Wolfgang WoppererNotesEssays

System

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A system is a group of regularly interacting or interdependent items forming a coherent whole. It is defined by its Boundary, i.e. by what is and what is not part of it. System boundaries can be described as Markov Blankets.

Each item that is part of a system can itself be understood as a system. This means that described abstractly, The world is a hierarchy of systems.

A system can be fully characterised by describing the evolution of its states. This means that ontologically, Systems live in state spaces.

Systems emerge due to constraints.

If they change over time, we call them Dynamical Systems.

References

An Attractor Defines a Stable System

Since the “states that will actually be observed in [a] System are the Attractors”Abraham & Shaw (1992), 13 , we can identify any system as we observe it with its attractors.

Attractor Landscape

An attractor landscape is an abstraction of the State Space of a System.

Attractor

An attractor is the set of states a System tends to be in given what it is or how it can maintain its boundaries.

Causal Emergence

Causation happens between Systems demarcated by System Boundaries, horizontally as well as vertically.

Causal Structure

Causation consists in constraints.

Concept Mapping

What Concept Mapping is a tool for collaborative Sensemaking.

Concepts Are Attractors

Because Concepts are compressed models, and Models are Systems themselves, Concepts are also systems.

Concepts Are Compressed Models

A Concept is an interface to expose and connect some Models’ salient features.

Constraint

Constraints are relational properties components acquire in virtue of being embedded in a higher level SystemJuarrero (1998), 234 alterations in the probability distribution of a system’s State Spaceibid.

Dynamical System

A dynamical system is a System that changes over time.

Environment

The context of a System from which it is separated by a System Boundary.

Epistemic Colonialism

Epistemic colonialism is the use of Power to force a System of thought, often an Ideology, onto an area of thought and a population of thinkers that have every right to organise and be organised differently to deal adequately with their specific experiential context.

Every System Is a Model of Its Environment

For a System to have an Implicit Model means embodying “statistical regularities of its world in its physical and functional composition”Kirchhoff et al.

Explicit Model

An explicit Model is a consciously articulated, interpretive description of a target System that can be the object of the modelling system’s attention.

Implicit Model

An implicit Model is an evolved, embodied representation of a System’s Environment.

Missing System

A missing system is a hypothetical System described by a Model that doesn’t track real System Boundaries – a system that doesn’t exist (in the hypothesised boundaries).

Model

A model is a simplified representation of a System.

Perception

Perception is the active sampling a System does of its Environment to validate its Model.

Power

At its core, political or social power is a System’s ability to influence the behaviour of other systems.

Prioritise Abstraction Over Metaphor

Usually, the Abstractions we are using are based on Conceptual Metaphors.

Scale Free Abstraction

We want a Sensemaking Framework that helps maximise scope, detail, and cognitive efficiency of Sensemaking.

Stakeholder Map

What Stakeholder Maps help identify and classify actors who have Power over and/or interest in the outcomes of a Project or Product development.

Strategy Is a Learning Process

Strategy is de facto always an iterative learning process, even if this is often not made explicit and information gaps between iterations make it less effective and efficient.

Strategy Is a Pattern of Actions

On an abstract level, Strategy is a set of System activities, structured in a process.

Strategy Is Based on Models

Every Strategy is based on an (implicit or explicit) assessment of the situation, i.

Strategy

Strategy is a set of choices about how to use a System’s resources in a way that maximises its chances to fulfil its Purpose in a given context.

System Boundary

A System boundary is topologically defined as the set of system components which have connections both to other system elements and to its Environment.

Systems Emerge Due to Constraints

Systems or, more precisely, dissipative and autocatalytic structures that are precursors of autonomous, e.

Systems Live in State Spaces

We want a parsimonious and productive ontology.

Technology

Technology is “a collection of phenomena [or effects] captured and put to use”, “a programming of phenomena to our purposes”; a “purposed system”.

The World Is a Hierarchy of Systems

When thinking about ontology, i.

We Need Disruption, Popular Support and Alternative Institutions to Achieve System Change

Climate and Ecological Breakdown is the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced, with civilisational Collapse an increasingly realistic outcome.