Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; Jacksonville, Florida.
YTZ ferry. Landside terminal view of ferry to Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto Island. Runs every 15 minutes. This is my first time outbound from YTZ, as Air Canada only flies to Montreal from here. Porter Airlines dominates the terminal as its hubs. Free cafe in terminal is not Maple Leaf Lounge, but it’s more democratic. (Toronto) 20120103 1324Montreal Chinatown Gate Mural. Snowy January morning on Rene Levesque Blvd. Chinatown Gate with mural across the street, at St. Laurent entry (Montreal) 20120105 0845Rooftop pool in Montreal winter. Steaming indoor-outdoor pool at Hilton Bonaventure, in an early Montreal morning with temperature well below freezing. I probably haven’t been in this pool since the early 1990s, and then not with snow around it. No time on this trip for swimming. (Montreal, Quebec) 20120116 0928Jacksonville Landing on St. John’s River. Late afternoon January in northern Florida, with blue skies. Rock music playing, just a few tourists walking by with children. Welcome relief from winter, great weather offsets rebooked flight and leaving home early in the dark. Expect most of weekend indoors in meetings (Jacksonville, FL) 20120120 1650Florida Theatre, Gordon Lightfoot. In Jacksonville, FL, Gordon Lightfoot on tour for 13 days of 15. I was coincidentally in town for a conference, and snagged row 5 tickets with JMW 2 hours before show. Last time I saw Lightfoot was in Massey Hall in Toronto in the mid-1970s. Songs familiar, performance now performance of a 73-year old is different. Hard to find anyone in audience under age 40. (Jacksonville, FL) 20120122 2041JAX Art by Joe Segal. Sculptures of wood and aluminum mounted on wall of Jacksonville Airport art gallery, created by northern Florida artist Joe Segal. Displayed together as a collection, but actually tagged as independent pieces for sale. Gallery is located landside in airport, so non-travelers can view, but would have viewed longer with flight delay if venue was airside. (Jacksonville, FL) 20120123 1540Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle, Montreal. Rooftop art deco 1930s installation restored in 2009, 10 metres high, 6 tonnes of steel. Viewed from 11th floor window of the Cite du Commerce Electronique to the north. Preservation of whimsy demonstrates that Montreal doesn’t always take itself seriously (Montreal, Quebec) 20120125 0853Yael Bensoussan duo, Segal Centre. Vocals in French, plus guitar. Said she learned songs sung by her mother washing dishes. Introduced with alternate career as a second year medical student at U. of Montreal. Part of the Women of the World series at the Segal Centre, opening for Coral Egan (Montreal) 20120126 2007
Coral Egan, Segal Centre. Preview of “The Year He Drove Me Crazy” album for spring release, 3 years in making. New band, intimate venue with audience of about 150. Coral Egan performing as part of the Women of the World series at the Segal Centre (Montreal) 20120126 2052
While the adaptive cycle and panarchical connections reflect the possiblity of movement from one stable state to another, it’s possible to get “stuck” in a disfavoured trap. Social ecological systems involve both natural systems and human systems. After widespread recognition of the 2002 Panarchy book, reflections in 2010 revealed further development of the theory and […]
In order to appreciate the influence of resilience science and panarchy on ongoing research into systems changes, revisiting foundational works sometimes resurfaces insights. In the 2002 Panarchy book, Chapter 15 provides a summary of findings. In the course of the project hat led to this volume, we identified twelve conclusions (Table 15-1) in our search for […]
What might a non-anthropocentric view of sustainability look like? This would probably include regeneration of species alongside others in the ecosystem. With some recent presentations, an idea that resonates with audiences is the “The Second Life of Trees”, credited by Tim Ingold (2002) to John Knight (1998). Ingold sees continuity of life not only of […]
Towards a general theory of living systems, we should be looking beyond the singletons of a hierarchical level, i.e. (i) cell, (ii) organ, (iii) organism, (iv) group, (v) organization, (vi) community, (vii) society, and (viii) supranational level. In a scientific approach, James Grier Miller created a list of hypotheses. In the 1100+ page book, the […]
When exploring the meaning of Living Systems, it’s pretty hard to ignore the major works of James Grier Miller (1916–2002) with a book thus titled. In addition to the 1978 book Living Systems (of 1168 pages!) some additions were published in 1992 in Behavioral Science, the Journal of the Society for General Systems Research. Miller […]
For their community of systems practitioners, Systems and Complexity in Organisation (SCiO) UK invited a presentation at their Virtual Open Meeting in July. Presenting in a 45-minute slot, the slides at http://coevolving.com/commons/2022-07-11-doing-thinking-making-systems-changes were covered in 38 minutes, leaving time for a few questions and comments. The agenda mainly focused on “Doing”, with “Thinking” and “Making” […]
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 ›
For the @ArchFoundation, #TimIngold distinguishes outcome-oriented making from process-oriented growing, revisiting #MartinHeidegger “Building Dwelling Thinking”. Organisms are made; artefacts grow. The distinction seems obvious, until you stop to ask what assumptions it contains, about the inside and outside of things…Read more ›
In web conference, #HermanDaly says #EcologicalEconomics used to get attacked from the right, now it's from the left. Panel @revkin @jon_d_erickson @ktkish @sophiesanniti #TimCrowshaw #KatieHorner livestreamed #sustainwhat .Read more ›
Complementing the idea of a @longnow , @nfergus provokes the challenge of a #shortthen as the online social media platforms distract the larger perspectives on history.Read more ›
Towards a non-anthropocentric view of aesthetics, we explore the legacy of work in the aesthetics of nature. The collection of essays in The Aesthetics of Natural Environments (2004), edited by Allen Carlson and Arnold Berleant, illuminates some of the issues and debates on this perspective. In the Acknowledgements for the 2004 book is a trail […]
In the history of science of systems thinking, Debora Hammond related the backgrounds and connections of the founder of the Society for General Systems Research, that is now the International Society for the Systems Sciences. Boulding (1956) plays a large role in framing two orientations towards “general systems theory”. Kenneth Boulding used to distinguish between […]
Geoffrey Vickers saw human systems as different, with moral character distinguishing from natural and manmade systems. Gregory Bateson, in a more general view of systems, saw morality as entering in systems processes.
In this review of a philosophical work written in Chinese, a comparison is made between Chinese philosophy centering on the body, in comparison to Western philosopy centered on the mind. (I found a reference to this book, tracing back from Keekok Lee (2017) Chapter 9, footnote 8.
The translation from English "systems thinking" to French "la pensée systémique" misses meaning. "Approche systémique" has lineage to "Conférences Macy", "General System Theory (Bertalanffy)" and "Gregory Bateson"
