International Society for the Systems Sciences: Journals ISSS
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Speculative realists question reality before Homo sapiens and after extinction
No full textThe term ‘speculative realism’ was first introduced in 2007 to describe the work of certain philosophers around Q. Meillassoux, of which many translations, introductions, and special issues have been published in Japanese. According to speculative realists, phenomenology, structuralism, analytic philosophy, and most subsequent schools of twentieth-century philosophy (L. Wittgenstein, M. Heidegger, and M. Foucault) assume the antirealist, Kantian claim that phenomena depend upon the mind to exist. That is, the speculative realists are united by their rejection of what Meillassoux calls correlationism. This is the doctrine according to which we never grasp an object in itself, in isolation from its relation to the subject.Now, when we call ancestral any reality anterior to the emergence of the human species, we can ask, how is correlationism liable to interpret these ancestral statements? We can also ask, how has matter emerged from a vacuum? How have living systems appeared out of lifeless matter? How has Homo sapiens come into existence out of living systems?Meillassoux himself asks how to pass through the correlationist circle. We should question the absolute, which is outside correlation. Our absolute, in effect, is nothing other than an extreme form of chaos. The world before human beings emerged is thereby contingent. There is a capacity-to-be-other, that is, there is the possibility of our own non-being.The posteriority of extinction should also be considered, in addition to ancestral anteriority. R. Brassier, one of the speculative realists, refers to the death of the sun. He has said that ‘the death of the sun is nothing but a death of mind’. How does thought think the death of thinking? Important is the dialogue of the correlationism of modern philosophy with old and new realism, which question the reality outside of the correlation.We have already emerged in this universe with mind. Although we can recognise something with this mind, something, in other words, is nothing but something which is recognised by our mind. Thus, correlationism is correct and cannot be escaped. From within correlation, however, we can recognise that there is an outside to the correlation. We can recognise ancestral anteriority and posteriority of extinction through the correlation. We can think the reality through the working of negation of recognition. We can recognise Kantian thing-in-itself through the self-negation of recognition.Again, we have already emerged in this universe with mind. What has already existed should be thought as necessary. Now, I can propose an ex post facto teleology. The fact is constituted by this after, by the belatedness of the subject. I also would like to propose a modest anthropocentrism. The emergence of human beings should be thought as necessary, while all things and living things potentially have minds. Thus, we can call this view a weak panpsychism. Furthermore, once we have minds with which to think, we think everything with these minds. The ability to think has something privileged.Nonetheless, at the same time, it is important to think everything as contingent. There is no reason for anything to be or to remain the way it is; everything must be able to be other than it is. We not might have emerged through a process of evolution. We might not exist in this universe. We could be extinct in the future
SOCIO-TECHNICAL SYSTEM WHOLENESS: A THEORETICAL MODEL APPLIED TO HIGH VALUE ASSET SECURITY PROGRAMS
No full textResearchers and practitioners continue to study the causes of high-consequence events such as terrorist attacks or catastrophic failures of complex socio-technical systems. These studies have relevance to postulated and real events and are important, but limited. Analyses focusing on linear causal pathways are common in vulnerability and probabilistic risk analyses. These linear pathways typically focus on individual human error or technical system malfunctions. The linear approach is limited in its value as broader systemic issues can remain hidden.A new model is proposed using an integral approach that describes vulnerability from a systemic wholeness perspective. Wholeness is a concept that has many meanings, from various academic and practical perspectives. This paper offers a new definition of the wholeness concept that draws from earlier ideas but is distinct in its application. The model can be used to focus attention on many integrated systemic domains simultaneously in a continuous and ongoing process. The model's foundation is a four-quadrant framework that describes subjective, objective, inter-objective, and inter-subjective domain spaces. Vulnerabilities or systemic deficiencies within these spaces are described using the metaphors of system holes and shadow aspects. Collection and depiction of these deficiencies allow for analysis, revealing common patterns of concern. Clarifying inter-organizational relationships is also important and highlights the need for clear systemic and sub-systemic boundary definitions. Improvement of industrial, community, or infrastructure security requires a perpetual process that is described by a dynamic dimension to the wholeness model, drawing from methods employed in participatory action research. This paper presents the main points of the wholeness model, shows how deficiencies are analyzed, and provides examples of characteristic patterns of concern
Embracing the complexity: Multiple interests and debated resolutions in the pineapple value chain in Uganda
No full textStrengthening horticultural value chains can be used for improving food and nutrition security while reducing rural poverty. However, the complexity of local situations challenges the effectiveness of blueprint development strategies and calls for actor-oriented approaches. The fresh pineapple value chain in Uganda is illustrative of such a complex situation. The market supply is not organized by dominant lead firms. In contrast, individually negotiated and context specific actor relationships and their purposeful activities form and sustain this human activity system. As value chain actors take multiple factors for their business activities into account, the aim of our system analysis is to elicit their perspectives on the influence of these factors. This provides a more contextualized understanding to inclusively increase local actors’ benefits.We used a systems learning approach, in which farmers, traders, brokers and scientists were seeking a better understanding of the local value chain. Cognitive mapping and additional qualitative methods were used to reveal internally held perceptions about the factors and their influences on income generation from engaging in the pineapple value chain. Several meetings with participants from single actor groups informed subsequent multi-actor meetings: four with farmers (4-8 each) and four with traders (2-7 each). Group cognitive maps served as a starting point for ten meetings which included participants from several actor groups (4-13 each). To foster a feeling of connectedness between actors along the chain, these consecutive multi-actor meetings evolved around the factors and situations that participants had identified as influential to all actor groups, such as prices, markets, quality and communication. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation further complemented the analysis.The approach resulted in a contextualized picture of how multiple natural, technical and social factors influenced actors’ income generation in the pineapple value chain, e.g. farm and market price, market size, quality, seasonality, production methods and skills, buyer-seller relationships and transportation. There was little disagreement about the rationale of the influence of factors during the single actor group meetings. However, the number of factors and the perceived cause-effect relations differed markedly between actor groups. The dialogue during multi-actor meetings revealed different aspects of problem-situations. Participants expressed solutions and also explained barriers to them. For all actors in the chain to profit from their respective business activities, awareness of prices and other market information is particularly important. However, problematic communication patterns between actors pose current challenges and dissatisfactions. The flow of information was disrupted by the intertwined patterns of changes in prices, supply and demand, along with structural constellations, such as many small-scale farmers, relatively few brokers linking production areas to distant market centers and many, dispersed traders in different markets. Moreover, prices were individually negotiated and generally competitively formed. The occurring fragmentation among actors is a result and also a cause for communication problems, fluctuations and actor relations. The controversial debates regarding proposed solutions, showed that the feedback cycles are difficult for actors to break given the contextual constraints and their conflicting interests.The participatory activities and shared explanations allowed surfacing of problematic patterns and value chain structures that caused friction and hindered broader collaboration. The approach helped to trigger dialogue and understanding between otherwise often competing market actors. While actors are aware of the benefits from improved collaboration, the gained contextualized system understanding revealed why this is difficult to implement. Participatory system learning can reveal actors’ room of maneuver, and contribute to a process that enables actor-driven system change
MICE TOURISM NETWORK TOPOLOGY AS AN INNOVATION IN THE COMPLEMENTARITY OF AN SSM APPLICATION
No full textSocio-Technical systems are characterized by complexity, turbulence, and the diversity of points of view on how to deal with problem situations. However, they can be explored by the observer as learning systems.This research establishes the problem situations that have avoided the viability of MICE Tourism in Mexico, such as legacy aspects, the missing relationships with the academia, and the lack of benefits for society. This was done by using the first three stages of Soft System Methodology (qualitative approach) and the Network Science tools (network analysis). The argument to use these tools is that they were developed to study, characterize and modelling the dynamic of complex systems. The approaches complement each other to enrich the diagnosis of the system.The conception of the MICE tourism network is based on the relationships (links) between the elements (nodes) that interact in the system. This MICE tourism network is composed by 43 nodes and, at least, every node has six links with its neighbors, yielding 406 links. It means that the communication throughout the network is spreading, so that if more nodes are added to this network, the number of links will grow faster
COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AND SYSTEMS THEORY: A CASE STUDY
No full textThis case study examines the development of a self-organized Community of Practice (CoP) through the lens of systems theory. The CoP is devoted to the practice of Action Learning within the United States public sector. The CoP’s membership comprises public sector employees who are Action Learning coaching practitioners and other public sector employees who are interested in Action Learning as a problem-solving and leadership development tool. CoPs embody systems theory in that they may be characterized as open systems with core members and peripheral members. Disruptions to the system challenge and strengthen the CoP through boundary crossings between the CoP and other communities. System disruptions and the communications that have occurred as a result have created challenges to identity
Towards Understanding the Effects of Visual Artifacts in Problem Structuring Processes: A Boundary Games Approach
No full textThe construction of agreements about the nature of the problem confronted by a group can be seen as the aim of problem structuring methods. Visualizing issues to facilitate the discussions plays a protagonist role in the process. However, we lack methods to study this kind of interaction and therefore we know little about how these visual artefacts catalyse the structuration of the problem. This paper builds towards these two interrelated issues by analysing the interactions using Boundary Games, a theoretical synthesis based on philosophy, language pragmatics, and boundary critique. The Boundary Games framework shows how actors’ communications affect the boundary of what is considered relevant in a situation. Boundary Games have been applied to study oral segments of interaction; in this case, its application is extended to visual supported interactions, specifically whiteboard supported facilitation. The preliminary analysis shows that visual artefacts allow people to keep track of distant and varied ideas and that the visual is helping to connect and reinforce those ideas. This work can be seen as a stepping stone for understanding models, a more complex visual artefact of common use in structuring problems
The Linkage between Systems Thinking and Ethics
No full textIn order to understand the linkages between systems thinking and ethics it is important to first understand the five systems domains that together configure our reality. We work to do so by using science to identify their characteristics. The first and by far the largest of these domains includes what we will call non-living natural systems such as the universe, our solar system, ocean currents, weather, the changing seasons. The challenge addressed by science is to understanding these natural systems by breaking each down in order to define its parts and the interactions of these parts as well as the interactions between the system as a whole with the larger system of which it is a part.
A Whole Systems Approach to Education Redesign: A Case Study on the Need for Inter-Generational Perspectives and Inclusion
No full textThis study was commissioned by the Global Education Futures forum for presentation at its fourth International Conference in Moscow, Russia, from 29 February to 2 March 2016 (http://edu2035.org/#program). The objective was to conduct field research with a special focus on the vision of the future of education held by young people. This report presents some views and perspectives of my generation regarding what they want education to be like in the future. In northern California, my teachers Ms. B and Mr. Wahanik used the framework of questions and activities that my father and I developed to gather this kind of information by running a sort of “focus group” with my 10th Grade class and to find out what their views, perspective, opinions, ideas, hopes and concerns are regarding this theme. This group consisted of mainly 15 and 16 year olds, and there are around 40 students in my class. They had less than an hour to run the whole process, but everyone already knew each other really well so they could go quickly through the process, as described in this report.A similar process was run with a group of young people in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here I had to work with people whom I had never met before and who also didn't know each other at all. We had exactly 12 students from a variety of public and private schools with an age range from 12 to 17 years old. However, we had a total of three hours with them, so we could do an icebreaker and take our time to move through the whole thing.In both cases (California and Argentina), the idea was to engage young people in a series of structured creative Future Thinking adventures that helped them “invent” what education (learning and teaching) should be like in the year 2035. The idea behind this is that educators and those involved in the systemic re-design of education systems might want to include this kind of data and these kind of perspectives in the work they are doing. I would like to present my findings at the ISSS and to see whether others think more of this kind of work should be done
A SYSTEMIC INTEGRATION APPROACH TO DESIGNING INTERAGENCY RESPONSES TO WICKED PROBLEMS
No full textWicked problems are open-ended, highly interdependent issues that cross agency, stakeholder, jurisdictional, political and geopolitical boundaries. This confounds governments because policies and budgets tend to be aligned within these boundaries and not across them, making it difficult to bring the appropriate talent, knowledge and assets into an interagency approach to tackling whatever wicked problem is at hand. Many governments realize the need for a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to tackling large complex issues, and have employed various methods to achieve interagency and other private/public partnerships. One approach is to employ experts (sometimes called Czars) who are in charge of specific policies and can coordinate input from across government and private entities. Other organizational approaches have focused on forming high-level committees and task forces made up of representation from stakeholder organizations. These approaches are intended to increase cross-government information sharing, identify best-practices, and generate reports that include recommendations to policy makers. However, the formation of these vehicles can be ad hoc and not designed holistically to handle the complexity of wicked problems where interdependencies abound and the perspectives and values of agencies and other stakeholders can often be in conflict. Other complaints about forming these ad hoc groups include the slow, long-term process required to build trust; one agency typically takes the lead, creating problematic power relationships when their own inevitably partial perspective starts to override the perspectives of other agencies; difficulties of reaching agreement on crosscutting agendas; too many meetings; inaction in the face of the above difficulties; and missed opportunities. The research described in this paper was conducted to develop and evaluate a new Systemic Intervention approach to designing interagency meta-organizations. The term meta-organization is used because it is important to note that this does not have to mean a new official bricks-and-mortar organization, but an organization nonetheless. The term “interagency” is sometimes used to mean this meta-organization. It is a multi-method approach that combines the viable system model (VSM) as the organizational design instrument with participatory problem structuring methods and boundary critique
Social responsibility and ethical issues about smart technology usage
No full textThe new forms of smart and artificial intelligent technologies present a great risk to the society (political – ethical challenge). For this reason, the ability of the society's decision makers to prepare an appropriate ethical response is needed. The paper is focused on the outline the main social, economic, and ethical issues, raised by the faster development of the smart and artificial intelligent products or services in everyday life processes. Smart technologies can today explore their environment, communicate with each other or with humans and help their users. The development and implementation of the smart technologies in the human environment is and it will be influenced by social and economic changes and opening new social and ethical problems in the near future, because smart technologies are now: (i) invading into the sensitive human areas and allow others to come easier for sensible private information in real time; (ii) causing job losses; (iii) replacing humans for tasks such as driving and more demanding (e.g. management of the industrial processes). The paper presents the issues of technology and human sciences. It is going for a complex subject which is quite often misrepresented, some of the fundamental concepts relating ethics in science and technology are recalled and clarified. At the conclusion of the paper social responsible model for implementation of the smart technology in human environment will be presented. The purpose of the model is to provide ethical and social norms and thus protect human before the socioeconomic changes caused with the high penetration of smart technologies in human everyday life