Emergence from hibernation at home, as winter gives way to spring
Toronto, Ontario; Hamilton, Ontario
Woodbine Beach: Winter Stations art installation #CemreÖnertürk #EgeÇakır (2022) “Enter Face” designed as two dark boxes, now has two lounge chairs not in the original specification. Shorter east box has three holes where participants can stick their heads in, for a common view of a textured transparent screen while physically isolated. The taller west box textured vertical screen looks inland, with lakeside metal rails despite signs discouraging climbing. (Woodbine Beach, Toronto, Ontario) 20200306Commissioners Street, east of Saulter Street: Looking west into the sunset, the Commissioners Street bridges are in place, but Don Roadway is being rebuilt at a higher elevation to protect this east bank from flooding. The westside route to the new bridge will be wider with bike paths along the north side of River Park. Construction won’t be complete until 2024. (Commissioners Street, east of Saulter Street, Port Lands, Toronto, Ontario) 20220310Cherry Street North Bridge: New bridge for crossing the Keating Channel is in place, awaiting new north-south road and LRT routes, completion not until 2024? This is one of four bridges in the Port Lands districts, viewed from the older Cherry Street Lift Bridge. The bike route north of Lakeshore Boulevard has been closed, and the detour along Villiers Street is muddy. (Cherry Street North Bridge, Keaing Channel, Toronto, Ontario) 20220316Harbourfront Artport Gallery: Esmarkbreen glacier in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard #LauraMillard (2021) Collapse shows clear image in lightbox up top, spilling out below as impermanence into a printed fabric inspired by installations of crumpled paper. Part of the Shared Terrain group exhibition in cultural exchanges between artists and designers from Canada and the Nordics. Apparel change away from winter, as a bright spring day gives optimism for the end of snowbanks. (Artport Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220317Jollibee Heartland: First experience @JollibeeCanada, international cultural tourism to @Seafood_City Missisauga without leaving the country. Battered fried chicken was good, gravy an added feature! Palabok rice noodles with pork and shrimp a larger departure from western norms. Walking supermarket aisles, we recognize a few Filipino brands, but Chinese supermarkets typically don’t have the variety or price points that expats might find familiar. (Jollibee, Heartland Town Centre, Boyer Boulevard, Mississauga, Ontario) 20210318
Devil’s Punchbowl: Exploring the #waterfalls of #Hamilton, wending way across the ridge of the Niagara Escarpment by Stoney Creek to find the south-facing view of a ribbon of melt water as winter turns to spring. Impressed by coloured layers of red shale, grey shale, limestone and shale dolomite from the end of the last ice age. North-facing outlook over Hamilton Harbour, with the Keeper of the Cross installation from 1966 a noticeable landmark. (Devil’s Punchbowl, Ridge Road, Stoney Creek, Ontario) 20220318
111 Elizabeth Street: On request, farewell speech by @Ryan_Ing, upon his coming departure from Toronto to NYC this coming week. Friends invited to parktake in food, a psychic reading, and a pro protographer creating a collage of faces for the evening. Guests asking parents about the move to the Big Apple, it’s not even a change in time zone away from us. (111 Elizabeth Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20210319Dim Sum King: Three tables for lunch, more than originally thought would attend at the first gathering of the Lowkong Society after the pandemic halted socializing. The house on Huron Street is now in the past, so we’ll look to a new future. Met a few cousins, an era of English-first speakers now shows much grey hair. (Dim Sum King, Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20220320Yueh Tung: After years of Wedneday night takeout dinners with three sons during the pandemic, we’ll only have two on most weeks. Taking advantage of Old Chinatown location across the street from the apartment building, before clearing out kitchen appliances and lots of the little conveniences acquired to maintain a real home. Contexts packed into two vehicles for temporary storage in vacated bedroom back at the house, on the expectation of cascading down to the last son to move out. (Yeuh Tung, Elizabeth Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20220323
Riverside neighbourhood: Arborists @TOtrees outside my window this morning, sawing at the linden tree in our front yard. Pruner in the articulated boom lift (cherry picker) with shears above, collector of branches on the ground, below. The sapling was owned by the city when we moved in so many decades ago, and has been professionally maintained mostly without our attention. (Riverside neighbourhood, Toronto, Ontario) 20220331
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 […]
