We in the #BetaCodex Network do not deal in absolutes. We deal in distinctions, or "differences that make a difference."
http://betacodex.org
#bateson #watzlawick #systemsthinking #systemstheory #orgdev #orgdesign #newwork #leadership

An announcement from the #BetaCodex Network!
https://betacodex.org/blog/2023/cell-structure-design-patterns-a-new-betacodex-research-paper-by-silke-hermann-and-niels-pflaeging/

#cellstructuredesign #betacodex #research #managementresearch #science #orgdesign #orgdev #decentralization #selforganization #systemsthinking #systemstheory #change #transformation #lean #agile #scrum #teal

Finished Andrew Pickering's Cybernetic Brain, which is as good as people say it is.

Upon finishing it I felt a sense of loss for the world we could have had. This was a much saner way of thinking about information, about computation and people. We could have had ponds as computers, and instead we chose giant databases in the cloud.

#Cybernetics #SystemsTheory #permacomputing

A couple decades ago it occurred to me that the dynamics of disagreement often tend toward polarization rather than toward unification at a higher level of understanding.

Further, it seemed (to me) that this might be analogous to the behavior of a feedback loop out of control and going to one or the other of its extreme rails.

And further, this seemed (to me) to be the behavior of a system finding its lowest energy/information state, associated with lack of requisite variety.

This behavior seemed (to me) generalizable in principle across systems based on electronics, mechanisms, …, human individuals, and groups.

At that time I was active in a forum of Very Smart People, and when I ventured this observation/opinion it received no interest or engagement.

I'm wondering whether now, twenty years later, with polarization in politics being grossly apparent, whether anyone reading this might be able to recommend some sources of more extensive thinking on the question of such a general principle…?

#agreement #disagreement #polarization #systemsTheory #controlTheory #systemsThinking #politics #leastEnergy #leastInformation #requisiteVariety

Survey of Definition and Determination
• https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2023/04/06/survey-of-definition-and-determination-2/

In the early 1990s, “in the middle of life's journey” as the saying goes, I returned to grad school in a systems engineering program with the idea of taking a more systems-theoretic approach to my development of Peircean themes, from signs and scientific inquiry to logic and information theory.

Two of the first questions calling for fresh examination were the closely related concepts of definition and determination, not only as Peirce used them in his logic and semiotics but as researchers in areas as diverse as computer science, cybernetics, physics, and systems science would find themselves forced to reconsider the concepts in later years. That led me to collect a sample of texts where Peirce and a few other writers discuss the issues of definition and determination. There are copies of those selections at the following sites.

Collection Of Source Materials
• https://oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey/EXCERPTS

Excerpts on Definition
• https://oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey/EXCERPTS#Definition

Excerpts on Determination
• https://oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey/EXCERPTS#Determination

What follows is a Survey of blog and wiki posts on Definition and Determination, with a focus on the part they play in Peirce's interlinked theories of signs, information, and inquiry. In classical logical traditions the concepts of definition and determination are closely related and their bond acquires all the more force when we view the overarching concept of constraint from an information-theoretic point of view, as Peirce did beginning in the 1860s.

#Peirce #Semiotics #Inquiry #Logic #Information #Definition #Determination
#Constraint #Form #Structure #Entropy #Indeterminacy #Uncertainty
#Comprehension #Extension #Cybernetics #SystemsTheory

"This book is very ackoffy!"
#RussellAckoff #Ackoff #systemsthinking #systemstheory #complexity #betacodex

Insightful & nuanced discussion. I generally recommend Carefree Wandering Channel, his systems theory based views on current issues and his pragmatic presentation are always very interesting
#philosophy #chatgpt #ai #systemstheory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dNVmPepATM

"What would Deming do?" My new book with the best quotes from the great man of organizational leadership, excellence & transformation is coming on 1 March! Pre-order now from Red42 or through your favorite bookstore! https://redforty2.com/product-page/what-would-deming-do

#whatwoulddemingdo #betacodex #agile #lean #leanmanagement #totalquality #leadership #management #transformation #deming #orgdev #systemsthinking #systemstheory #orgdesign #org #newwork #newleadership

Sneak preview.
#betacodexpress #betacodex #deming #wedwardsdeming #quality #management #leadership #transformation #agile #lean #leanmanagement #systemsthinking #systemstheory #ToyotaWay #newwork #futureofleadership

In #SystemsThinking associated with scientific pluralism, the treatments of world theories as (i) analytic or synthetic have generally received more attention than (ii) dispersive or integrative.

https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/world-theories-as-analytic-deductive-dispersive-integrative/

#SocioTechnical #SocioEcological #SystemsTheory

A call to action:
Get involved in the collaborative research work conducted by the #BetaCodex Network membership!
A new post by our founder @nielspflaeging: https://betacodex.slack.com/archives/C9J26SNKW/p1674386739121269
The current status on the BetaCodex Network website: https://betacodex.org/about/beta-people/
Join in!

#leadership #management #business #orgdesign #orgdev #OrganizationalDevelopment #agile #lean #scrum #teal #beyondbudgeting #decentralizerepeat #systemsthinking #systemstheory

Remember:
People's habits are never the problem, when we talk about the need for #OrganizationalDevelopment or organizational #transformation.
The problem is the design of the system. People's supposed "habits" are a mere symptom of the systemic mess.

#betacodex #workthesystem #agile #systemsthinking #systemstheory #culturechange #newwork #agility #lean #orgdev

@hirokisayama there are a couple of emerging (no pun intended..) areas that for now I would put inside big circles, but that in another 10 years might become the label for the big circles themselves: #compositional #gametheory and categorical #systemstheory/categorical #cybernetics. Basically #categorytheory applied to both macro-areas.

Good morning #Fediverse :fediverse: Hope you're all doing well with the influx from #TwitterMigration #JoinMastodon - in today's #Introduction #ConnectionList, I feature several accounts to help more richly and deeply connect us.

@theconversationau is The Conversation AU - an online publication that features writing by #academic #research folx, with an editorial spin to make it readily accessible. If you like #AcademicMastodon #HigherEd then you might like this account.

@biancadesanctis is a #PhD student at #CambridgeUniversity, where she's studying #population #genetics. Good luck with your PhD, Bianca!

@patrickdoupe is an #economist who works with #algorithms focusing on #CausalInference. Bae! I mean, Bayes 😄

@dangerousmeredith is Meredith and she's an amazing #writer and #creative. Find her substack at https://dangerousmeredith.substack.com

@yarden is a #SoftwareEngineer who works mostly with #debugging and #debuggers 🐜

@Harishjosev is interested in #cybernetics and #SystemsTheory, and writes about things like #emergence.

@alangould is Alan, and I used to work with him in a previous life. He's lovely - a quiet, gentle soul. You should follow him.

That's it today, don't forget to share your own #FollowFriday #ConnectionList ❤️

(Edited to remove different Lex Friedman account, I didn't realise it was a different account)

I think #SystemsTheory (#SystemsThinking and #SystemsDynamics ) with #Attractors and #Affordances gives us a good path to #Ought from #Is. The #ontological reality of the #system you are in defines the #moral landscape on which you operate.

Hi there ... Having migrated to sciences.social, I would like to introduce myself briefly.

I am a #sociologist at the University of #Lucerne. My focus is on #sociologicaltheory with a special faible for #Luhmann 's #systemstheory which I also applied in my book on #diplomacy.

I am currently #textmining the 18th Century Collections Online database (#ECCO)for a sociology of #conceptualchange.

Apart from that, I am interested in any exchange that stimulates the #sociologicalimagination.

cu, ry

@YvesHanoulle @AgileBob
This is an interesting aspect, Yves. It is THE game-changer. Because the world changes for you, and you will have a gazillion more options, assuming that EVERYBODY WANTS BETA.

They want it. Even though they may not (yet) act accordingly.

Think about that. I can assure you: It is the only way to think productively about human potential, and about organizational systems change.

#betacodex #orgdev #orgtransformation #systemsthinking #systemstheory #lean #agile #newwork

More is Different P.W. Anderson (1972) (pdf)

https://cse-robotics.engr.tamu.edu/dshell/cs689/papers/anderson72more_is_different.pdf

A foundational paper of emergence and systems theory.

#MoreIsDifferent #PWAnderson #SystemsTheory #emergence

Jurgen Appelo's book list is good clean nerd fun!
Von Bertalanffy from #10 to #5 in Dec.. ha! Try to find this in a book store 🤓

#orgdev #oe #systemstheory

https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/35476/73412924485403918

Pax Technologica: Computers, Int'l Affairs, and Human Reason in the Cold War by Joy Rohdes (2017)

Abstract: "From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, a team of U.S. political scientists and computer specialists designed an automated, computerized information system that could ostensibly forecast conflict earlier and more accurately than human analysts. Named the Crisis Early Warning and Monitoring System (EWAMS), it sought to bring international relations scholarship and U.S. national security policy—traditionally qualitative and interpretive domains—under the jurisdiction of a man–machine system...."

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/695679

Paywall: https://libgen.rs/scimag/10.1086%2F695679

Via Darts & Letters: https://dartsandletters.ca/

And the New Books Network:

Technocracy Now Part 1: https://newbooksnetwork.com/technocracy-now-part-1

Technocracy Now Part 2: https://newbooksnetwork.com/technocracy-now-part-2-exploring-technocracy-through-cybernetics (submitted article is basis for this episode)

#Cybernetics #SystemsTheory #EWAMS #JoyRohde #Podcasts