systems literacy

systems literacy can help us manage messes.

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

A good working vocabulary in systems includes around 150 terms.

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

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]]

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

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)

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

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”

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

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

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

1. 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]]);

2. 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

3. 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]]”).

– [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

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).

• [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]

Resources

• [[A Systems Literacy Manifesto]]