Toronto, Ontario
Don Valley Drive: Facing west, loud traffic noises beyond the 40 metre steep forested drop into ravine alongside the river, with the Don Valley Parkway on the other side. Dead end residential street is close to city centre, yet hidden away. More than one freestanding basketball hoop on the roadway. (Don Valley Drive, North Broadview, East York, Ontario) 20200806St. James Park: Playground with market theme includes stacked crates, asparagus spears. Open in summer 2019 as part of Phase 1, other Phase 2 areas still fenced off either for completion, or due to pandemic interruption. We often pass by on Adelaide Street or King Street, but haven’t stopped to notice the details. (St. James Park, King Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20200818Mud Creek: View northward from Cat’s Eye Bridge, overlooking the Belt Line Trail by Heath Street East. Bike ride descending from Mount Pleasant Cemetery, with a long climb back up Milkman’s Lane. Route is originally a train line opening 1892, purchased in 1972 in a land swap for the land by the Metro Convention Centre. (Mud Creek, at Heath Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20200820Edward Gardens: Annual visit to the nuptial site, 35th revisiting of our commitments. Sons remarking on the number of return trips yet to come. So warm outside, plans to dine at a patio were abandoned in favour of the first seated restaurant meal in six months, following social distancing protocols. (Edward Gardens, Don Mills, Ontario) 20200824Ashbridges Bay: Bench under shady trees facing pleasure craft, with few visitors on a cloudy day. Popular area for children on bicycles with training wheels, while other parents hold hands before crossing the paved path. Volleyball courts seem more popular than boardwalk, rain arriving within the hour. (Ashbridges Bay, Toronto, Ontario) 20200826
Princes Gates: Rear view, looking eastward toward the city centre, of the Goddess of Winged Victory, with a single maple leaf in her hand. The last two weeks of August normally see this street busy with the Canadian National Exhibition, but the pandemic led to cancellation. Statue commemorated in 1972 was poured concrete, replaced by in 1987 by a polymer copy. Nine pillars represent the nine provinces at that time. (Princes Gates, Princes Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario) 20200829
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” […]
On the path towards a publication in 2023, this plenary talk for the International Society for the Systems Sciences 66th Annual Meeting came with a preamble. Slides were provided in advance at http://coevolving.com/commons/2022-07-08-appreciating-systems-changes, so that details might be later perused at leisure. Here is the agenda for the presentation: A. Rising interest in System(s) Change(s) […]
In which ways are systems changes different from changes? Extending the deep body of knowledge in the systems sciences, rhythmic shifts serve as a gateway for exploration. In a rigourous coevolving of inquiries into (i) doing (praxis), (ii) thinking (theoria), and (iii) making (theoria), a coherent systems approach is being recast and reified. An article […]
System thinking, starting from graduate studies, can be a continuing (if not lifelong) journey. In parallel to a professional career in strategic communications, Zaid Khan has the distinction having studyied systemic design in the OCADU SFI program (2016-2020), under the supervision of Peter Jones. He became a cofounder of the Systems Changes Learning Circle in […]
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 ›
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"
When one chooses a guiding philosophy of life -- and the modern world has chosen humanism -- one becomes responsible for all the consequences that flow from that choice. (David W. Ehrenfeld, 1981)
