Do as I Say, Not as I Do?

There’s an assumed hypocrisy in saying one thing and doing another, but in reality, in complex situations, there is always some motivation. And as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, after Brunsson, there are good reasons, hypocrisy is an essential life skill anyway. The other way round, “Do as I do, not as I say” there’s an easy … Continue reading “Do as I Say, Not as I Do?”

Not Frightening the Horses

When dealing with science and engineering “STEM” and other numerate bean-counter accountant & management “MBA” types it’s funny what comes up in conversation. In dialogue you might pick-up considerations like Love and Spirituality, but you won’t find those words in their spreadsheets or specifications. In sensible, real-world, day-job contexts where rubber meets the road it … Continue reading “Not Frightening the Horses”

Against Criticism?

In my own rules of discourse, I’ve always emphasised creativity & increasing understanding over analytically destructive critique & debate. This is to counterbalance, by dynamic integration, the imbalance promoted by the “critical thinkers” who shout most effectively in the dysmemic sense. In fact, the destructiveness of Aristotle’s analytic knife features in my very first (2001) … Continue reading “Against Criticism?”

Forgotten More Than I’ve Written?

24th year of blogging and, I’m repeating myself a lot as I’m marshalling main threads into (hopefully) book and/or thesis chapters. Cycling through the topics I’m finding stuff I said years ago is pretty good to go mostly unchanged. Kind of embarrassing that I didn’t pull it all together sooner. Contexts and content of current … Continue reading “Forgotten More Than I’ve Written?”

50th Anniversary Edition of ZMM has Arrived

The publisher very kindly let me have 3 copies of the 50th anniversary edition of ZMM published Tuesday last week. I can confirm that as well as the new Foreword from Matt Crawford, this edition contains both the Author’s Introduction, the Afterword referring to Chris’s death and the Readers’s Guide, that were added at the … Continue reading “50th Anniversary Edition of ZMM has Arrived”

WOSC or ISSS – “Systems Umbrella”?

#EMFAMBE (Actually published a week or so ago as a “page” for no good reason – so now as a “post”. In fact was really an early draft of a longer piece, now I have all three presentations mentioned in the final para at “END” below, before all the other post-notes.) I’ve elaborated my own … Continue reading “WOSC or ISSS – “Systems Umbrella”?”

Psybernetics ?

#EMFAMBE Never really approved of neologisms as a way of avoiding the baggage of perfectly serviceable existing words and language. Two reasons: First, that it implies some “invention” of the concept not just the word, and that invention implies some proprietorial – copyright – interest in its use, even if the idea is as old … Continue reading “Psybernetics ?”

Synergy or Emergence?

Whichever word we choose (*1) – synergy or emergence – to represent systematic parts (internal and/or external) interacting to create “more than the sum of the parts” (*2), what really matters is that we have an explanation and understanding of how IT happens (*3). How synergy leads to emergence of entirely new entities and behaviours, … Continue reading “Synergy or Emergence?”