New York, NY; Toronto, Ontario; Madrid, Spain.
Roberta’s Bushwick: Checking quality of pizza fresh out of the oven, experiening the Bushwick neighbourhood. Will just have a weekend in the New York with 2 of our sons, before moving on. The urban vibe is energetic, but it’s getting harder for the elders to hear, over the music. (Roberta’s Bushwick, Moore Street, Brooklyn, NY) 20220902Roberta’s Bushwick: Dinner after a long day with family plans shifting, and then adjustments made en route. NYC weekend and then cruise to Bermuda was planned months ago, but I’ll be returning home on Monday before everyone else ships out. New York looks a little different since my last visit 7 years ago, but the energy persists. (Roberta’s Bushwick, Moore Street, Brooklyn, New York) 20220902Graham Ave, Avenue of Puerto Rico: Morning walk in neighbourhood to pick up bagels with lox cream cheese and tofu vegetable spread, and fruit. Apartment is full of light, home touches of our Chinese-American host. Slow start to a Saturday scheduled for art museums. (Graham Avenue (Avenue of Puerto Rico, East Williamsburg, New York, NY) 20220903
Williamsburg Bridge walk: Ambling eastbound from Williamsburg to the Lower East Side, on a warm September Sunday. Popular with joggers, bicyclists, and a few families with shopping bags. High outside fences unfortunately obstruct a scenic crossing. (Williamsburg Bridge, New York, NY) 20220904
Museum of Modern Art: Feeling small beside Gaetano Pesce (1970-1971) Moloch Floor Lamp, (1969) Up 5 Lounge Chair with Up 6 Ottoman, both made in Italy. Museum feels much larger than last visit years ago, I’ve lost my family walking around. Visitors to the galleries fully international. (Museum of Modern Art, 53rd Street, New York, NY) 20220903MacDougal Street: Salon conversation via @KositsMarianne with #PeterSkinner and @deadlinepundit on history in world affairs. Caucasus mountains blocking invasions of Georgia from the east; People’s Republic of China before opening to the west in the early 1970s. Tenement apartment in the heart of Greenwich Village since 1967, partygoers frequently sitting on the steep front steps up. (MacDougal Street, Greenwich Village, New York, NY) 20220903Whitney Museum of American Art: Fifth floor deck #DavidSmith (1961) Lectern Sentinel sculpture made of stainless steel, background southeast into Meatpacking District. Family plus friend walked through Lower East Side, Mott Street and Little Italy, and then discovered Columbus Park with Sun Yat Sen memorial. Called car service as we realized our time visiting museum would be limited by 6pm close. (Whitney Museum of American Art, Gansevoort Street, New York, NY) 20220904
Times Square: North view from 7th Avenue at 46th Street West, panning from northwest past George M. Cohan statue to look southeast. Labour Day weekend crowds were exceptionally packed and noisy. The bright lights were to wrap up a few family days in the bit city, followed by destination wayfinding to a strongly renowned pizza restaurant. (Times Square, 7th Avenue at 46th Street West, New York, NY) 20220904
Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital: Fifth floor view northeast, gable skylights over the second floor below, and trees in the park around the Rouge River towards the eastern suburban edge of Metropolitan Toronto. Modernist facility constructed in 1967, with multiple expansions in decades following. Early admission for procedure with father scheduled tomorrow, medical professionals prefer control over food and drink for a day. (Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital, Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220906Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital: Behind the secure door, there’s a small children’s play area before the operating room corridor where only hospital scrubs are permitted. After the patient and family are briefed on the procedure, adults are normally asked to go to the waiting room outside the secure door. Normal scheduling aims for surgeries to finish off around 4:30pm, but urgent cases may see the doctors still onsite at 11pm. (Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital, Ellesmere Road East, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220907Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital: The first day recovering from surgery for my father, vital signs all look fine. We expect to visiting this semi-private room daily until he’s well enough to return home. Easing back onto solid food, a period of disorientation after general anaesthesia seems normal. (Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital, Ellesmere Road East, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220908Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital: After 11 days of wearing a hospital gown, got dressed in street clothes and walked out of the hospital. Now back at semiors apartment, where there’s no walker assistance, just handrails in the hallways. Only started on solid food again yesterday, so more rest and recuperation is ahead at home. (Scarborough Health Network, Centenary Hospital, Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20220916Polson Street: The yellow of the Cherry Street Bridge South is distinct from the red of the Cherry Street Bridge North. The naturalization of the Polson Slip is still in progress, as the former rectilinear Ship Channel gains curves constructed in the River Valley to slow down fast-flowing water during anticipated major storms. Looking northward over the Lafarge cement operations, industrial production will continue long after the district transformation is complete in 2024. (Polson Street, Port Lands, Toronto, Ontario) 20220920Centre for Social Innovation Spadina: Festive spirit @csiTO Welcome Back Wine & Cheese party (with mocktails and vegan spreads) as first indoor event since the pandemic precautions started 2 years ago. Game cards with questions encourage meeting new people, exchangeable for drinks at the Social Capital Cocktail Bar after connection validated with writing on the back. Encourage to join the dancing, but that’s not my style. (Centre for Social innovation, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220922Thorncliffe Park Community Hub: Midafternoon break for bivalent booster vaccination, fifth in the series. Drove to the mall wtih a bike packed in the back to ride home, so that DY could continue shopping in the area. Feeling some stiffness, presuming recovery over the weekend. (Thorncliffe Park Community Hub, Overlea Boulevard, East York, Ontario) 20220923The Oud & the Fuzz: Entertaining in the urban Toronto style, on a rainy Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday, with family visiting from Vancouver on business. Under the backyard pergola shelter, the band played bossa nova while we sampled Armenian small dishes. Walked to the local brewery for a 6-pack variety of flavours, enjoyed back in the apartment a little further south in Spadina Chinatown. (The Oud & the Fuzz, Kensington Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220925
The Oud & the Fuzz: Bossa nova sax, guitar, bass and drums, in the backyard dining area under sheltering pergola, not further east on the stage exposed to the rain. Armenian entrees on the Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday menu, with usual crowds diminished by the damp weather. Vancouver-side family gathering coinciding with business travel extending over weekend. (The Oud & the Fuzz, Kensington Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220925
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, International: Arrived 3h45 minutes before flight to Madrid, after driving in local traffic in rush hour from Scarborough 1h40m. Long queue in priority check-in, followed by diversion from E gate entrance to D gate queues, then crossing back across airport to international gates. Travel for academic meeting has a last minute extension for university lectures, we’re happy to be in person rather than online. (Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, International, Pearson Airport, Toronto, Ontario) 20220929Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía: On the 3rd floor terrace, Miralda (1981) Tri-Uni-Corn sculpture of fibreglass and corn husks of ox, pig and lamb on a table, ready for traditoinal slaugher in the Kansas way. Large museum with wings added to a quadrangle, particularly rich early 20th century works by Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro on the second floor. Arrived ready to view art after 4pm, after airplane landed at 11am, checking out hotel, having lunch, and figuring out the bus system (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Calle Santa Isabel, Madrid, Spain) 20220930Antón Martín Market: Hardly the first, but maybe one of the brighter and attractive displays of jamon iberico hanging from racks to attract customers. I’m unlikely to make a meal of pork, since I’m a vegan, but I enjoy the vibe of thriving public markets. Located in a less-touristy local, this public market seemed to offer a lot of Japanese food options. (Antón Martín Market, Calle de Santa Isabel, Madrid, Spain) 20220930
Huertas: Started wandering this neighbourhood before dusk, found a welcoming restaurant after considering tapas bars that serve similar limited menus. Seated at a high table with view on the intersection, observing groups of friends convening and wayfinding. Madrid is active at 10pm, lots of pedestrians providing eyes on the street. (Calle del Leon, Huertas, Madrid, Spain) 20220930
The International Society for General Systems Research formed circa 1956 became the International Society for the Systems Sciences in 1988. In 1985, Bela H. Banathy organized the annual meeting on the theme of “Systems Inquiring”. Proceedings normally are published in the year following. In 1987, John A. Dillon summarized Banathy’s perspective in the yearbook, General […]
For five immersive days, a team of six researchers had the opporunity to collaborate on ideas on rhythmic shifts (mostly based on Systems Changes Learning) and anticipatory systems (in the legacy of Robert Rosen). The 2024 Banathy Conversation was organized by the Creative Systemic Research Platform Institute, facilitated by Susu Nousala, Gary S. Metcalf, and […]
Systems Processes Theory has been under development for many decades, led by Len Troncale, a past president of the International Society for the Ssytems Sciences. Many have found getting a grip on the science to be a demanding task, both in scope and in depth. Over many decades, Lynn Rasmussen was a collaborator, refining and […]
The Socio-Technical Systems (STS) perspective, dating back to the studies of Eric L. Trist and Fred E. Emery, was on the reading list of organizational behaviour classes in my undergraduate and master’s degree programs. It wasn’t until 15 years later, when I got involved with the systems sciences and David L. Hawk, that the Socio-Ecological […]
Civic Tech can be described as projects using technology “for the public good“. Civic Tech may be related to, but different from Gov Tech. For the May 2024 Systems Thinking Onrtario, we had two knowledgeable guests in conversation. Dorothy Eng, executive director of Code for Canada since 2021, related her professional journey from engineering to […]
On my May trip through the UK, I accepted an offer to lead an Expert-Led Session at the University of Hull. I had previously been a Research Fellow of the Centre for Systems Studies, but haven’t travelled to the Hull for some years. As we worked out the arrangements, I found out that the seminar […]
David L. Hawk (American management theorist, architect, and systems scientist) has been hosting a weekly television show broadcast on Bold Brave Tv from the New York area on Wednesdays 6pm ET, remotely from his home in Iowa. Live, callers can join…Read more ›
Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
The appreciation of change is different in Western philosophy than in classical Chinese philosophy. JeeLoo Lin published a concise contrast on differences. Let me parse the Introduction to the journal article, that is so clearly written. The Chinese theory of time is built into a language that is tenseless. The Yijing (Book of Changes) there […]
In trying to place the World Hypotheses work of Stephen C. Pepper (with multiple root metaphors), Nicholas Rescher provides a helpful positioning. — begin paste — Philosophical perspectivism maintains that substantive philosophical positions can be maintained only from a “perspective” of some sort. But what sort? Clearly different sorts of perspectives can be conceived of, […]
Finding proper words to express system(s) change(s) can be a challenge. One alternative could be diachrony. The Oxford English dictionary provides two definitions for diachronic, the first one most generally related to time. (The second is linguistic method) diachronic ADJECTIVE Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “diachronic (adj.), sense 1,” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3691792233. For completeness, prochronic relates “to […]
The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
