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But now his Chief is demanding Goals and Objectives. This is both disturbing and threatening. Trillium doesn’t want to think about his real goals and objectives; indeed, they are unknown to his conscious mind. He only knows he likes Botany. But he can’t just reply in one line, “I like Botany and want to keep on studying it.”
A COMPLEX SYSTEM THAT WORKS IS INVARIABLY FOUND TO HAVE EVOLVED FROM A SIMPLE SYSTEM THAT WORKED
A COMPLEX SYSTEM DESIGNED FROM SCRATCH NEVER WORKS AND CANNOT BE MADE TO WORK. YOU HAVE TO START OVER, BEGINNING WITH A WORKING SIMPLE SYSTEM
ERROR CORRECTION IS WHAT WE DO
AS SYSTEMS GROW IN SIZE AND COMPLEXITY, THEY TEND TO LOSE BASIC FUNCTIONS
If the error is grandiose enough, it may not even be comprehended as an error, even when brought to attention. •Thus, the loss of 50,000 American lives per year in auto accidents is seen, not as a mortal flaw in our Transportation System, but merely as a fact of life.[c. ] [lxix] •The dismantling of the American street railway system and its replacement by privately owned automobiles, at a thousand-fold increase in traffic density and energy consumption, has hardly been noticed. Some, indeed, have even called it Progress
THE MEANING OF A COMMUNICATION IS THE BEHAVIOR THAT RESULTS
IF THINGS ARE ACTING VERY STRANGELY, CONSIDER THAT YOU MAY BE IN A FEEDBACK SITUATION Alternatively: WHEN PROBLEMS DON’T YIELD TO COMMONSENSE SOLUTIONS, LOOK FOR THE THERMOSTAT
Examples of Strangeness can be found all around us. A little practice in identifying them is all that is needed: soon they will be recognized everywhere. •A classic example is provided by the so-called Green Revolution, which, by using high technology to increase the amount of food grown per acre in Third World countries, has made it possible for large fractions of the human race to starve at much higher levels of population density than were previously attainable. [cxxxix] [cxl] In such settings, the provision of more food merely allows the population to grow until people are again starving.
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