International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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Natures Enduring Patterns as a Path to Systems Literacy
No full textBackground and Year in Review Overview This conference marks the end of my time as president of ISSS. It has been a busy and interesting year. Time to review and look forward. Unfortunately, I was unable to be at the 2018 annual meeting at the beginning of my year as president as I had a minor stroke. However as fall began I recovered well and launched into my time as president with energy and enthusiasm. I began to implement a plan to explore Systems Literacy with ISSS members, to explore contributions of the ISSS Special Integration Groups (SIGs) by holding weekly video conferences online, applying digital technologies and to exploring the purpose and practices of the Society. Connections with ISSS PartnersTurning to the organization of ISSS I will review the year and the actions I have taken on behalf of the organization. We renewed and reinforced our relationship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and attended the Annual meeting in Washington DC in February 2019.I will report on our connections with International Council for Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and the several presentations ISSS members made at INCOSE in California in January 2019. ISSS Members Management, Communications, Organization Development and Members WebsiteImplementation of a membership management system and website called myisss.org will be described. The SIG Sessions on Saturday have produced many new initiatives. By creating a program of meetings every Saturday online on a video conferencing system bluejeans we have begun to develop resources and understanding about each of the SIGs. The presentation will review the many surveys of members that have been completed including on the vision for system science, a request for suggestions for five-year action ideas for this society, opinions about annual conference location and developing models of relation between the SIGs and the relevance to ISSS society mission and purpose. As a result of my stroke I began to explore natural patterns and pathologies concerned with the role of the brain in human experience. I will explore these biological models and their relevance for organizations. and touch on developments and personal experience in brain training. Member education and learning through Saturday SIG SessionsI was curious to learn more about the nature and happenings of the Special Integration Groups and I developed a plan to showcase each SIG. Each Saturday morning and sometimes later in the evening to reach members in India, Australia and New Zealand. Over 74 members at one time or another joined the video conversation with a core group of about 20 participating every week. Each SIG Chair was offered the opportunity to summarize the activities of the SIG. A different SIG was featured each week. Recordings of the sessions are viewable by members at myisss.org This Years Conference ThemeTurning to the theme of the conference natures enduring patterns as a path to system literacy I will outline the work to date on systems literacy and identify the opportunities to develop systems literacy in the future. Finally the presentation will give an outline of the conference in Corvallis in 2019 and introduce our plenary speakers and their relationship to systems approaches, natures enduring patterns, the ocean and to science education, and to the intent of this 2019 meeting to further develop approaches to systems literacy. I will also outline the hopes for the one hour workshop plenary session each day at the end of the morning and introduce the work of William Smith PhD who will assist me with these collaborative sessions to explore the relation between ISSS and Systems Literacy. Next steps towards Systems LiteracyReflecting on my journey though life with an awareness of cybernetics and systems ideas I will encourage the continued co-development and research in both areas of inquiry and coordination between ISSS and the American Society for Cybernetics, INCOSE, IFSR, AAAS and Systems Dynamics Society.
Science of a Living Universe
No full textAccording to R-theory, a new meta-theory of whole systems based on the work of mathematical biologist Robert Rosen, the “Gaia hypothesis” may be better understood as a holistic worldview than a mechanistic hypothesis. The new perspective on nature provides a framework for studying closed systems, which has already yielded a definition of life itself, four organizational types of life, and sustainability as a systemic property of causal closure typical of organisms. These results raise the possibility of “Systemic Gaia”, the possibility of ecosystem sustainability and autevolution (influence of a system on its own evolution). This paper asks if the Earth as a whole can be modeled as a self-sustaining and self-evolving system. R-theory’s concept of causal closure in modeling relations (‘holons’), as a meta-model of natural organization, may be the key to answering such questions. Extension of this model to the global level addresses many of the criticisms on both sides of the Gaia debate. Rather than challenging the dominant mechanistic understanding of nature, it preserves that established territory and gives it a relational foundation capable of adding new factors of organization. With such new factors, the theory addresses many concerns that led to spiritual or theological speculations such as “intelligent design” and pre-destination, instead placing creative process inside natural systems rather than forcing external origins. Consequently, the theory supports causal explanations for stasis and punctuated novelty (punctuated evolution), apparent gaps and emergence in the evolutionary record that would be of concern from a gradualist perspective, and the impression of end-directed evolutionary processes (teleology) as implied by Gaia. Modeling relations are claimed to be a fundamental law of nature involving cyclical causality that had been known since Vedic times, but re-interpreted, for example by Aristotle, as a hierarchy of causes. A cycle of these four causes naturally requires that form and function co-evolve, as do mind and body, as unified dual aspects of holistic self-defining systems. The theory supports convergence of Western and Eastern science within a Vedic ontology of “cosmic order” (Rta).
APPLYING A SYSTEMS AND COMPLEXITY FRAMEWORK TO TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING
No full textOur ability to adapt to the relentless change of modern society and to transform how we see the world are essential to our survival in these complex times. However, we are rapidly losing that race as increasing complexity overtakes our ability to build our adaptive and transformative capacity. Transformative learning and systems literacy are essential components to turning that tide. This paper gives an overview of transformative learning theory and applies a systems and complexity framework to that process to create a foundation for transformative change. It covers the concepts of the disorienting dilemma, critical reflection, dialogue, and meaning making at the edge of chaos
2019 Bertalanffy Lecture: A Candidate GST: Systems Processes Theory (SPT)
No full textThis talk begins with a concise overview of Ludwig von Bertalanffy as Founder of GST and the ISGSR, forerunner of the ISSS. His main contribution may have been his focus and emphasis on how systems work, the mechanics of systems dynamics, the isomorphies true of many different systems. The talk will begin with a citation of the original objectives of the SGSR as formulated by Founders like Bertalanffy and will cover as many of the following additional topics as possible within the allotted time (although all of the slides and handouts will be available whether delivered or not):(1) The extent of Isomorphies developed by Bertalanffy; (2) Other Founders and their often-forgotten cross-disciplinary contributions; (3) Overview of >100 GST Sources; (4) Dispersion or Fragmentation of Theories: Half Century Need for Unification; (5) Desirability of debating Criteria for a GST and for a Science of Systemness to increase rigor and acceptance of our approaches; (6) My LifeWork in ISSS: Origin of & Intention for SIGS & Change of Name to ISSS; (7) Conflating Systems Thinking [ST] & Systems Science [SS]; (8) Need for A Science of Systems; (9) Odum, Miller, Haken as Prototype Sciences of Systems & benefits; (10) Brief Analysis of Current SIGs in ISSS; (11) Need to Know Systems Mechanisms to Fix or Better Design Systems;(12) Shortest Intro Possible to Troncale SPT as a GST & SS; (13) What Is An Isomorphy in SPT; (14) Alternative Lists of Isomorphies in SPT; (15) Sample of Extent of Natural Science Literature on Isomorphies, Utility of Harvesting or Incorporating into GST attempts; (16) Linkage Proposition Advance of SPT; (17) TEN SPT Spin-Off’s;(18) Systems Archival Resources at new Claremont Office; (19) Current Modeling Attempts; Odum to NPS to ?; (21) SPT as Model of Models; Library of Models for each Isomorphy; (20) Exemplar Applications of SPT to Engineering, Industries, Natural Systems; (21) SPT as Descriptive, Prescriptive, AND Normative; (22) Science-Based Values for Tech Era from SPT: From Tao of Systems Science to Emergence of Meta-Humans; (23) Announcement of the newly forming International Society for Systems Pathology (ISSP), ISGE & USSO Workshops
Workshop: Innovation and Optimization: Effective Paper Presentations
No full textEnhance your presentation skills and develop strategies for communicating effectively with a variety of audiences through this workshop on effective paper presentations. Whether you are a seasoned presenter, or just starting out, this two-hour, hands-on session will provide valuable tools that you can adapt to every situation to engage audiences and make your presentation memorable. The first part of the workshop will draw on strategies taken from nature to explore different types of presentations, structures, timing, and how to use visual thinking, as well as effective body language. In the second part, participants will collaborate to create mini-presentations using the skills and strategies covered in the first half. During this interactive session, participants will be grouped into teams to develop and practice their presentation skills, as well as play the role of stakeholders / audience members to give feedback. This workshop is considered especially useful for students working on their dissertations, because it will provide a safe environment to co-create the dissertation journey using visual thinking tools and the input of colleagues
“Systems Pathology: Review of Conflicts within Historically Unquestioned Concepts”
No full textHistorically revered concepts could be the focal problems preventing developing a successful single General Theory of Systems. Certain previously accepted ideas need to be re-analyzed for possible logical incompleteness, for harboring errors based on limited information, or containing logically or relationally based conflicting principles. Conflicting math axioms and hypotheses, conflicted philosophical premises, dysfunctional interpretations of historically accepted models of what was observed and devised using ancient limited knowledge – require re-analysis, reconsideration and correction, based on expanded logic and coordination, in consideration of later knowledge improvements and scientific developments. The author discusses problematic logic conflicts he identifies in - and between - the systems relations models of Plato, Descartes, Gödel, Mandelbrot, and Prigogine. He also describes previously unconsidered relations that exist in certain conventional statistics models that are based on too-narrowly defined real physical systems (including previously omitted important constraint conditions), putting into question the mathematics, which math any viable General Theory of Systems must include to be considered valid. The thesis of this analysis is an extension of the Biological Systems Pathology SIG premise that imperfect mechanisms and irregular systems relations also have to be considered, in expansion from modeling only “healthy functioning” (organic) systems. Logic irregularities and concept deductions based on incomplete information sets are also issues that need to be addressed when composing/achieving a General Theory of Systems, and need to be explicitly considered. ============== 2019 Systems Pathology SIG – approved by Len Troncale ; – pending Journal acknowledgment. (emailed abstract submission May 22, 2019)
Nonlinear Systemic Thinking: Synergic Epistemology
No full textQuantum physicists studying the essence of existence have discovered the connection between the constituent quarks and gluons within atomic particles. The interconnected synergy of rationality, sensibility, understanding, intuition, and imagination as components of the human mind is equally important, even if not as yet scientifically proven. The environment in which humans are located is a nonlinear system, but humans can grasp even nonlinear systems because the human pure spirit connects consciousness and comprehensive awareness with objects to be known
Networks and Data: Adventures in Literacy and Learning
No full textAs the understanding of science increasingly requires thinking about complex interconnected systems and data-driven ideas (such as ocean science, genomics, ecosystems ecology and social, political and economic networks), there is a need for basic literacy in data and network science for all people. This talk will cover efforts to build consensus between the network and data science interdisciplinary communities of practice for developing essential concepts and core ideas related to both network and data literacy. The speakers will discuss the processes with which these literacies were developed and distributed, and important factors that contributed to their success.Based on the success of the Ocean Literacy Principals, a series of workshops were held at UC Berkeley, Boston University and the New York Hall of Science with groups of network scientists, learning researchers, teaching and curriculum specialists and students, in order to devise a draft set of Network Literacy essential concepts that were then reviewed and edited by the global network science community of practice. This year-long process resulted in a published set of 7 Network Literacy Essential Concepts and Core Ideas. These have since been translated into over 20 languages and have been used for instruction across all grade bands and throughout the world.This led to a similar movement in data science, which is still in process. The New York Hall of Science, in collaboration with the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub of the Columbia University Data Science Institute, are collaborating with academia, researchers, non-profits, libraries and industry to develop a set of essential concepts needed to achieve data literacy for all people. Issues of equity and interdisciplinarity will be discussed along with barriers and opportunities in data science across sectors
Recursive Reflections on Friendship and Conversation
No full textAs Ranulph was a friend, an with whom I had many conversations on reflection and recursion it behoves me to choose this occasion to reflect further on these topics. The experience of friendship feels delicious and meaningful. How is this so? I turn to a fundamental of all living systems, that is living in a constant of structural coupling which maintains our systemic relational embeddedness wherein we change coherently with our niche which changes along with us. Our medium as a whole appears to change slower than we do, its apparent inertia resulting from its complexity of other connections. In a conversation our immediate niche of the other, in whatever domain, changes at the same pace as we ourselves. In friendship we have the experience of an intimate flow of these changes. In this talk I consider the implications of “chunking” and “betweens” in language, the fluid flow of entailments in meaning and emotioning, and the role of the current situation as well as the accumulation of co-epigenic coherences. Even as we reflect on these notions in a conversation, or engage in reflexive conversation on friendship in conversation, the lived experience of conversation in friendship remains retains an aspect of mystery. The experience of friendship happens both in our reflections and in our living; as a kind of multilayered awareness.