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AS SYSTEMS GROW IN SIZE AND COMPLEXITY, THEY TEND TO LOSE BASIC FUNCTIONS
A TOTAL SYSTEM THAT GOES INTO A RUNAWAY SEQUENCE MAY BE FORCED TO GROW OR TO DISINTEGRATE IN CHAOS and as a Corollary, we suggest: TOTAL SYSTEMS TEND TO RUN AWAY (GO OUT OF CONTROL) After all, if there’s no Environment to provide corrective feedback, what’s to stop them?
THE MESSAGE SENT IS NOT NECESSARILY THE MESSAGE RECEIVED
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY—BUT NOT THE SAME STORY This being the case, a moment’s reflection will make it intuitively clear that, try as we may, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT COMMUNICATE
THE MEANING OF A COMMUNICATION IS THE BEHAVIOR THAT RESULTS
KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT KEEP ANY BETTER THAN FISH
THE MOST URGENTLY NEEDED INFORMATION DECAYS FASTEST
ONE SYSTEM’S GARBAGE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM’S PRECIOUS RAW MATERIAL
IN A CLOSED SYSTEM, INFORMATION TENDS TO DECREASE AND HALLUCINATION TENDS TO INCREASE
So alien is this strategy to our ingrained habits of thinking and acting that it is sometimes rejected out of hand as unworthy. It has even been confused with Passivity. But Problem Avoidance is not a form of Passivity. The opposite of Passivity is Initiative, or Responsibility—not Energetic Futility. Problem Avoidance is in fact the most elegant form of Problem-solving, since it actively and responsibly avoids the entire Meta-problem of Dealing With the Problem. Furthermore, since many of the world’s biggest problems involve dealing with the wreckage of old failed Solutions cluttering the
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IF SOMETHING ISN’T WORKING, DON’T KEEP DOING IT. DO SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD
FOR MAXIMUM SUCCESS, FEEL FREE TO SWITCH SYSTEMS AND EVEN TO SWITCH GOALS
DO IT WITHOUT A NEW SYSTEM IF YOU CAN The scholar will recognize this as Occam’s Razor in modern form: AVOID UNNECESSARY SYSTEMS (SYSTEMS SHOULD NOT BE MULTIPLIED UNNECESSARILY) Two immediate Corollaries, with significant implications for Management, are as follows: (I) DO IT WITH AN EXISTING SYSTEM IF YOU CAN (2) DO IT WITH A SMALL SYSTEM IF YOU CAN
TAKING IT DOWN IS OFTEN MORE TEDIOUS THAN SETTING IT UP
human terms, this means workingwithhuman tendencies rather than against them. For example, a State-run lottery flourishes even in times of economic depression because its function is aligned with the basic human instinct to gamble a small stake in hopes of a large reward. The Public School System, on the other hand, although founded with the highest and most altruistic goals in mind, remains in a state of chronic failure because it violates the principle of spontaneity in human learning. It goes against the grain and therefore it does not ever really succeed. It has made literacy universal,
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PLAN TO SCRAP THE FIRST SYSTEM: YOU WILL ANYWAY
The F.L.A.W. may even operate in such a way as to hide from the Administrator the operation of the G.U.P. In such situations, the Administrator sinks into complacency while the System careens from disaster to disaster. In recognition of major Russian contributions to our experience of this phenomenon, it is known as the Potemkin Village Effect. The P.V.E. is especially pronounced in Five-Year Plans, which typically report sensational overachievement during the first four and a half years, followed by a rash of criminal trials of top officials and the announcement of a new and more ambitious
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JUST CALLING IT “FEEDBACK” DOESN’T MEAN THAT IT HAS ACTUALLY FED BACK To speak precisely: IT HASN’T FED BACK UNTIL THE SYSTEM CHANGES COURSE Up to that point, it’s merely Sensory Input.
IN DEALING WITH THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, IT PAYS TO BE GOOD AT RECOGNIZING SHAPES
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WHEN EVERYTHING CORRELATES WITH EVERYTHING ELSE, THINGS WILL NEVER SETTLE DOWN
More commonly, the system is designed in blissful ignorance of how much feedback is appropriate, or even of how much feedback there will be. Such under-design leads promptly to a state of Fear of Feedback and thence, by well-known psychological mechanisms, to a Systems-delusion in which the sources of feedback are regarded as hostile, even dangerous, to the system.
A SYSTEM THAT IGNORES FEEDBACK HAS ALREADY BEGUN THE PROCESS OF TERMINAL INSTABILITY
NATURE IS ONLY WISE WHEN FEEDBACKS ARE RAPID Not only Nature, but Systems generally, cannot be wise when feedbacks are unduly delayed. Feedback is likely to cause trouble if it is either too slow or too prompt. It must be adjusted to the response rhythms of the system as well as to the tempo of the actual events—a double restriction. But however timely feedback may be, it has intrinsic limitations. It cannot predict the future. FEEDBACK ALWAYS GIVES A PICTURE OF THE PAST
THE FUTURE IS NO MORE PREDICTABLE NOW THAN IT WAS IN THE PAST, BUT YOU CAN AT LEAST TAKE NOTE OF TRENDS
(A) IF IT’S FOR DIGGING A HOLE IT SHOULD PROBABLY LOOK SOMETHING LIKE A SHOVEL (B) IF IT LOOKS LIKE A SHOVEL, TRY USING IT FOR DIGGING A HOLE
We conclude: GREAT ADVANCES DO NOT COME OUT OF SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO PRODUCE GREAT ADVANCES —and furthermore: COMPLICATED SYSTEMS PRODUCE COMPLICATED RESPONSES TO PROBLEMS —or, as stated by Ashby:[cxvii] COMPLEX SYSTEMS HAVE COMPLEX BEHAVIORS
IN DEALING WITH LARGE SYSTEMS, THE STRIVING FOR PERFECTION IS A SERIOUS IMPERFECTION
IN ORDER TO SUCCEED IT IS NECESSARY TO KNOW HOW TO AVOID THE MOST LIKELY WAYS TO FAIL
We are grateful if we can avoid the error of drastically limiting our future options.
THE SYSTEM IS ALTERED BY THE PROBE USED TO TEST ITa.
THE PROBE IS ALTERED ALSO
NO SYSTEM WITHOUT ITS OBSERVER and NO OBSERVATION WITHOUT ITS EFFECTS
THE SOLUTION IS OFTEN PART OF THE PROBLEM
IF THINGS SEEM TO BE GETTING WORSE EVEN FASTER THAN USUAL, CONSIDER THAT THE REMEDY MAY BE AT FAULT —or, more succinctly: STAY OUT OF THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK TRAP
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
IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE SYSTEM, CHANGE THE FRAME—IT COMES TO THE SAME THING
