Toronto, Ontario
Riverdale Park East: The young at heart enjoying the bright winter day, riding sleds west of Broadview Avenue, down into the Don Valley ravine. No manmade aids to return to the top, lots of parents pulling young children back uphill. Completely natural snow, unlike the Winter Olympics in progress a continent away. (Riverdale Park East, Broadview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220205401 Richmond Street West: Centre courtyard in arts-and-culture hub is a quiet spot in the Queen Street West district, slightly barren during the winter cold. Industrial structure originally dating back to 1899 is in contrast to the condo apartment tower to the east built in 2000. Travel crosstown took especially long on a Saturday afternoon, with police routing traffic around the Queens Park siege. (401 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220212Abbozzo Gallery: Oxygen-producing bioart, @VladimirKanic (2021) Book of Waves, Part 6 is about a foot square, mounted on the wall alongside others in the series. Sculpture is made from biodegradable bioplastics, algae lives with the carbon dioxide in the air expelled by visitors. The show lights up the front window of the gallery, slight pump sounds are audible inside when close to the piece. (Abbozzo Gallery, 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220212Waterfront Trail: Urban mural by @flipsbsc (2020) #torontoswirls on hoarding series @StART_Toronto Honouring Our Water endures second winter. Single day temperature swing encouraged first bike ride in many weeks. Snowbanks not completely melted, asphalt pavement shows heaving. (Waterfront Trail, Lakeshore Boulevard East, west of Coxwell Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20220216Marina Quay West: Couples stroll along water’s edge, from Bathurst Street past HTO Park to Harbourfront Centre. Surface between slips in the marina iced over, with mysterious melted gaps in rectilinear intervals. Further east, ducks paddling around in open water. (Marina Quay West, Central Waterfront, Toronto, Ontario) 20220219
The Power Plant Gallery: Exhibition “You Name It” #SashaHuber (2009) Strange Fruit Bowl inspired by poem by Abel Meenopol, later recorded by Billie Holiday. Three balls made of hemp ropes as used to make nooses, in a bowl covered with staples. In background Huber and #PetriSaarikko (2015) Prototype, a scaled geometric outline of Agassizhorn, fronting large screen projection of video (2008) Rentyhorn, protesting scientific racism of #LouisAgassiz, in favour or renaming Congolese-born Renty who was enslaved on a plantation in early 1800s South Carolina. (The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Queen’s Quay West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220219
For espoused systems thinkers who are predisposed towards towards finding an equilibrium (or maybe one amongst multiple equilibria), a discussion about entropy can raise discomfort. In the systems sciences, the second law of thermodynamics — as an entropic process — is often cited by the learned as a universal law applicable across physics, chemistry, biology […]
In the 4th year of an espoused 10-year journey, the Systems Changes Learning Circle reached a major milestone. With Code for Canada, the team conducted its first educational workshop based on the contextural action learning approach currently under review for publication. The client was the Canadian Digital Service . The presentation outlining the basic ideas and […]
Many might sequence systems thinking as (i) systems theory preceding (ii) systems practice. This is not always the case. There are situations where (i) systems practice has preceded (ii) systems theory, or the two advance in a tight learning loop. Jack Ring once pointed out that applied science (engineering) precedes science, because human beings often […]
System thinking, coming from roots in mainstream Western philosophy, tends to orient towards (i) thinking in space, before (ii) thinking in time. Structure is an arrangement in space. Process is an arrangement in time. A critical systems perspective leads us to think about inclusion within boundaries. Does this lead us to overlook boundaries in time? […]
The Systems Changes Learning Circle, formed in January 1999, has since been meeting at least once every 3 weeks. In many respects, the core group has exhibited great patience in our mutual learning towards an agenda of Rethinking Systems Thinking, from talks given in 2012, and published in 2013. In anticipation of a journal article […]
In the 1980s, ecological economics seemed to be mostly economists extending their work towards environmental and resource concerns. In the 2020s, ecological economics is seeing a new generation first schooled in other disciplines such as environmental studies or one of the social sciences, then coming into economics. Programs that encourage the new perspective include the […]
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 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)
“Rethinking Systems Thinking” (2013) is cited by #DaniloBrozović (U. Skövde), #MarcoTregua (U. Napoli Federico II): The level of complexity in current service ecosystems is rising, not least due to technology (Barile et al., 2020), with the effect of such increased complexity of service ecosystems being perceived as ‘simple’. On the other hand, some systems researchers […]
Jullien views propensity in Chinese philosophy, as a counterpart to causality in Western philosophy. Some unpacking of his writing in digests may be helpful. Jullien, François. 1995. The Propensity of Things: Toward a History of Efficacy in China. Translated by Janet Lloyd. Zone Books. Introduction How can we conceive of the dynamic in terms of the static, in […]
In his system of system concepts, Russell Ackoff made the distinction between reformation and transformation in many of his lectures. Here are two written sources. From Redesigining Society (2003) … Systemic Transformation A system is transformed, as contrasted with reformed, when its structure or functions are changed fundamentally. Such changes are discontinuous and qualitative, quantum […]
