Madison Heights, Michigan; Benton Harbor, Michigan; Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Salina, Iowa; Iowa City, Iowa; Rock Island, Illinois; Windsor, Ontario; Scarborough, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario
Madison Heights, Michigan; Benton Harbor, Michigan; Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Salina, Iowa; Iowa City, Iowa; Rock Island, Illinois; Windsor, Ontario; Scarborough, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario
168 Asian Mart: Michigan evening for Chinese groceries before driving to Iowa in the morning. Korean-style rice grown in the U.S. is something we don’t see back home. The vegetables and sauces are much the same as everywhere. (168 Asian Mart, John R Road, Madison Heights, Michigan) 20160502Asian Grille Buffet: Changing pattern from Midwest Chinese restaurants to buffets, driving westbound across Michigan towards Iowa. On last trip westbound, found price at buffet same or lower than custom orders for lunch. Trading off on driving, expecting food coma. (Asian Grill Buffet, Benton Harbor, Michigan) 20160503Jefferson Street, Mount Pleasant, Iowa: Quiet Tuesday evening in town with population less than 9000 in Iowa. Over dinner in local Chinese restaurant, discussed conveniences not available, e.g. no taxis, so farmers drive tractors if a car isn’t available. Drove through campus of Iowa Wesleyan University, less than 600 students on 60 acres. (Jefferson Street, Mount Pleasant, Iowa) 20160504Salina, Iowa: Family dog watching out picture window onto rolling landscape of fields and roads in farm country. Temperature has swung from winter to summer within 3 days, rush to planting will be underway with forecasts for clear weather. (Salina, Iowa) 20160405Salina, Iowa: Warm and dry May day scheduled for planting on the farm. We went to the field to learn about agriculture in practice. Terrain was rolling hills, so the six row planter was steered according to the way water will flow on the ground. Moving around a little dirt surfaced a green bean buried under a little soil. We’re just tourists from the city. (Salina, Iowa) 20160506
Six row planter in Iowa: Learned about how soybeans are put into the ground with a John Deere six row planter. Smaller tractors can follow the contour of the landscape, whereas the larger 30-row planters would have problems turning around. This machinery is less computerized, relying on the experience of the farmer to a greater degree. (Salina, Iowa) 20160506
The Toronto – Windsor corridor is one of the more popular routes in Canada, and travel by rail can be an adventure.
In my day job, I recommend in-person interviews, because they produce a richness of understanding not possible over the telephone. On this engagement, we decided to visit interviewees in Windsor as a day trip. On a prior gig in Detroit, I had flown to Windsor and driven across the border. For this day trip, the travel by Via Rail was practical. I arrived at the platform at Union Station with 5 minutes to spare. Nancy was already there, and Stephen arrived one minute before the train departed.
With a schedule to pick up the train from Oshawa through Toronto to Windsor, Stephen got caught in a traffic at the shift change at the General Motors plant. Having missed the Via Rail train, he was told that he could catch the later GO Train from Oshawa to Windsor, and arrive at Union Station before the train left. The voyage outbound from Toronto was considerably less stressful.
I prefer travelling by train over flying. The stress is lower. It’s too bad rail travel isn’t a practical alternative to most destinations.
The rail route through southern Ontario sees a lot of farm land.
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 […]
