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Whole, Part, Purposeful, Unpurposeful
Perhaps ironically, the various branches of “systems thinking” do not have a consensus definition of “system” archetypes. In “Ackoff’s Best”, Russell Ackoff lays down his definition as follows:
There are three basic types of systems and models of them, and a meta-system: one that contains all three types as parts of it. 1. Deterministic: Systems and models in which neither the parts nor the whole are purposeful (e.g. a computer) 2. Animated: Systems and models in which the whole is purposeful but the parts are not (e.g. you or me). 3. Social: Systems and models in which both the parts and the whole are purposeful (e.g. an institution). All three types of systems are contained in ecological systems, some of whose parts are purposeful but not the whole. For example, Earth is an ecological system that has no purpose of its own but contains social and animate systems that do, and deterministic systems that don’t.
But wait! Why are there no Ackoffian systems whose parts are purposeful but whose whole is un-purposeful? Russ doesn’t say why, but BD00 (of course) can speculate.
As soon as one inserts a purposeful part into a deterministic system, the system auto-becomes purposeful?
Robot00.com
The other day, I received a package from Amazon and I was popping the packing bubbles to reduce the volume for throwing them away. While robotically popping away, I had a sudden realization that I was thinking about what my next blog post was going to be about. I wasn’t paying attention at freakin’ all to what I was doing.
I reflected further, and then became amazed at how much of my so-called conscious time is spent on autopilot – not thinking in the least about what I’m doing at the moment. I realized that the only time I really think “in the moment” and pay attention to what I’m doing is when I’m designing/writing code, golfing, and writing blog posts. Sadly, that is not the majority of my time. Not even close.
How abut you? Do you find yourself in robopilot mode often?
Picture this
Picture your thoughts as leaves floating down a river. A thought appears in your head, you think it, and then you let it go. Aaaah, what bliss. But wait! One of those leaves just got stuck on a tree root extending out into the water. There it stays, spinning around at a maddening frequency. D’oh! I hate when that happens.
Picture your thoughts as puffy white clouds drifting across the sky. A thought appears in your head, you think it, and then you let it go. Aaaah, what bliss. But wait! One of those clouds just turned dark and started spewing thunder, lightning, and rain. D’oh! I hate when that happens.
Mind Speed
One of my nieces recently sampled my blog and told me: “sometimes the words seem to flow faster than I can read them“. Another person once told me: “you talk faster than I can think“. Alas, such is the downside of having a racy mind.
If you believe the curve above, then the question of how to slow down a speedy mind may have occurred to you. Well, there are tried and true temporary solutions to the dilemma: music, drugs, exercise, alcohol, and meditation.
If you suffer from a racy mind, what works for you? Do you know of any permanent solutions?
Hijacked By Thought
In “The Most Direct Means To Eternal Bliss“, Michael Langford nails BD00 personally with a bullet to the forehead:
Confusing “knowing-insight-awareness” with “conceptual knowing“. That’s exactly the rut I’m in. What rut are you in?
Ingrained Internal Shared Mindset
All Models are wrong, but some are useful – George Box
One of the models below puts the owners and managers of an enterprise at the top and the other model places them at the bottom. Which system design do you think is capable of creating more wealth for all stakeholders over the long term?
Finite Experience
I’ve just dropped in for a visit. How about you?
Structure, Not Content
The problem is not the content, it’s the conditioned structure of the human mind – Eckhart Tolle
If the structure of one’s mind has been conditioned and molded into a crystallized pyramid from birth (and whose mind hasn’t?), then its time-varying content will be heavily distorted by pyramidal thoughts. You know, those thoughts that put you at the top of the pyramid so that everyone will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re smarter and more important than they are.
Order Imposition
When functioning correctly, the purpose of “rational thought” is to impose the illusion of order on chaos. As you well know by now, BD00, whose thoughts are dysfunctional, irrationally prefers chaos-squared over order. Actually, he doesn’t prefer it. It’s just the way it is. D’oh!
Obscured By Me
I hate when this happens….
…which is ALL the time. D’oh!
Why am I here?
WTF?
Meh!
D'oh!
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