Definitions
Abstraction Abstractions are representations of the real world expressed in equations, words or pictures. The point of an abstraction is to select the most critical elements of something and make a model of that.
Bias Bias has one of two meanings. First is somewhat negative; that person is biased in favor of recycling. This indicates a fixed opinion about part of the world, a perceptual structure that is frozen. A second meaning is related : something that moves a system away from a set-point. When a system with bias is exposed to stimulus that should result in a response, either more stimulus than is expected is required to start the response, or the response lags until the stimulus builds to a point that exceeds the bias.
Boundary Boundaries can be distinct spatial structures (the edge of a lake or meadow) or conceptual boundaries. Whenever we make a system representation (in words or equations) we extract or define certain elements. This act creates a boundary between the system we are studying and the rest of the world. Boundaries can be seen as changes in the structure of a system. At the lowest level of physical structure a boundary is a perceivable distinction. This is related to the definition of information that Gregory Bateson used : "Information is any difference that makes a difference." There is some background information on him at : http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~rsauzier/Bateson.html
Change Change is the only constant. However, most people and organizations are organized as feedback systems, and therefore reject or compensate change that would affect their goals. This means that most change is unseen until it gets large enough to affect system organization. Change is difficult to see when you are closely involved with a person. An example would be a growing child. Since the parent sees the child every day, change is continuous and imperceptible. When a relative sees the child every few weeks, the changes appear much more marked. On the other hand, a growing teenager often sees their parents as unchanging and fixed in their beliefs. This comes about because the teenager is growing and changing so fast that anything slower is seen as unchanging. Change is relative.
"Large changes occur in tiny increments. It is useful to think in terms of a space flight : by altering the launch trajectory very slightly, a great difference can be made over time." Cameron
Compare Determine the similarity and differences between things. Similarity (or sameness) is a measure of how much the elements (or parts) of things are comparable. In a very simplified fashion we can imagine the form or structure (each depends on the representation) being compared like two X-ray photographs of skeletons. This is a type of soft pattern matching.
Consistency of approach Consistency of approach is one element of a quality system. Quality means many things to many people, but core parts of quality are producing without defects, and producing things that are useful to customers. Each organization learns by mistakes and successes. If these lessons are codified into a system which is followed each time a product is made, the learning is effective. Ensuring that there is a consistent process being followed is consistency of approach.
Contract To shrink the form or representation or system. Shrinking happens as we "boil down" a system to a more compact form (reducing complexity). Contracting is not the same as scaling.
Cross Cross has several meanings. One is to transcend some boundary. Another is to combine things (like plant stock) in deliberate fashion. Third is an unhappy state of mind.
Distinction Distinctions are differences. As such they are informational, and have a perceptual basis. When ornithologists divide a bird population into sub-species they do so because a set of distinctions stable across a portion of the population has been found.
Duality Every individual and every thought of an individual divides the universe in two (individual and not-individual, thought and non-thought). Bucky Fuller said "universe is plural, and at minimum two". Each boundary divides things in two. Duality theory is the study of this phenomena. Some scholars define something by looking at the things it is not, or the via negativa (Moore)
Energy Energy is a measure of system excitation. The physical stuff that universe is made of can be at rest or excited. Excited matter jumps around (thermal energy) or has a potential to do work (potential or electrical energy) or flows (mechanical or electrical energy). Materials are transformed as energy effects them. When the transformation increases structure the material is said to have embodied energy (Odum) Embodied energy might be a wood pile stacked neatly for the winter or a set of woodworking skills that can transform raw materials into furniture.
Enlarge To grow the form or representation or system. Growth can happen spatially (things get physically bigger), mentally (we are more capable of perceiving different system types) or energetically (the system is able to process more energy). Enlargement may give more capacity or strength (or less), it may allow different actions or reactions (bigger space of response) or it may increase or decrease speed (speed of living or dying or moving or thinking).
Entity An entity is a distinct part of universe. Entities may be systems, or they may be elements of a system. A rock is an entity. While it does retain pattern integrity against some range of environmental change, most systems thinkers would not refer to an individual rock as systemic. A large collection of rock comprising a mountain range may be more readily considered systemic.
Enumerate To list or more particularly to number the items in a set. Can also be used to find or create the distinct combinations possible between members of the set. This has been termed the morphological approach.
Envision To envision is to imagine a state other then the present one. Imagination is a right-brain non-verbal form of thinking. The right brain needs ample images and down-time (time without words or media) to remain active and energized. Stephen Covey says that everything is made twice: Once in the mind and once in the real world. A vision is a possible future state, something to move towards. This movement is along a path consisting of the real world and the actions that an individual or human activity system takes. As time passes the vision changes and therefore the actions required to achieve the vision will change.
Evolve Evolution is change provoked by environmental effects and selected by success in maintaining pattern integrity in the face of that change. It can be seen as selective change, where the selector is system success in the face of external change. In human activity systems often refers to changes that are driven from within and that occur without disagreement. Contrast this to change driven from outside the system. Each results in system change, but the internal process is more incremental and gradual. The external process often results in massive and rapid change to the internal systems. Internal evolution occurs when the external environment is gradually changing and the stakeholders realize this and respond to it. Evolution that is driven by external events (not from the internal perception of those events) is more cataclysmic. An example from the natural world would be the weather change precipitated by meteoric impact that lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Feedback Because systems are loops the results of actions are sensed. This sensing often changes the system response, and is called feedback or closed loop control. Examples of system elements involved in feedback are the pilot of a ship and the thermostat in your house. All systems make use of feedback to stay intact as a system. This is because as time progresses, environmental change occurs, eventually affecting the system.
Form Form is the underlying structure of a system. For example the economy is a very large interconnected system, but its' form is one of production (someone makes something) and exchange (exchanging one thing for another).
Fuller Bucky Fuller was a self-taught mathematician and designer. Responsible for popularization of the geodesic dome and the idea of tensegrity (with James Snellson). Designed many highly efficient appliances like a car that got 200 miles per gallon and a shower that uses a few ounces of water. Championed the idea of ephemeralization, or doing more with less. Perhaps his greatest teaching was that each of us is important and can make a difference.
Geodesic Geodesic is a definition of a system that uses the smallest possible paths to interconnect two points. An example is the great circle routes that airlines use for travel between cities. A second example is the geodesic domes that Bucky Fuller designed to enclose the maximum amount of physical space with the minimum amount of material.
Goals Goals are a subset of vision. They refer to a particular state of something or someone (I will get a degree) or to an amount of something (I will have a house on a lake). They are therefore some element of a preferred future state. Edward de Bono refers to this as possibility space, the set of things that a person could experience. Vision is a superset of goals, and may entail goals to be achieved.
Hierarchy Hierarchy refers to systems structured with levels. Many systems can be considered hierarchical, with different types of structures (or different manifestations of a given type of structure) depending on what level of the system you look at. Other systems are collections of similar objects (committee members?).
Levels Levels refer to the divisions (real and perceptual) that we divide systems into. Levels are the layers of system structure. At the lowest level representations tend to the physical (although physics gives us statistical models as well). As level increase more organization is seen, and more information and energy is processed. The term levels may also refer to the level of discourse or discussion. Levels range from the ethereal/metaphysical to informational structures to human activity systems to physical structures to the atomic nature of nature. For example a farm has cash coming and going at the level of money. Slightly below that level are the actual purchases of seed, fertilizer and tools. Below that we have the plants and their cycles. In the human body there are organs at a level below the whole body, and cells within the organ.
Link To connect two different things in time or space. Much of this paper is linkages. Ideas are linked, the authors reality is linked to a set of words and pictures, and the readers reality is linked to the words. Hopefully some portion of the authors reality is transferred to the reader. In addition the author has linked the ideas to other people, publications and tools.
Living systems Living systems are those biological entities that grow, evolve, and decay over time.
Loop To iterate or repeat something over and over again. Looping is the nature of nature. The seasons loop as do the planets and our lives. Ecological analysis of a system often studies the loops and identifies their function. By definition a process is a loop or loops. If we design our system by taking loops into account, overall efficiency is increased, and the load on the external systems is decreased. Looping systems are learning systems. A learning system acquires knowledge, then tests that knowledge against the world. The results of the test are fed back, which modifies the knowledge, and the process is repeated. When learning stops looping, responses get set and we can have large errors in our representation of systems.
Map Mapping is creating a representation. Capturing is part of mapping. Mapping implies a higher level of organization that connects systems in one domain to those in another. It has been said that "The map is not the terrain" One example of mapping can be found at : http://w3.aces.uiuc.edu/AIM/Discovery/Mind/c-m2.html
Mental tool Mental tools are constructs that allow thoughts to be captured, maps to be created, decisions to be made. Just like the tools we use to transform the physical world, mental tools create and transform our internal and informational world.
Meta (adjective) Indicates a level beyond, above, or encompassing the level under discussion.
Minimal system Minimal systems are those with the smallest number of components (structural view) necessary to perform a function. One definition of minimal system comes from Bucky Fuller, who viewed the minimal system as something which divides the universe in two. This implies something with volume, as the universe is three-dimensional in nature. Dividing the universe into volumes requires at least four points, or a tetrahedron. For details, see
http://www.servtech.com/~rwgray/synergetics/s06/p2000.html
Naming The act of associating an experience or feeling to an element of the set (or space) of written words. (Fuller)
Plans A plan is a set of actions, decisions, tools, and participants designed to achieve a goal or vision. As the present state and the future vision or goals change the plan must accommodate the changes or change itself. Therefore plans require process to keep on track.
Precession Precession is the movement of a system or system component at "right angles" from the apparent force being exerted on it. Example is the gyroscope, whose most prominent force is rotational motion. Surprisingly it is the reaction of the gyroscope to changes at right angles to it's rotational motion that is the most useful aspect of a gyroscope. Fuller stated that precession illustrates that the easiest pathway is the one uncontrolled by other systems. An example would be the honey bee, which provides pollination as a result of its' food gathering.
Problem Solving Solving problems implies a present state and a desired future state. The solution represents one pathway from the present state to a solution state
Process (verb) A series of steps or sequence of activities. Processes are often looped, or repeated in a consistent fashion to produce a desired result. For example, many processes are mapped as a circle (Senge), with actions or events linked in time. This connection gives great power to a process as each step feeds into the next, until the final step is fed back into the first. This is how all natural systems are organized. Process allows or demands learning as each step can effect each subsequent step. Process can be a codification of change. Many processes are designed to deliver consistent outputs over changes in the environment. Another view of process can be found at : http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/PROCESS.html
Range A measure of how large something is, or how far something can move within an area.
Refinement Incremental movement or improvement. The direction is defined outside of the space that the object or system exists in. For example, refinement of a toaster may mean a smaller appliance, one that uses less energy, or one that "looks better".
Representation Representation is a model or description of a system (as opposed to the system itself). Representations may change more easily than a system itself. For complex systems there are many possible representations, just as there are many possible system responses. Human activity systems often are tied to complex systems like the economy or education. By re-organizing the system representation, different ways of interacting with the actual system can be found.
Scale To take a structure and increase or decrease it along some dimension. Scaling occurs spatially when we take a small park and double its' size. Scaling happens temporally when we reduce the time for a class from 3 months to six weeks. It appears almost invariably true that scaling has effects beyond the explicit changes that were made. For example, the larger park may need more support personnel than size would indicate, and it may not be able to support twice the species of plants and animals than the smaller park. Similarly the shorter class may not just mean that assignments need to be done in half the time. It may be true that learning occurs in a different fashion when the pace changes.
Sequencing Linking events in time. Sequencing is one step in creating a process.
Set point A set point is the desired value of some system observable. In your home heating system the set-point is the desired temperature. In your financial system it may be some desired quantity of money in bank accounts. At the economic level it may be a certain rate of unemployment of inflation.
Shift To move up, down, or sideways. Shifting can be spatial or time-based. In a human system with several interconnecting parts, you can deliberately move the points of connection or the function performed by an element. An example is corporate re-organization where people performing one job are asked to take on a different job. Shifting happens in natural system in response to environmental change.
Solidify. To add structure or to change state from fluid to solid. A small company may have a returns policy based on common sense. As the company grows this may get harder to communicate to support staff, so a written policy is created to solidify the process.
Solve Provide an answer to a problem. Problems are unmet needs, conflicts, desires, or expectations. Problem implies awareness of a situation. This awareness is matched to the current set of needs or desires for the individual or organization. If the awareness doesn't match, we have a problem. We can accept the difference between the situation and our expectations, or we can decide that something needs to be changed. One persons problem (don't have time to make lunch) is another persons opportunity (fast food outlets). Of course the first individual could decide to make food early and bring it along. Alternatively they could decide to change their schedule so that lunch is not so harried.
Space The experience of emptiness within or outside of a defined volume or vessel. Also used as a label referring to the range defined by a set of operations, terms, or concepts.
Split To separate something into more than one piece. Big ideas can be split into smaller ideas. The split becomes a boundary and needs to be treated as such. For example, the flow of energy in a system is distinctly different when it crosses a boundary -- it may become limited or controlled in some fashion. An example would be products made in one country and exchanged for money in another.
Stasis Stasis indicates a state of rest or stagnation. If nothing is (perceptibly) changing we feel that the system is in stasis. In reality nothing in the universe is at a state of rest. We might consider a geologic formation like a mountain to be in stasis, but that is only true when our perceptual time-scale is much faster than the rate of change of the mountain. If you have ever seen a time-lapse film of a flower growing and opening you can visualize this difference in perceptual scale. In human activity systems, growing kids (especially adolescents) may consider their parents to be in stasis. To the parents, however, change is going on at a rapid rate. Each has their own scale and rate of change.
Structure Structure is how things are stuck together. It is often seen as mechanical in nature; the structure of a bridge, house, or person. In organizations structure is the explicit linkages between people and their work. Structure, seen as internal organization, is distinct from appearance or form. System response depends on structure. System efficiency is a function of structure. There may be minimal structures necessary for certain tasks.
Synapses Connections made within the brain as the result of experiences. They represent a physical connection that allows the transmission or storage of specific electrical patterns. A set of such patterns represents a stored experience or pattern.
System A system is a distinct part of universe that displays pattern integrity (Fuller) i.e. it retains form despite external environmental changes. A minimal system is one with the smallest number of components (structural view) necessary to perform a function. One definition of minimal system comes from Fuller, who viewed the minimal system as something which divides the universe in two. This implies something with volume, as the universe is three-dimensional in nature. Dividing the universe into volumes requires at least four points, or a tetrahedron. In addition to four points, a system may need a structure like feedback to retain integrity.
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