 2024 (live in Vianen and in Dutch)

Fri, Jun 14, 2024 – 12:30 – 16:00 CET+1

SCIO-NL komt elke 2e vrijdag van de maand live bijeen in Vianen (Hagenweg 3c). Er staan geen vaste onderwerpen op de agenda (daarvoor organiseren we specifieke andere meetings), maar de ervaring leert dat er altijd wel een interessant gesprek op gang komt over een systemisch onderwerp. Toegankelijk voor iedereen die de jaarlijkse fee voor de live-bijeenkomsten (€50,-) hiervoor betaald. En voor gasten. Neem contact op via ed@doitogether.nl als je interesse hebt, maar nog geen lid van de club bent.

Restricted; Free; Hagenweg 3c, Vianen, Netherlands;  Dutch  Book now

SCIO-NL monthly meeting July 2024 (live in Vianen)

Fri, Jul 12, 2024 – 14:00 – 17:00 CET+1

This time we will be joined by Bill Bellows from the United States. We will continue the conversation of his presentation of the month before (12th of June).

See the 12 June meeting above for more details.

Restricted; Free; Hagenweg 3c, Vianen, Netherlands;  English  Book now

https://www.systemspractice.org/events

[Some discounted tickets may be available – email benjamin.taylor@redquadrant.com if you are interested]

The map is not the territory, the word is not the thing it describes. Whenever the map is confused with the territory, a ‘semantic disturbance’ is set up in the organism. The disturbance continues until the limitation of the map is recognized.

⏤Alfred Korzybski, Science and Sanity

Korzybski’s study of language, perception, and consciousness provides us with some of the most essential and least recognized theories and methods to make sense of this era in which communication has become polarizing, and media is stirring the storm of confusion.

General semantics is the name of the tradition of inquiry into language, thought, and abstracting that Korzybski founded. Join the Institute of General Semantics (based in New York City) in London, UK, for three days of theory and practical application, story and experiential learning, via an in-person seminar on general semantics and related non-aristotelian systems. The 3-day intensive course will include lecture, discussion, and exercises designed to provide participants with a thorough grounding in the discipline and its applications.

For those unfamiliar with general semantics, the seminar will provide a comprehensive introduction to the tradition and its 21st century evolution. For those already familiar with the non-aristotelian approach, the course will provide reinforcement, enrichment, and an updating and expansion of the discipline. And for those interested in and/or involved in teaching, the seminar will provide useful guidance on pedagogy related to topics such as language, symbolic communication, thought and behavior, and epistemology and evaluation.

During the seminar, we will explore how unexamined language behaviors perpetuate misperceptions of past and present controversies in professional and personal spaces. And we will determine which language and listening behaviors respect the infinite worth of each person in the interaction.

The seminar leaders will include four trustees of the Institute of General Semantics: 

Lance Strate, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, President of the Institute of General Semantics, and author of 10 books including Media Ecology: An Approach to Understanding the Human Condition, and Concerning Communication: Epic Quests and Lyric Excursions Within the Human Lifeworld.

Mary P. Lahman, Professor Emerita of Communication Studies at Manchester University, Trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, ECHO Certified Listening Practitioner, and author of Awareness and Action: A Travel Companion.

Nora Bateson, President of the International Bateson Institute, Trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, Creator of Warm Data and the Warm Data labs, complexity/systems teacher, filmmaker, artist, and author of Small Arcs of Larger Circles, and Combining.

Dom Heffer, East Yorkshire-based artist, Trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, Art Editor of the journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics, founding member of Feral Art School, and previously associated with The Estate of Francis Bacon, 2021 Visual Arts Centre, Ferens Art Gallery, Cultural Olympiad 2012, and UK City of Culture 2017.

The seminar will be held over 3 full days (9 AM to 5 PM) on July 25th to 27th in London, UK, at the October Gallery. 

The seminar fee is $500 for IGS members, $600 for non-members, and will cover the cost of course materials. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation, room, and board.

We will try to accommodate everyone interested in attending the seminar, but space will necessarily will be limited, so register early to insure your participation!

Navigating the Now: A Guide to RecognizingWhat Is Going OnA 3-Day In-PersonGeneral Semantics SeminarJuly 25-27LondonThe map is not the territory, the word is not the thing it describes. Whenever the map is confused with the territory, a ‘semantic disturbance’ is set up in the organism. The disturbance continues until the limitation of the map is recognized.⏤Alfred Korzybski, Science and SanityKorzybski’s study of language, perception, and consciousness provides us with some of the most essential and least recognized theories and methods to make sense of this era in which communication has become polarizing, and media is stirring the storm of confusion.General semantics is the name of the tradition of inquiry into language, thought, and abstracting that Korzybski founded. Join the Institute of General Semantics (based in New York City) in London, UK, for three days of theory and practical application, story and experiential learning, via an in-person seminar on general semantics and related non-aristotelian systems. The 3-day intensive course will include lecture, discussion, and exercises designed to provide participants with a thorough grounding in the discipline and its applications.For those unfamiliar with general semantics, the seminar will provide a comprehensive introduction to the tradition and its 21st century evolution. For those already familiar with the non-aristotelian approach, the course will provide reinforcement, enrichment, and an updating and expansion of the discipline. And for those interested in and/or involved in teaching, the seminar will provide useful guidance on pedagogy related to topics such as language, symbolic communication, thought and behavior, and epistemology and evaluation.During the seminar, we will explore how unexamined language behaviors perpetuate misperceptions of past and present controversies in professional and personal spaces. And we will determine which language and listening behaviors respect the infinite worth of each person in the interaction.The seminar leaders will include four trustees of the Institute of General Semantics: Lance Strate, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, President of the Institute of General Semantics, and author of 10 books including Media Ecology: An Approach to Understanding the Human Condition, and Concerning Communication: Epic Quests and Lyric Excursions Within the Human Lifeworld.Mary P. Lahman, Professor Emerita of Communication Studies at Manchester University, Trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, ECHO Certified Listening Practitioner, and author of Awareness and Action: A Travel Companion.Nora Bateson, President of the International Bateson Institute, Trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, Creator of Warm Data and the Warm Data labs, complexity/systems teacher, filmmaker, artist, and author of Small Arcs of Larger Circles, and Combining.Dom Heffer, East Yorkshire-based artist, Trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, Art Editor of the journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics, founding member of Feral Art School, and previously associated with The Estate of Francis Bacon, 2021 Visual Arts Centre, Ferens Art Gallery, Cultural Olympiad 2012, and UK City of Culture 2017.The seminar will be held over 3 full days (9 AM to 5 PM) on July 25th to 27th in London, UK, at the October Gallery. The seminar fee is $500 for IGS members, $600 for non-members, and will cover the cost of course materials. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation, room, and board.We will try to accommodate everyone interested in attending the seminar, but space will necessarily will be limited, so register early to insure your participation!

Institute of General Semantics – Navigating the Now: A Guide to Recognizing What is Going On? A 3-Day General Semantics Seminar

https://generalsemantics.org/event-5704040?fbclid=IwAR1cMkyZfkh62PRpMLRcWZUyhM6LcGiDvg6GvOkdw7cCmkwn16oPb-FQkmU

[In response to this week’s LinkedIn post, Liz Rykert https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7201116972317581312?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7201116972317581312%2C7201912539662749696%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287201912539662749696%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7201116972317581312%29 introduced the work of Scott Kelso (and collaborators) in the book The Complementary Nature. It appears this is another whole ‘chunk’ of stuff in the systems | complexity | cybernetics space – haven’t found one of them for quite a while! So this is by way of being a kind of promissory note for potentially more here – looks like lots of stuff with lots of overlaps]

HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article

Front. Hum. Neurosci., 14 August 2020
Sec. Motor Neuroscience
Volume 14 – 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.00317

This article is part of the Research Topic

Sensorimotor Foundations of Social Cognition

View all 22 Articles 

Coordination Dynamics: A Foundation for Understanding Social Behavior

Emmanuelle Tognoli^1,2* Mengsen Zhang^1,3 Armin Fuchs^1,4† Christopher Beetle⁴ J. A. Scott Kelso^1,5*

• ¹Human Brain and Behavior Laboratory, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, United States
• ²Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, United States
• ³Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
• ⁴Department of Physics, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, United States
• ⁵Intelligent Systems Research Centre, Ulster University, Londonderry, United Kingdom

Humans’ interactions with each other or with socially competent machines exhibit lawful coordination patterns at multiple levels of description. According to Coordination Dynamics, such laws specify the flow of coordination states produced by functional synergies of elements (e.g., cells, body parts, brain areas, people…) that are temporarily organized as single, coherent units. These coordinative structures or synergies may be mathematically characterized as informationally coupled self-organizing dynamical systems (Coordination Dynamics). In this paper, we start from a simple foundation, an elemental model system for social interactions, whose behavior has been captured in the Haken-Kelso-Bunz (HKB) model. We follow a tried and tested scientific method that tightly interweaves experimental neurobehavioral studies and mathematical models. We use this method to further develop a body of empirical research that advances the theory toward more generalized forms. In concordance with this interdisciplinary spirit, the present paper is written both as an overview of relevant advances and as an introduction to its mathematical underpinnings. We demonstrate HKB’s evolution in the context of social coordination along several directions, with its applicability growing to increasingly complex scenarios. In particular, we show that accommodating for symmetry breaking in intrinsic dynamics and coupling, multiscale generalization and adaptation are principal evolutions. We conclude that a general framework for social coordination dynamics is on the horizon, in which models support experiments with hypothesis generation and mechanistic insights.

Frontiers | Coordination Dynamics: A Foundation for Understanding Social Behavior

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2020.00317/full

28 May 2024

By Gerrit Van Wyk

Edgar Morin on Systems and Complexity – The Complexity of Health Care

Edgar Morin on Systems and Complexity

Denis Noble

A theory of biological relativity: no privileged level of causation

Denis Noble

• PMID: 23386960
• PMCID: PMC3262309
• DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2011.0067

Abstract

Must higher level biological processes always be derivable from lower level data and mechanisms, as assumed by the idea that an organism is completely defined by its genome? Or are higher level properties necessarily also causes of lower level behaviour, involving actions and interactions both ways? This article uses modelling of the heart, and its experimental basis, to show that downward causation is necessary and that this form of causation can be represented as the influences of initial and boundary conditions on the solutions of the differential equations used to represent the lower level processes. These insights are then generalized. A priori, there is no privileged level of causation. The relations between this form of ‘biological relativity’ and forms of relativity in physics are discussed. Biological relativity can be seen as an extension of the relativity principle by avoiding the assumption that there is a privileged scale at which biological functions are determined.

Keywords: biological relativity; cardiac cell model; downward causation; scale relativity.

A theory of biological relativity: no privileged level of causation – PubMed

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23386960/

(can’t find pdf other than

https://sci-hub.se/10.1098/rsfs.2011.0067 )

and

REVIEW article

Front. Physiol., 18 July 2019

Sec. Integrative Physiology

Volume 10 – 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00827

This article is part of the Research TopicMultilevel Organization and Functional Integration in OrganismsView all 15 articles

Biological Relativity Requires Circular Causality but Not Symmetry of Causation: So, Where, What and When Are the Boundaries?

Raymond Noble¹Kazuyo Tasaki²Penelope J. Noble²Denis Noble^2*

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00827/full

@systemicpractice

Welcome to the Systemic Practice Channel hosted by Everything is Connected Press

Systemic Practice – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@systemicpractice

In sociology, action theory is the theory of social action presented by the American theorist Talcott Parsons.

Parsons established action theory to integrate the study of social action and social order with the aspects of macro and micro factors. In other words, he was trying to maintain the scientific rigour of positivism, while acknowledging the necessity of the “subjective dimension” of human action incorporated in hermeneutic types of sociological theorizing. Parsons sees motives as part of our actions. Therefore, he thought that social science must consider ends, purposes and ideals when looking at actions. Parsons placed his discussion within a higher epistemological and explanatory context of systems theory and cybernetics.

Action theory (sociology)7 languagesArticleTalkReadEditView historyToolsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPart of a series onSociologyHistoryOutlineIndexshowKey themesshowPerspectivesshowBranchesshowMethodsshowSociologistsshowLists Society portalvteIn sociology, action theory is the theory of social action presented by the American theorist Talcott Parsons.Parsons established action theory to integrate the study of social action and social order with the aspects of macro and micro factors. In other words, he was trying to maintain the scientific rigour of positivism, while acknowledging the necessity of the “subjective dimension” of human action incorporated in hermeneutic types of sociological theorizing. Parsons sees motives as part of our actions. Therefore, he thought that social science must consider ends, purposes and ideals when looking at actions. Parsons placed his discussion within a higher epistemological and explanatory context of systems theory and cybernetics.

Action theory (sociology) – Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_theory_(sociology)

John Tower*

• Molecular and Computational Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

[h/t JP de Vooght on Mastodon https://mastodon.social/deck/@jdevoo/112518348760974121 who says News from the biology front line with “selectively advantageous instability” and implications for evolution and aging that will be of interest to org students]

Frontiers | Selectively advantageous instability in biotic and pre-biotic systems and implications for evolution and aging

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fragi.2024.1376060/full

[As Prof Mike Jackson said in comments on LinkedIn, the article references Ramage and Shipp which is “a very reliable guide”]

• January 8, 2024
• 9 Minutes Read

A Brief History of Systems Thinking

[I was lucky enough to go to the launch of this, a nice event – I might write more about it. It cemented in my mind that ‘local systems change’ or ‘place-based systems change’ as they describe it is very specific – funder-and-charity focus, using entirely middle-of-the road, bourgeois approaches, squarely within the Overton window, and based on assumptions that everyone just needs a lot of exposure to niceness and rationality and things will change for the better. Obviously that’s something like damning with faint praise, but I know this kind of approach can be valuable and impactful when yout experience it. I do think there’s a lot of value in ‘start with self, and with understanding’. But I don’t think this is going to change any ‘systems’]

What does it take to change a system?

What does it take to change a system? – Renaisi