Systems thinking circa 2012

Systems Thinking: Ancient Maya’s Evolution of Consciousness and Contemporary Thinking:
[Via Ackoff Center Weblog]

Posted by Assistant Professor Tadeja Jere Lazanski, University of Primorska, Portoroz, Slovenia on his blog: “Systems thinking is a framework that is based on the belief that the component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation. The only way to fully understand why a problem or element occurs and persists is to understand the part in relation to the whole. (Capra, 1997)

There are some historical facts regarding systems and systems thinking. Systems thinking as a modern approach for problem solving was revived after WWII even though it had been an ancient philosophy. We can track systems thinking back to antiquity. Differentiated from Western rationalist traditions of philosophy, C. West Churchman often identified with the I Ching as a systems approach sharing a frame of reference similar to pre-Socratic philosophy and Heraclitus. (Hammond, 2003)

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This is actually a link to this article by Dr. Lazanski. It is an interesting approach. While I do not think that things happen in exact cycles like that, with well-defined edges, the impact systems thinking can have could be formidable.

I just think that there are too many people who just can not bring a systems approach. There is still too much to be gained by being purely analytical and only looking out for oneself. There are some problems which just can not be solved with that approach, thus the Tragedy of the Commons.

The Mayans may not have had a direct metaphysical line to Galactic consciousness (I guess we will find out in 3 years) but I certainly think that only by focussing on synthetic approaches to problem solving will be be successful dealing with our troubles..

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