systems literacy can help us manage messes.
A good working vocabulary in systems includes around 150 terms.
It begins with learning:
- [[system]], environment, boundary
- process, transform function
- stocks, flows, delay (lag)
- source, sink
- information (signal, message)
- open-loop, closed-loop
- goal (threshold, set-point)
- feedback, feed-forward
- [[positive feedback]], negative feedback
- reinforcing, dampening
- viscous cycle, virtuous cycle
- circular processes, circularity, resource cycle
- explosion, collapse, oscillation (hunting)
- stability, invariant organization
- balancing, dynamic equilibrium, homeostasis
- [[tragedy of the commons]]
As students progress, they learn:
- behavior (action, task), measurement
- range, resolution, frequency
- sensor, comparator, actuator (effector)
- servo-mechanism, governor
- current state, desired state
- error, detection, correction
- disturbances, responses
- controlled variable, command signal
- control, communication
- teleology, purpose
- goal-directed, self-regulating
- co-ordination, regulation
- static, dynamic
- first order, second order
- essential variables
- variety, “[[requisite variety]]”
- transformation (table)
More advanced students learn:
- dissipative system
- [[emergence]]
- [[autopoiesis]]
- constructivism
- recursion
- observer, observed
- controller, controlled
- agreement, (mis-)understanding
- “an agreement over an understanding”
- learning, conversation
- bio-cost, bio-gain
- back-talk
- structure, organization
- co-evolution, drift
- black box
- explanatory principle
- “organizational closure”
- self-reference, reflexive
- ethical imperative
- structural coupling
- “consensual co-ordination of consensual co-ordination”
- “conservation of a manner of living”
One course, 3 hours per week for 15 weeks is a bare minimum for a survey of systems thinking. Ideal would be three, semester-long courses
Introduction to Systems (covering systems dynamics, regulation, and requisite variety—with readings including Capra’s new [[The Systems View of Life]], Meadows’ [[Thinking in Systems]], and Ashby’s [[An Introduction to Cybernetics]]);
Second-Order Systems (covering observing systems, autopoiesis, learning, and ethics—with readings including Glanville’s “[[Second-order Cybernetics]],” von Foerster’s “[[Ethics and Second-order Cybernetics]],” and Maturana + Davila’s “[[Systemic and Meta Systemic Laws]]”); and
Systems for Conversation (covering co-evolution, co-ordination, and collaboration—with readings including, Pangaro’s “[[What is conversation?]],” Pask’s “[[The Limits of Togetherness]],” Beer’s [[Decision and Control]], and Maturana’s “[[Metadesign]]”).
person with basic systems literacy should be fluent with these patterns: resource flows and cycles; transform functions (processes); feedback loops (both positive and negative); feed-forward; requisite variety (meeting disturbances within a specified range); second-order feedback (learning systems); and goal-action trees (or webs).