(As interesting as the article, are the comments, in which he talks about his own path of discovery and exploration of cybernetics)
Category Archives: Discussion
A view or perspective on the world
Econtalk podcast – Michael Munger on Obedience to the Unenforceable, and Ram Dass
Two contrasting podcasts happened to come up back-to-back on my app (both available in any podcatcher, but shared here from youtube as it’s more visual).
Both provide very interesting systems perspectives on multiple dimensions of politics, law, and society, based on different degrees of enforceability and temporality (think ‘time ‘pace layer’) in multiple dimensions with interesting overlaps (and with costs and benefits to each seen differently from different positions)….
Michael Munger on Obedience to the Unenforceable 6/19/23
EconTalk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH_PBO0W8Oc
19 Jun 2023
Civilization and the pleasantness of everyday life depend on unwritten rules. Early in the 20th century, an English mathematician and government official, Lord Moulton, described complying with these rules as “obedience to the unenforceable”–the area of personal choice that falls between illegal acts and complete freedom. Listen as economist Michael Munger talks with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts about the power and challenge of the unenforceable. Links, transcript, and more information: https://www.econtalk.org/michael-mung… Subscribe to EconTalk on YouTube: / @econtalkwithruss Subscribe to the audio episodes: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast… Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/econ… Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4M5Gb71… and wherever you listen to podcasts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bn_ATSyGvs
Ram Dass: You Can’t Have An Us and Them – Here and Now Podcast Ep. 228
141K subscribers
Premiered on 19 Jun 2023
Ram Dass – Here and NowIn this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass talks about practice in daily life and answers questions about polarization and fundamentalism, integrating psychodynamic and spiritual techniques, dealing with addiction, and more. Today’s podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This podcast is also brought to you by Magic Mind. Magic Mind contains a magical combination of 13 active ingredients, scientifically designed to improve energy, focus, and mood while decreasing stress — all things that, combined, improve your productivity. For 50% off your subscription to Magic Mind, visit magicmind.co/ramdass “And I said I’m not going to get discouraged because I can see that a centrist position, this is a hard one, a centrist position… That at this point in the way the world game is a falling, either everybody goes or nobody goes. You can’t polarize it again. You can’t have an ‘us’ and ‘them.’ It’s got to keep embracing people, embracing people. And I saw that would demand much more centrism than I was used to or wanted from a Democratic president and so on.” – Ram Dass In this episode of Here and Now: Ram Dass talks about letting methods of practice such as mantras and kirtan permeate your daily life Ram Dass gives a detailed response to a question about the rise of fundamentalism in the world, exploring polarization and why you can’t have an “us” and “them” Ram Dass takes on more questions about integrating psychodynamic and spiritual techniques, the importance of rituals, and dealing with addiction “I think the tricky thing is for us to integrate psychodynamic techniques and spiritual techniques. Psychodynamic technique says let’s work it out; spiritual technique says let’s get on with it, let’s leave it behind. If you do either one of them to an extreme, you lose it. Hear that one? That’s interesting. It’s really the balance of them.” – Ram Dass About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’ spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying along millions on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharajji, with all who have listened to him. ================ Ram Dass: You Can’t Have An Us and Them – Here and Now Podcast Ep. 228 – • Ram Dass: You Can… Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 228 – You Can’t Have An Us and Them – https://beherenownetwork.com/ beherenownetwork.com/ram-dass-here-and-now-ep-228-you-cant-have-an-us-and-them/ ================ Make sure not to miss a single video podcast from Be Here Now Network! Click here to Subscribe: / @beherenownetwork Follow Be Here Now Network: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeHereNowNet… Twitter: https://twitter.com/beherenownet Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beherenowne… ================ Be Here Now Network Podcasts, Courses, and Articles to help you live a Life in Balance. Heart-Centered wisdom from Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Krishna Das + many more! Get a Free Guided Meditation from Sharon Salzberg when you first sign up at: https://beherenownetwork.com/
Forbes: We Must Embed Systems Thinking In Education. Here’s How – World Economic Forum
Jul 18, 2023,03:00am EDT
By Breanne Pitt, PhD Candidate; Project Researcher, Strategic Intelligence, Trinity College Dublin and Abhinav Chugh, Content and Partnerships Lead, Expert Network and Content Partners, World Economic Forum
https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2023/07/18/we-must-embed-systems-thinking-in-education-heres-how/?sh=5ec375211ab0
Same article at
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/07/systems-thinking-education-future/
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White Paper
Published: 18 July 2023
Innovative Learning Solutions to Navigate Complexity: Adapting Systems Thinking to Future Classrooms
In an era defined by intricate challenges such as climate change, inequality and biodiversity loss, a systems perspective has become paramount. The interconnected nature of these issues demands a deep understanding of patterns, relationships and dependencies.
https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/innovative-learning-solutions-to-navigate-complexity-adapting-systems-thinking-to-future-classrooms
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LinkedIn piece where I saw this
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kumli_innovation-systems-systemsthinking-activity-7087740440199720960-XSol/
Where and why systems fail – the value of knowing what others value in a crisis – Beckford and Barnes (2023)
12 July 2023
This paper by John Beckford, Beckford Consulting and Katie Barnes, Executive Director of the National Preparedness Commission explores the concept of systemic resilience and failure in the face of crises. This is the third of a series of papers commissioned by NPC on applying systemic thinking to the notion of national preparedness. The first paper discussed the role of data in preparedness and the second paper explored crises, resilience, and complex systems.
This paper discusses the importance of stakeholder priorities in understanding where to focus resources during a crisis. It emphasises that the value of a system lies in the eyes of the beholder, and different stakeholders may have different interests and needs. Understanding these varying interests is crucial in determining system success and resilience. During crises, system owners should prioritise understanding the needs of stakeholders and communicate with them effectively. A systemic mapping of the elements and interactions within a system is also vital for identifying alternative solutions and managing dynamic risks.
Signs of Artificial Life: A Symposium and Debate with N. Katherine Hayles and Terrence W. Deacon, held March 30-31, 2023
Video recordings now available for the event, and sponsored by the Digital Theory Lab.
06/28/2023
Zach Coble
http://digitalhumanities.nyu.edu/news/2023-06-28-hayles-deacon-recordings/
From this tweet “circulating this again, a conversation over two talks between Kate Hayles and Terry Deacon — a “third wave” of cybernetics”:
More Magic, Less Mystery – S. Fisher Qua and Keith McCandless (2020)
May 14, 2020
Sustaining Creative Adaptability with Liberating Structures [Part 1 of 3]
By S. Fisher Qua and Keith McCandless
https://keithmccandless.medium.com/more-magic-less-mystery-f9bc2d614e85
Evgeny Morozov interview with Brian Eno
As part of promoting the new podcast, The Santiago Boys (https://the-santiago-boys.com/interviews/brian-eno), Evgeny Morozov sharing a lot of interesting tweets on background materials he covered – this is one interesting example:
https://the-santiago-boys.com/interviews/brian-eno
Brian Eno on British art and cybernetics in the 1960s, Stafford Beer’s influence on his art, and the perils of automaticism.
Tweets:
ORGANISE PUBLIC Reading Group – this month we’ll be reading: “Anarchist Cybernetics”
ORGANISE PUBLIC Reading Group This month we’ll be reading: “Anarchist Cybernetics ” Texts available via The Anarchist Library:https://tinyurl.com/yn23wszd Everyone is welcome to join in, we keep it very relaxed. Listeners welcome. Non-Anarchist welcome! https://discord.gg/CdaCccFJ
Postcards From Work: Exploring Archetypes of Human Work Through Micro-Narratives
THE NINE PRINCIPLES OF WORKING WITH COMPLEXITY – Brenda Zimmerman (from a thanksgiving piece on her life)
https://socialinnovation.org/news/2015/02/20/farewell-to-the-late-brenda-zimmerman/
THE NINE PRINCIPLES OF WORKING WITH COMPLEXITY
- View your system through the lens of complexity in addition to the metaphor of a machine or a military organization.
- Build a good-enough vision. Provide minimum specifications, rather than trying to plan every little detail.
- When life is far from certain, lead with clockware and swarmware in tandem. Balance data and intuition, planning and acting, safety and risk, giving due honour to each.
- Tune your place to the edge. Foster the “right” degree of information flow, diversity and difference, connections inside and outside the organization, power differential and anxiety, instead of controlling information, forcing agreement, dealing separately with contentious groups, working systematically down all the layers of the hierarchy in sequence and seeking comfort.
- Uncover and work with paradox and tension. Do not shy away from them as if they were unnatural.
- Go for multiple actions at the fringes, let direction arise. You don’t have to be “sure” before you proceed with anything.
- Listen to the shadow system. That is, realize that informal relationships, gossip, rumor and hallway conversations contribute significantly to agents’ mental models and subsequent actions.
- Grow complex systems by chunking. Allow complex systems to emerge out of the links among simple systems that work well and are capable of operating independently.
- Mix cooperation with competition. It’s not one or the other.
Tweets on the modelling behind potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – Dr Eleanor Frajka-Williams
Complex systems modelling is complex https://twitter.com/EleanorFrajka/status/1683917521735368704?s=20
Within a mesh of expectations: Dealing with dilemmas in business families using systemic tools from family coaching – Arnold, Kleve, Roth (2023)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sres.2962?fbclid=IwAR2Px5J8OYxXpsorQkNxfn6fsPfd6hoT7xsDSsWqGCbo7vYl8pwniPGGR-c
Theresa Arnold, Heiko Kleve, Steffen Roth
First published: 25 May 2023
https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2962
Abstract
Business family members face challenges related to exposure to diverse role expectations and systems logics, the management of which often results in situations of high complexity, dilemmas, and paradoxes. To address these issues, in this paper we combine key insights from social systems theory with systemic family coaching tools such as “internal maps,” the “expectation carrousel,” and the “tetralemma.” In drawing on an illustrative example from a family business succession planning context, we demonstrate how systemic approaches may help business family members to (a) creatively reflect on both the personal and interpersonal expectations they are confronted with and (b) manage issues of decision-making in dilemmatic or paradoxical situations.
Systems Research and Behavioural Science – Special Issue:Systems thinking for creative and flexible practice – ed. Chowdhury (2023)
- Volume 40, Issue 4
- Special Issue:Systems thinking for creative and flexible practice
- Pages: 611-760July/August 2023Issue Edited by: Rajneesh Chowdhury
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/10991743a/2023/40/4
ISSUE INFORMATION
Free Access
Issue Information
- Pages: 611-612
- First Published: 24 July 2023
EDITORIAL
Systems thinking for creative and flexible practice
- Pages: 613-616
- First Published: 24 July 2023
RESEARCH PAPER
Critical systems practice 4: Check—Evaluating and reflecting on a multimethodological intervention
- Pages: 617-632
- First Published: 10 October 2022
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the editor
- Pages: 633-635
- First Published: 05 January 2023
In search of a golden mean for systemic evaluation: A response to Michael Quinn Patton
- Pages: 636-638
- First Published: 10 February 2023
RESEARCH PAPERS
The challenge of inclusivity, capability and change in complex, multi-stakeholder problem situations—Practical insight from the application of participative systems methods, models and facilitation within an organisational setting
- Pages: 639-653
- First Published: 25 April 2023
Open Access
Creative and flexible deployment of systems methodologies for child rights and child protection through Holistic Flexibility
Rajneesh Chowdhury, Amanda Gregory, Miguel Queah
- Pages: 654-670
- First Published: 18 May 2023
An adaptive use of Soft Systems Methodology with Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing, Critical Systems Heuristics and Interactive Planning in a women’s prison
Yasemin Torun, Nuri Gökhan Torlak
- Pages: 671-688
- First Published: 08 September 2022
Open Access
The viability and sustainability approach to support organisational resilience: Learning in a recent case study in the health sector
Angela M. Espinosa, Jon Walker, Kartikae Grover, Maya V. Vachkova
- Pages: 689-700
- First Published: 27 April 2023
The systems approach of strategic roadmapping: Framing challenges and contributions whilst flexing to changing conditions and circumstances
- Pages: 701-712
- First Published: 25 April 2023
Open Access
Within a mesh of expectations: Dealing with dilemmas in business families using systemic tools from family coaching
Theresa Arnold, Heiko Kleve, Steffen Roth
- Pages: 713-722
- First Published: 25 May 2023
Open Access
Exploring the relationships between Industry 4.0 implementation factors through systems thinking and network analysis
Christian Hoyer, Indra Gunawan, Carmen Haule Reaiche
- Pages: 723-739
- First Published: 10 April 2023
The organizational systems thinking excellence model (OSTEM)
Masood Rabieh, Abbas Rezaei Pandari, Zeinab Amiri, Mahdi Esmaeili, Shermineh Mojtabavi Naeini
- Pages: 740-756
- First Published: 08 February 2023
RESEARCH NOTE
Open Access
Indigenous systems knowledge applied to protocols for governance and inquiry
Gabrielle Fletcher, Joshua Waters, Tyson Yunkaporta, Chels Marshall, John Davis, Jack Manning Bancroft
- Pages: 757-760
- First Published: 22 January 2023
Key posts? Dave Snowden reference links
July 17, 2023
link https://thecynefin.co/key-posts/?fbclid=IwAR1jh0zxt1l-QIo80cbgYDrrpvxbm3J_Z0A_IeEMP-UPmb-KYa8t4MJU_KI
Participatory Innovation Praxis: A trans-disciplinary method for conducting high-complexity social transformations – del Valle (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socimp.2023.100004
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949697723000048
Why is humanity heading for self-destruction and planetary devastation? Why are so many problems –climate crisis, hunger, migrations, organized crime, inequality, desertification, pollution, etc.– out of control and getting worse? These high-complexity problems involve large numbers of actors, conflicts, issues, interpretations and cultures, and require pulling together knowledge from widely different sources to be possibly governed. Yet the master paradigm that has ruled humanity over the last four centuries –i.e., Cartesian, analytical or simplifying thinking– makes this practically impossible because of its principles of separation, reduction and abstraction that are embodied in today’s scientific disciplines. The Participatory Innovation (PI) Praxis offers a viable alternative, within the emerging post-Cartesian paradigm of systems thinking or complex thinking. PI’s theory comes from key systems thinkers: Ackoff, Ashby, Beer, Ozbekhan, Morin and Schein; its empirical grounds, from experiences in many fields and places, including hundreds of innovations. PI makes high-complexity challenges understandable and governable through methodical design and implementation of consensus social-cultural transformations, by using the astounding capacities of human minds and natural language to process complex meanings. This article illustrates the method with 25-year impacts of two cases in Chile. It closes by discussing implications for policy and for cultural and civilizational matters.
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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