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it began to dawn upon the investigators that we humans do not yet understand the basic laws governing the behavior of complex organizations. A great enterprise can flounder helplessly or even wither away before our very eyes, as a result of malignant but as yet unnamed disorders, or in response to the operation of natural laws whose Newton has not yet been born to announce them to Mankind.
THINGS HAVE NEVER BEEN BETTER—BUT THEY’RE IMPROVING
PROBLEMS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM; COPING IS THE PROBLEM
Negative responses are more interesting than positive responses because they indicate that learning could be about to take place. The Negative Responder is usually experiencing Cognitive Dissonance and deserves our sympathetic understanding.
Just before a dolphin actually understands the point of a new routine, it gets more and more irritable, swims in circles and finally loses its temper, leaps out of the water and sends a giant splash over the trainer. Psychologists call it Cognitive Dissonance—that irritating feeling that something just doesn't
COMPLICATED SYSTEMS SELDOM EXCEED FIVE PERCENT EFFICIENCY
SYSTEMS OPERATE BY REDISTRIBUTING ANERGY INTO DIFFERENT FORMS AND INTO ACCUMULATIONS OF DIFFERENT SIZES
THE SYSTEM ITSELF (DAS SYSTEM AN UND FUER SICH) TENDS TO GROW AT 5-6% PER ANNUM
SYSTEMS TEND TO EXPAND TO FILL THE KNOWN UNIVERSE
COMPLEX SYSTEMS EXHIBIT UNEXPECTED BEHAVIOR
THE SYSTEM ALWAYS KICKS BACK SYSTEMS GET IN THE WAY —or, in slightly more elegant language: SYSTEMS TEND TO OPPOSE THEIR OWN PROPER FUNCTIONS
SYSTEMS TEND TO MALFUNCTION CONSPICUOUSLY JUST AFTER THEIR GREATEST TRIUMPH
THE ARMY IS NOW FULLY PREPARED TO FIGHT THE PREVIOUS WAR
PERFECTION OF PLANNING IS A SYMPTOM OF DECAY
A TEMPORARY PATCH WILL VERY LIKELY BE PERMANENT
THE GHOST OF THE OLD SYSTEM CONTINUES TO HAUNT THE NEW
PEOPLE IN SYSTEMS DO NOT DO WHAT THE SYSTEM SAYS THEY ARE DOING
THE SYSTEM ITSELF DOES NOT DO WHAT IT SAYS IT IS DOING
THE FUNCTION (OR PRODUCT) IS DEFINED BY THE SYSTEMS- OPERATIONS THAT OCCUR IN ITS PERFORMANCE OR MANUFACTURE
The importance of Korzybski’s contribution to understanding Systems is now apparent. An Apple that has been processed through the supermarket System is not the same as an apple picked right off the tree, and we are in error to use the same word for two different things.
And finally (that saddest example of the Operational Fallacy), he or she will understand the meaning of the fact that every peace-keeping scheme ever devised has included—as an essential component—an army.
THE NAME IS MOST EMPHATICALLY NOT THE THING
THINGS ARE WHAT THEY ARE REPORTED TO BE The observant reader has doubtless already noted various alternative formulations of this Axiom, all to the same general effect, for example: THE REAL WORLD IS WHAT IS REPORTED TO THE SYSTEM —or, in the world of Diplomacy: IF IT ISN’T OFFICIAL, IT HASN’T HAPPENED
IF THE SYSTEM SAYS IT HAPPENED, IT HAPPENED
A SYSTEM IS NO BETTER THAN ITS SENSORY ORGANS
TO THOSE WITHIN A SYSTEM, THE OUTSIDE REALITY TENDS TO PALE AND DISAPPEAR
THE BIGGER THE SYSTEM, THE NARROWER AND MORE SPECIALIZED THE INTERFACE WITH INDIVIDUALS
THE SYSTEM TAKES THE CREDIT (FOR ANY FAVORABLE EVENTUALITY)
SYSTEMS ATTRACT SYSTEMS-PEOPLE
SPECIALIZED SYSTEMS SELECT FOR SPECIALIZATION —or, in plain English: THE END RESULT OF EXTREME COMPETITION IS BIZARRENESS
DESIGNERS OF SYSTEMS TEND TO DESIGN WAYS FOR THEMSELVES TO BYPASS THE SYSTEM
ANY SYSTEM CAN BE EXPLOITED
BIG SYSTEMS EITHER WORK ON THEIR OWN OR THEY DON’T. IF THEY DON’T, YOU CAN’T MAKE THEM
A COMPLEX SYSTEM THAT WORKS IS INVARIABLY FOUND TO HAVE EVOLVED FROM A SIMPLE SYSTEM THAT WORKED The parallel proposition also appears to be true:[g. ] 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
IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS, MALFUNCTION AND EVEN TOTAL NON-FUNCTION MAY NOT BE DETECTABLE FOR LONG PERIODS, IF EVER
In general, we can say that the larger the System becomes, the more the parts interact, the more difficult it is to understand environmental constraints, the more obscure becomes the problem of what resources should be made available, and deepest of all, the more difficult becomes the problem of the legitimate values of the System.
THE SYSTEM CONTINUES TO DO ITS THING, REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES
THE SYSTEM IS ITS OWN BEST EXPLANATION
SYSTEMS DON’T WORK FOR YOU OR FOR ME. THEY WORK FOR THEIR OWN GOALS
ANY LARGE SYSTEM IS GOING TO BE OPERATING MOST OF THE TIME IN FAILURE MODE
What the System is supposed to be doing when everything is working well is really beside the point, because that happy state is rarely achieved in real life. The truly pertinent question is: How does it work when its components aren’t working well? How does it fail? How well does it work in Failure Mode?
A SYSTEM CAN FAIL IN AN INFINITE NUMBER OF WAYS
THE MODE OF FAILURE OF A COMPLEX SYSTEM CANNOT ORDINARILY BE DETERMINED FROM ITS STRUCTURE
WHEN A FAIL-SAFE SYSTEM FAILS, IT FAILS BY FAILING TO FAIL SAFE
INTERMITTENT FAILURE IS THE HARDEST CASE
A BUG MAY BE PURELY LOCAL, BUT YOU AND I CAN NEVER KNOW THAT FOR SURE
ONE DOESNOTKNOW ALL THE EXPECTED EFFECTS OF KNOWNBUGS
CHERISH YOUR BUGS. STUDY THEM
Our mind works by error-correction, but we don’t want to know about our errors, we only have eyes for the goal. As Chairman Iacocca has said: we like to read about success but what we have to deal with in everyday life is failure. Having swallowed this bitter pill, we must discipline ourselves to a new approach that involves constant attention to the error of the moment—the error that is currently before us. Then, as true Systems-students, we must go on to learn to take pride in our mastery of the art of making error-corrections. After all: ERROR CORRECTION IS WHAT WE DO
NEW STRUCTURE IMPLIES NEW FUNCTIONS —many of which will be unexpected, and some of which will be discovered only at some later date, under new circumstances.
