@pnathan I've run across TRIZ before, though only given it a fairly cursory look.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ

Thanks for the reminder.

Altshuller's four components of systems ("Any working system must have 4 parts: the engine, the transmission, the working unit (working organ) and the control element (organ of steering). The engine generates the needed energy, the transmission guides this energy to the working unit, which ensures contact with outside world (processed object), and the control element makes the system adaptable.") reminds me of my own ontology of technological mechanisms, with nine components:

1. Fuels & energy storage/release
2. Materials
3. Energy transmission and transformation
4. Process knowledge ("technology")
5. Causal knowledge ("science")
6. Information (sensing, parsing, storage, retrieval, processing, transmission)
7. Networks (nodes and links)
8. Systems (feedback and control)
9. Hygiene: addressing / mitigating unintended consequences

#TRIZ #GenrichAltshuller #LTSE #systems #TechOntology