22 April 2007 | Draft
Consciously Self-reflexive Global Initiatives
Renaissance zones, complex adaptive systems, and third order organizations
- / -
Introduction
Recursion and self-reflexivity
Dematerialization and virtualization
Progressive self-reflexive learning
Progressive integration of the shadow of non-self-reflexivity
Insightful "rebirth" and emergent thought structures
Imagination, constructivism, faith-based reality, revisionism
and "spin"
Form, geometry, pattern and dimensionality
Cybernetics of cybernetics: complex adaptive systems?
Indicative examples of 2nd and 3rd order environments
Conclusion: emergence of "post-systemic" forms of organization
of "higher order"?
Introduction
The case is frequently made for "new thinking" better adapted to the complex
of challenges foreseen for the 21st century -- and the decades immediately
to come. In the light of learning regarding the relative inadequacy of the
forms of organization and practice typically considered appropriate to thechallenge,
the question is how to explore the possibility of new forms of organization
-- whether of knowing or as embodied in collective initiatives.
The following sections consider different ways in which the mode or form of
"description" of an organizational system is itself progressively
brought into question from increasingly recursive or self-referential perspectives.
The cognitive assumptions associated with the "perspective"
metaphor may also be called into question with greater self-reflexivity, notably
in the light of the arguments of enactivism.
The sections on dematerialization and virtualization endeavour to highlight
the extent to which centre of gravity of modes of cognition and practice has
shifted away from the tangible and immediately concrete. Thereafter the sections
indicate various understandings of the spectrum of "higher" degrees
of subtlety, notably as encoded in form, geometry, pattern and dimensionality.
The insights of the cybernetics of cybernetics are then distinguished to highlight
the shift in current interest to complex adaptive systems. Resources on possible
examples of such self-reflexive adaptive initiatives are then presented. The
conclusion is used to present a table juxtaposing these various understandings
of organization of an increasingly higher order.
The implicit question throughout is how to distinguish and comprehend the
forms of genuinely self-reflexive global initiatives appropriate to the challenges
of the times -- and how to give organized form to such understanding. This
is an effort to challenge the dangerous assumption of simplicity made by many
with aspirations for responsibility in global governance. It is too readily
assumed that the complexity of policy control, and switching between programmes,
is of the same order as that of using a TV remote controller -- when many would
be challenged to programme a VCR, or to comprehend the manual provided.
Recursion and self-reflexivity
As an introduction to the sections that follow, Donald H. McNeil (What’s
Going on with the Toplogy of Recursion? S.E.E.D. Journal:
Semiotics, Evolution, Energy, and Development, 4, 1, 2004) provides a helpful
overview of the challenging confusions currently associated with various notions
of recursion -- and its central importance in the search for invariance. He introduces
his summary as follows:
The notion of “recursion” — by various definitions — goes
around and about in scholarly circles, but too often without the appreciation
which it deserves. Meanwhile, the quest for invariants lies at the core of
human pursuits generally.... Throughout, however, it will be assumed that
recursion proper involves at least one cyclical process which produces some
of its results by using or referring back to some of the previous results
of that same process, thus to evince a kind of “circular causality.” Along
the way it will be remarked that recursions are to be found at the core of
invariances and vice versa, the two together being prerequisites for selfness
as a whole. Moreover, it will become apparent that it is not primarily the
morphology but rather the topology of processes that serves best to enlighten
our appreciation of recursion and of the spin-offs therefrom.
He concludes:
The metaphor of the sphere which so dominates the Western Rational Tradition
is important, of course, but counts for nothing without an appreciation of
the tore. It is no accident that our reflective metaphors such as “grasp” and “comprehension” are
inherently toroidal. Moreover, circular logic is unavoidable, and the topology
of self-reference is, after all, that of recurrent processes. Even such progressions
as re-volution and e-volution turn upon themselves. Without goings around
there could be nothing going on. It is through the web of dynamic, recyclical
processes that our being emerges embodied as an eddy, persists as a relative
invariant, reflects upon itself, construes meaning, and eventually disperses.
That is what the topology of recursion is all about.
The associated notion of self-reference or
self-reflexivity was given a particular focus through the work of Douglas
Hofstadter (Gödel,
Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid: a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines
in the spirit of Lewis Carroll, Basic Books, 1979). Hilary Lawson
(Reflexivity: the post-modern predicament, 1986) has clarified the
dilemmas it implies for the future -- exemplified in its relevance for administration
(Ann L.Cunliffe and Jong
S. Jun, The
Need for Reflexivity in Public Administration, Administration & Society,
2005, 37: 225-242). In relation to complexity, an example of self-reference
situation is autopoiesis,
namely as the process of auto (self) creation that is presumably at the core
of any adaptive reorganization in response to the challenges of the times
(cf Bibliography
on Self-Reflexivity; James Juniper, A
Critique of Social Applications of Autopoiesis, International
Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences,
1, 3; Felix Geyer and Johannes van der Zouwen, eds., Sociocybernetics:
complexity, autopoiesis, and observation of social systems, Greenwood
Publishing, 2001)
Dematerialization and virtualization
As argued elsewhere (Reframing
Sustainable Sources of Energy for the Future: the vital role of psychosocial
variants, 2006), in the case of an economic perspective on the
future, the focus is typically on how the economic system is to be sustained,
notably through development. This is undergirded by a focus on the stability
of the financial system, primarily in its monetarized form. In considering the
monetary system, it is important to recognize that it
is based fundamentally on confidence and trust -- namely trust that monetary
tokens can be exchanged for goods and services later in time at an acceptable
rate. Not only is "energy" itself, in any form, essentially intangible,
but the forms through which it manifests may themselves be intangible. With
the increasing importance of the "service industry", economics has had
to come to terms with a process of "dematerialization" of the products with
which it is concerned. In 1999, half of Business Week’s one
hundred biggest global corporations in 1999 were in information and financial
services.
More broadly, dematerialization now refers to the absolute or relative reduction
in the quantity of materials required to serve economic functions (cf Iddo
K. Wernick et al. Materialization
and Dematerialization: measures and trends, Daedalus 125,
1996, 3). This may be expressed as reducing the total material that goes toward
providing benefits to customers -- accomplished through greater efficiency,
the use of better or more appropriate materials, or by creating a service that
produces the same benefit as a product (cf Dematerialization
and Immaterialization)
It could be argued that the evolution of organizations into more sophistoicated
or subtler forms is characterized
by a progressive dematerialization (or virtualization) of the distinct "vehicle" for
the identity that it engenders and "incubates". As such the process
of virtualization may be usefully be understood as a process of disidentification
-- well-understood metaphorically in the psychological disidentification of
a child from its parents. As a consequence, and as conventionally understood,
there is no active interface between the stages of such transformation, other
than that internalized within the individuals operating according to both logics.
Dematerialization has taken on a wider significance in relation to
electronic information. It may then be understood as a process to convert
assets and securities held in physical form into electronic form or to directly
allot securities in electronic record form. Ecological sustainability may
be assessed as the dematrialization of production and consumption (cf Peter
Bartelemus, Dematerialization
and Capital Maintenance: two sides of the sustainability coin, 2002).
An important potential avenue for achieving sustainability objectives is to
develop policies aimed at dematerialization of consumer preferences and consumption
patterns (cf Dematerialization,
habit formation and social interactions in consumer behaviour, 2005).
The widely-recognized emergence of a knowledge-based society, matched by an
increasing concern with faith-based structures and disciplines, also points
to the importance of dematerialization. This trend is better recognized
under the term "virtualization" as
discussed in exploring the case for "cognitive fusion" (Dematerialization
and Virtualization comparison of nuclear fusion and cognitive fusion,
Annex B of Enactivating
a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: Imaginal Transformation of Energy Resourcing,
2006) under the following headings:
- Information system virtualization: This concept has been
intimately associated with the development of computer and information technology
over the past decades. In computing, virtualization is
the process of presenting a logical grouping or subset of computing resources,
whether hardware or software, so that they can be accessed in ways that give
benefits over the original configuration. Virtualization can therefore be understood
as an abstraction layer that allows multiple virtual machines, with heterogeneous
operating systems to run in isolation, side-by-side on the same physical machine.
It is widely promoted as the direction of development of computer-related processes,
notably knowledge-related applications.
- Artistic virtualization
- Economic virtualization: The internet is now understood
to be fundamentally reshaping businesses and the industries in which they
compete. A form of virtualization of the contemporary economy is now taking
place even though the basic rules of the "old" economy have regained
their currency, and the issues as business cycle, cost, quality, inventory,
productivity or traditional measures of profitability and economic value
are valid.
- Social virtualization: The challenge of progressive virtualization
of society was explored under the editorship of Magid Igbouria (Virtual
Societies: Their Prospects and Dilemma, The Information Society,
14(2), 1998). The concern goes beyond virtual classrooms, virtual universities,
virtual organizations, and even virtual communities. There is relatively
little awareness of how people can live and work in societies in which
these and other virtual practices and social forms are widespread and mixed
in with face-to-face relationships [more].
- Virtualization of reality: This phenomenon has been framed
in a variety of ways. Concern has been expressed at the psychological fallout
of the virtualization of reality through the death of affect. J.G. Ballard
has called this "the
greatest casualty of the twentieth century" -- a psychic numbness that
cultural commentators from Camus to McLuhan have argued is a salient characteristic
of our media-bombarded, hyperstimulated culture. It is distinguished by the
disengagement from immediate experience, a cauterization of the soul. [more]
- Virtualization of identity: The implications of cyberspace
for identity have long been explored. More intriguing is the sense in which
identity may be as much a metaphor as anything more identifiable, as noted
by Kenneth Boulding (Ecodynamics; a new theory of social evolution,
1978)
- Our consciousness of the unity of self in the middle of a vast complexity
of images or material structures is at least a suitable metaphor for the
unity of group, organization, department, discipline or science. If personification
is a metaphor, let us not despise metaphors -- we might be one ourselves.
- Virtualization of organization: This is an organization
existing as a corporate, not-for-profit, educational, or otherwise productive
entity that does not have a central geographical location and exists solely
through telecommunication tools.
Scott M. Preston (Virtual
Organization as Process: Integrating Cognitive and Social Structure Across
Time and Space, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication)
argues that:
- Virtual organization requires a different way of perceiving the world
by those who wish to participate in it. There are four key characteristics
of virtual organization as process. First, virtual organization entails
the development of relationships with a broad range of potential partners,
each having a particular competency that complements the others. Second,
virtual organizing capitalizes on the mobility and responsiveness of
telecommunications to overcome problems of distance. Third, timing
is a key aspect of relationships, with actors using responsiveness
and availability to decide between alternatives. Last, there must be
trust between actors separated in space for virtual organization to
be effective. This paper describes the perceptual and social requirements
of virtual organization and suggests a research plan for explicating
the structure, process and content of any system based on its elements.
The structures of individual actors’ perceptions and expectations
and the social processes that supply the content of their social experience
must be addressed if virtual organization and its advantages are to
be understood
- Virtualization of community: The "organizational" variant
overlaps with a virtualization of community, possibly extendingto "virtual
nations" (cf Howard Rheingold, The
Virtual Community, 1999).
- Virtualization of psychosocial activity: The increasing
extent to which many now live significant portions of their day in virtual
worlds has been a topic of repeated comment. This may take the form of:
- e-shopping and e-consumption
- e-gambling, including variants using virtual funds
- e-gaming, notably to the point of engaging individuals for many hours
per day
- e-socializing, notably through chat rooms and including e-dating
- Virtualization of social constructs: As the above items
indicate, within the emerging psychosocial environment of the 21st century
many elements of "reality" may be as real, if not more real, in
a virtual sense than in a more tangible sense. This applies to different
degrees to each of the following:
- money: it is only economic threat, and the increasing purchase of gold,
that provides a striking reminder of the intangible nature of money and
its primary existence as a virtual entity (cf Peter Koenig, 30
Lies About Money, 2003)
- institutions: as noted with respect to organizations, duly constituted
institutions may be understood as existing as virtual entitites to a
higher degree than as tangible entitites (irrespective of office buildings
and factories)
- plans, programmes, schedules: as patterns of intent, their "existence" as
coherent entitites is a matter of interpretation and an expression of
shared confidence. The problematic nature of the existence of such entities
is evident with respect to vanishing pension plans and strategic plans
that are continually rolled over without producing what is promised.
- contracts: the "existence" of many entities is seemingly
ensured through legally binding contracts but such texts merely provide
a pattern for actions which may or may not conform to them
- meetings: face-to-face gatherings may be understood as somewhat chaotic
assemblages of people for which varuing degrees of order and coyherence
can be claimed. But, as with virtual meetings, the degree to which the
various face-to-face interactions constitute an identifiable and coherent
whole is debateable.
- threats: in a society subject to skillful warnings regarding threat
(such as "weapons of mass destruction") the reality of such
threats is increasingly questionable
- values
The extent to which a social construct is "real" or "virtual" might
lend itself to a social application of Heisenberg's Uncertainty
Principle in quantum mechanics (cf Shay David, On
the Uncertainty Principle and Social Constructivism: the case of Free and Open-Source
Software, 2003; Garrison Sposito, Does a generalized Heisenberg
Principle operate in the social sciences? Inquiry, 1969),
The challenge of self-referential reflexivity is
understood as a methodological issue in the social sciences analogous to
that principle. However the principle is frequently, but incorrectly,
confused with the "observer effect" since
it associates precision in measurements related to changes in velocity and
position of certain particles relative to the perspective the observer takes
on them.
- Virtualization and image: The extent to which "reality" is
now treated as "plastic", to be moulded by through image management
and public relations, is now widely recognized. Social entities, whether
individuals, corporate bodies, programs, products or policies, all lend themselves
to being repackaged independently of their facticity. The media have a central
role in the process of image formation and sustainability. Psychosocial entities
may usefully be understood as constructs -- memes -- travelling along the
many currents of public opinion.
Progressive self-reflexive learning
UNESCO, notably throught the International Commission of Education for the Twenty-first Century, gave prominence to the notion of a "learning society" and subsequently to the "connected learning society". This had followed a much earlier report to the Club of Rome (James W Botkin, Mahdi Elmandjra, Mircea Malitza. No Limits to Learning; bridging the human gap. Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1979; Societal Learning and the Erosion of Collective Memory: a critique of the Club of Rome Report: No Limits to Learning, 1980). Botkin subsequently raised the question whether the Club itself was a learning organization (Jim Botkin, The Club of Rome: a learning organization? 1996). In relation to the previous section, the 1979 report identified of the important caracteristics of the knowledge society as being : the immaterialization of the material and the materialization of the immaterial..
Framed in this way, self-reflexiveness of an increasingly subtler nature results
from a progression such as the following:
- learning facts
- learning information about facts
- learning from experience regarding facts and information
- learning the appropriateness of various philosophical perspectives
- learning to learn
This progression through learning stages can be explored in various ways, including the many highlighted elsewhere (Varieties
of Rebirth: distinguishing ways of being "born again", 2004) and discussed below, especially from a cognitive perspective. In particular, tThis progression may be explored in the light of the development of critical
thinking.
Of particular interest in any such progression, as pointed out
by Donald Michael (On
Learning to Plan and Planning to Learn,
1973; The Unprepared Society: Planning for a Precarious
Future, 1969), is
the "
requirement to embrace error":
More bluntly, future-responsive societal learning makes it necessary for
individuals and organizations to embrace error. It is the only way to ensure
a shared self-consciousness about limited theory on the nature of social
dynamics, about limited data for testing theory, and hence about our limited
ability to control our situation well enough to be successful more often
than not
Also of interest is the process of learning under uncertainty (R L Flood.
Rethinking the fifth discipline: learning within the unknowable. Routledge,
London, 1999)
Progressive integration of the shadow of non-self-reflexivity
The successive phases in the evolution of insight
are frequently depicted in Zen Buddhism by a traditional sequence of 10 ox-herding
pictures, each with a brief commentary (cf D T Suzuki; Kubota Ji'un, Ten
Ox-herding Pictures with the Verses Composed by Kakuan Zenji, 1996).
As argued elsewhere (Enlightening
Endarkenment: selected web resources on the challenge to comprehension, 2005), these are of special interest because of
their indication of a person's progressive discovery and interplay with a shadowy
element denoted by an ox. In a Commentary
on the Integration of perceived Problems in
the Human Development section of the Encyclopedia
of World Problems and Human Potential, the following attempt was made
to suggest how that classical sequence might be interpreted for clues to an
unfolding relationship between humanity and its shadow (in the shape of the
complex of world problems).
The phases in the sequence, here to be reinterpreted in terms of their self-reflexive
implications, are:
- (a) Undisciplined exploration of the problematique: Humanity,
having violated its own inmost nature, loses track of the problematique and
its significance. It is then led astray by the delusions to which it succumbs,
such as desire for gain and fear of loss, and is confused by a multiplicity
of views of right and wrong, appropriateness and inappropriateness. Although
distracted by this confusion, and exhausted by its efforts, humanity continues
its search for a sustainable solution. At this time, it would appear that
humanity, as represented by the international community, continues to be embroiled
in the pre-systemic, single-factor perspectives of this first phase (ozone,
acid rain, "health-for-all", substance abuse, illiteracy, terrorism, AIDS).
- (b) Recognizing traces of the problematique as an integrated system: Repeated
(and basically unsuccessful) attempts to locate and contain the problematique
through uncoordinated initiatives provide humanity with occasional insights
into its nature, especially when more integrated approaches are used. Although
recognizing that the problematique, by whatever means, is in some sense engendered
by humanity as a whole, there remains a basic confusion between truth and falsehood,
especially when it seems obvious to some that another particular group can
be usefully blamed for specific problems. Environmental and systems insights
(tropical forests, global warming) are shifting the focus to this second phase.
- (c) Focusing on the problematique as a whole: Having cultivated
a more intuitive insight, enabling it to integrate its complementary modes
of perception, humanity focuses directly on the problematique, recognizing
its many manifestations as consequences of different forms of inappropriate
human intervention. There are episodic exercises in focusing on the problematique
as a whole (Brandt Report, Brundtland Report), although what they fail to take
into account quickly condemns them as sub-systemic and inappropriate and encourages
further initiatives of a similar nature.
- (d) Encompassing the problematique: Humanity grapples with
the problematique directly for the first time. The momentum of the problematique,
developed over the long periods during which it was uncontained, and the pressures
and habitual opportunities of an undisciplined social environment, make it
extremely difficult to control. Severe disciplinary measures are necessary. The
various development strategies, especially the current attempt at "sustainable
development", correspond to this fourth phase, but only to the extent that
efforts are made to implement them. On the national level, the structural adjustment
required by the IMF is indicative of the political will required -- although
typically such adjustment fails to take into account many facets of the problematique.
- (e) Orienting the problematique: Every insight concerning
the problematique leads humanity to further insights in an endless pattern.
With discernment these will all be of value. But when humanity deceives itself,
confusion will prevail and the problematique will reassert itself in an inappropriate
manner. Constant vigilance is required to discipline the problematique and
orient its manifestations within appropriate bounds. The seeds of this
fifth phase may be seen in the increasing recognition of the need for a disciplined
and radical change of life style, especially on the part of the industrialized
countries.
- (f) Using the problematique as a vehicle for sustainable development: The
struggle of humanity with the problematique is over. Humanity is no longer
traumatized by gain or loss, which are assimilated as phases in a larger process
that is now the focus of attention. Rhythms of action in harmony with nature
are cultivated. The problematique is used as a vehicle moving in sympathy with
those rhythms towards the re-enchantment of the Earth. The old modes of action
are not considered viable and their advocates are no longer heeded. Some
indications of the nature of this phase are to be found in the writings of
the "deep ecology" movement and in the preoccupations of some forms of sustainable
agriculture -- although their obvious limitations lie in their inability to
deal realistically with the conditions of industrialized, urban societies and
the impoverishment of an overpopulated planet. The missing insight would seem
to be how to achieve the transition to this stage by benefiting from the problematique
itself.
- (g) Transcending the realm of the problematique: Having used
the problematique as a vehicle to reach a sustainable condition, it is no longer
required. However, the necessary disciplines for humanity to handle it remain
available. Humanity can now act with serenity guided by insight that is no
longer obscured by the dynamics of the problematique. There are writings on
paradigm shifts into a new consciousness (in which the problematique no longer
figures) and these do offer clues as to the nature of this phase. However,
their neglect of the problematique would seem to be more a question of avoidance
rather than transcendence, indicating that such perspectives lack vital insights.
- (h) Disappearance of both humanity and the problematique: The
dualistic mindset through which humanity is perceived, in opposition to the
problematique and to other species, is itself transcended, as are the disciplines
through which that relationship is articulated. Confusion disappears. But
there is no question of being either entranced by more integrative insights
or entrapped by lesser ones. The nature of this condition does not lend itself
to definition. Typically, any desire for it renders it unattainable or unsustainable.
- (i) Expression of essential humanity: Grounded in its
essential nature, humanity stands untouched by inappropriateness. Processes
of integration and disintegration are witnessed from a perspective that enfolds
them. Neither formulation nor reformulation are necessary to ensure sustainability.
Change, as perceived, is necessarily appropriate however paradoxical it may
appear.
- (j) Human intervention in the world: Human action is no
longer associated with any particular mindset, nor does it follow any recognizable
path. It cannot be assessed by any form of conventional wisdom, nor does
it depend on any particular tools. No special effort is made to preserve
forms of any kind -- including those of humanity itself. Insight into the
emptiness underlying form enfolds any form of action in a more meaningful
context, thus enabling greater appropriateness to emerge as required.
Insightful "rebirth" and emergent thought structures
Progressive evolution of recursive self-reflexiveness may also be framed in
terms of some form of "rebirth". This has been explored elsewhere (Varieties
of Rebirth: distinguishing ways of being "born again", 2004;
Web Resources
on Being "Born Again", 2004). The following clusters of ways were
described.
| G.
Experiential rebirth (operacy, flow, emdiment of mind, speaking
with God, born-again, possession, psychedelic experience, embodiment in
song, spiritual rebirth) |
F.
Cognitive perspective (metacognition, critical thinking, philosophy,
aesthetic sensibility, orders of thinking, systematics, orders of abstraction,
disciplines of action) |
| E.
Therapeutical rebirth (release from trauma, mentors, self-help,
discipleship) |
D.
Developmental rebirth (education, perspective, initiation, cultural
creativity, individuation) |
| C.
Psycho-behavioural rebirth (sin-to-virtue, changing patterns of
consumption, conversion) |
B.
Socio-religious rebirth (birthright, destiny, reincarnation, socal
status, ceremony, ritual, group affiliation, games, sports) |
|
The nine levels of emergent thought structure distinguished in Spiral
Dynamics, described as vMemes, might be understood in terms of degrees
of self-reflexiveness and recursion.
Imagination, constructivism, faith-based reality, revisionism and "spin"
There has recently been official recognition of the "failure of imagination"
by the international community in relation both to "terrorism" (Failure
of imagination to deal with an alternative logic, 2005) and to many
other challenges calling for new thinking and a "paradigm shift" (cf Documents
relating to Paradigm Change, Social Transformation). The question
is whether there is a more fundamental failure of imagination in relation to
the emergence of insight -- and its expression through forms appropriate to
the challenges of the 21st century.
As concluded elsewhere (Enactivating
a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: Imaginal Transformation of Energy Resourcing,
2006), like it or not, governance in the 21st century will be significantly
influenced by the imagination -- whether as manipulated by news management
and media phenomena, by the faith-based articulations of different belief
systems, or by the search for imaginative relief from the constraints of
simplistic governance, insensitive planning and the incompatible preferences
of others. "Urban
myths", notably
regarding "immigrants" and minority groups, may have increasing influence on
social unrest and remedial policies. Imagination will be called upon, through
self-reflexive processes, to reframe depression, anxiety and existential doubt.
Relief will be increasingly sought in alternative realities, whether private
(including drug-enabled), virtual or elective communities, in which primacy
is given to imaginative connectivity to provide coherence.
Imagination is a vital quality sought and cultivated, notably by politicians,
in envisaging viable future possibilities -- beyond the tired formulas of "business
as usual" and "more of the same".
There is now recognition of a vital distinction
made between "faith-based" and "reality-based" decision-making at the highest
level, as noted in a much-cited article by Ron Suskind (Without
a Doubt, The New York Times, In The Magazine, 17 October
2004) regarding an exchange with an aide in the decision-making circle of President
Bush:
The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based
community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge
from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured
something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's
not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire
now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying
that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other
new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out.
We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study
what we do.''
The challenge of imagination in relation to self-rfeflexivity might be framed
in terms of how much "spin" makes for what degree of recursive self-reflexiveness
-- provided their is awareness of the degree of spin, namely of the degree
of disconnectivity from unspun reality.
As in the 1960s, it is once again a case of "l'imagination
au pouvoir". Just
as each of the above may be understood as an exercise in imposing and eliciting
particular imaginative strategies, so individuals are now free to dissociate
themselves from such "stories" and develop their own (cf Imaginal
Education: game playing, science fiction, language, art and world-making,
2003).
Form, geometry, pattern and dimensionality
The pattern or form
through which insight is organized and expressed implicitly constrains or reinforces
certain modes of understanding. Various authors have explored the extent of
this influence in different ways.
Form/Medium: As discussed elsewhere (Psychosocial
Work Cycle: beyond the plane of Möbius,
2007), the
focus of Michael Schiltz (Form
and Medium: a mathematical reconstruction, Image [&] Narrative,
6, 2003) follows from that of the calculus of indications of George
Spencer-Brown (Laws of Form, 1969/1994). Schiltz notes that
form/medium is "the image for systemic connectivity and concatenation",
as described by Humberto
Maturana and Francesco
Varela. For Schiltz, the notion of "space" is the key to
reflexivity appropriate to any discussion of form and medium, citing Spencer-Brown
as follows:
In all mathematics it becomes apparent, at some stage, that we have for
some time been following a rule without being aware of it. This might be
described as the use of a covert convention. [… Its] use
can be considered as the presence of an arrangement in the absence of an
agreement. For example, in the statement and theorem.... it is arranged (although
not agreed) that we shall write on a plane surface. If we write on
the surface of a torus the theorem is not true […] The fact
that men have for centuries used a plane surface for writing means that,
at this point in the text, both author and reader are ready to be conned
into the assumption of a plane writing surface without question. But, like
any other assumption, it is not unquestionable, and the fact that we can
question it here means that we can question it elsewhere.
Schiltz then comments, regarding covert conventions:
It was our choice to write in a plane surface that has made that distinctions
indeed do cut off an inside from an outside, that ‘differences do make
a difference’ (Gregory
Bateson). Covert conventions at a level deeper than the level of form,
preceding the level of form, have determined what the form would do. There
lies a chance for developing a medium theory here. In this concrete case:
the medium of the plane surface makes the difference. And in general: the
topology of the medium makes the difference between distinctions making a
difference and distinctions not making a difference. “It is now evident
that if a different surface is used, what is written on it, although identical
in marking may be not identical in meaning"... Spencer-Brown has shown us
that the ‘medium is the message’ (Marshall
MacLuhan).....
The inadequacy of conventional frameworks to subtler insight is usefully highlighted
by Ken Wilber (On
the Nature of a Post-Metaphysical Spirituality: response to Habermas and Weis,
Consumercide)
in relation his AQAL framework:
Trying to fit the transpersonal in an abstract and theoretical framework
is a hopeless enterprise, all mystics have said the spiritual cannot adequately
be formulated. Yes, and all of traditions of the mystics have nonetheless
offered general maps of the journey to Spirit (such as the ten Zen Ox-Herding
pictures). It turns out that there are family resemblances to these maps,
and these resemblances seem to reflect certain deep potentials in the human
bodymind (deep potentials for self-transcendence given as the Great Nest).
We don't try to fit anything into an abstract and theoretical framework.
Instead, we attempt a reconstructive science that concludes, based on empirical
and phenomenological research and evidence, that there are higher states
and stages available to men and women (but again, not in a predetermined
fashion, since their manifestation is molded by all four quadrants -- behavioral,
intentional, social, and cultural). This is a much fuller approach than Weis
offers, I believe.
Geometry: For some the focus is on geometry, as with:
- John Allen. Succeed: structuring managerial thought (Tucson, Synergetic
Press, 1988)
- Arthur Young. Geometry
of Meaning (Boston, Delacort Press/Seymour Lawrence,
1978)
- R Buckminster
Fuller. Synergetics: explorations in
the geometry of thinking (New York, Macmillan, 1975 (vol. I), 1979 (vol. II))
Fuller focused on the role of the set of polyhedra in modelling cognitive
systems of different complexity. The cognitive and organization implications
of his exploration of tensegrity are discussed elsewhere (From
Networking to Tensegrity Organization, 1984; Implementing
Principles by Balancing Configurations of Functions: a tensegrity organization
approach, 1979; Groupware
Configurations of Challenge and Harmony: an alternative approach to alternative
organization, 1979; Tensing
Associative Networks to contain the Fragmentation and Erosion of Collective
Memory, 1980). A variety of tensegrity structures can be displayed
in virtual reality over the web (cf Bob Burkhardt, VRML
Tensegrity Models, 2006).
Fuller's work was subsequently
a basis for the work of Stafford
Beer (Beyond
Dispute: the invention of Team Syntegrity. 1995) and the syntegration process
-- using the icosahedron. As the premier management cybernetician, Beer is
noteworthy for his (adapted) version of Le
Chatelier's Principle -- relevant to any discussion of complex adaptive
systems:
Reformers, critics of institutions, consultants in innovation,
people in short who "want to get something done", often fail to
see this point. They cannot understand why their strictures, advice or demands
do not result in effective change. They expect either to achieve a measure
of success in their own terms or to be flung off the premises. But an ultra-stable
system (like a social institution)... has no need to react in either of these
ways. It specializes in equilibrial readjustment, which is to the observer
a secret form of change requiring no actual alteration in the macro-systemic
characteristics that he is trying to do something about. (Stafford
Beer on Le Chatelier's Principle as applied to social systems: The
Cybernetic Cytoblast - management itself. Chairman's Address
to the International Cybernetic Congress, September 1969)
More traditionally this approach is typically implicit in concerns with sacred
geometry or the role of number (cf Representation,
Comprehension and Communication of Sets: the role of number, 1978;
Distinguishing
Levels of Declarations of Principles, 1980). This is notably the case
in the work on systematics of J
G Bennett, especially that on the progression
of categories whereby a system is a set of independent
but mutually relevant terms. He distinguishes twelve
systems (cf Systematics:
a new technique in thinking, 1966, with Anthony G. E. Blake; Systematics
and Systems Theories, Systematics 7, 4, March 1970; The
Dramatic Universe, 4 vols).
Pattern: Patterns of different complexity, notably including
the above considerations, may also serve to distinguish different degrees of
complexity and self-reflexivity, as discussed elsewhere (Patterns
of Conceptual Integration, 1984) and especially with respect to dialogue
(Energy
Patterns in Conferences: weaving patterns of information as a context for higher
levels of integration, 1988).
Dimensionality: Given the mathematical hypotheses of fundamental
physics in offering explanations of reality, another approach is in terms of
the number of dimensions required for an appropriate description -- currently
rising to 26 in some variants of
string theory. The
question of the number of dimensions relevant to comprehension has been explored
in an insightful manner by Ron Atkin (Multidimensional
Man; can man live in 3-dimensional space? 1981; see review).
Cybernetics of cybernetics: complex adaptive systems?
Earlier versions of this section appeared in Interrelating
Metaphors -- to enable a cycle of transformation between epistemological
modes (a portion of Part A of Psychosocial
Energy from Polarization within a Cyclic Pattern of Enantiodromia)
First order cybernetics: It is the systems sciences, and
notably cybernetics, that explore negative feedback loops between the
elements of well-bounded systems leading to an objectivist positivist approach.
Cybernetics was initially the study of the "objective" control of
machines (artificial and natural). Heinz
von Foerster (Ethics
and Second-Order Cybernetics, 1991) has suggested a form of "zero-order
cybernetics" when activity becomes structured; when “behaviour” emerges,
but without reflection upon the “why” and the “how” of
this behaviour. Cybernetics is then implicit
Second order cybernetics: However, notably as a result of
the work of Heinz von Foerster in the 1950s, the value became apparent of exploring
the "cybernetics of cybernetics", the "cybernetics of observing
systems", or "reflection on reflection on cybernetics" -- the
observation of the observer observing his/her own observations. This was acknowledged
in a phrase of von Foerster that is significant to any approach to knowledge
organization: "Objectivity is a subject's delusion that observing
can be done without him". In a keynote speech in 1972, Margaret
Mead consecrated the field as “Second Order Cybernetics”.
Second order cybernetics extended cybernetics to include the interface with
the observer, the "subjective" feature of cognitive methodology --
a theory of the observer based on functional-constructivism. Partly inspired
by the work of Gestalt psychology, the question that emerged was the extent
to which an inner representation of the outer world was a valid portrait of
the macrocosm "outside"? How should this internal microcosmic representation
be used in order to avoid illusions and abusive action? That which is observed
cannot be neatly abstracted and separated from the observer's own biological,
nervous and cerebral structuration (cf Sara B. Jutoran. From
Observed Systems to Observing Systems, 1985/2005). Related explorations
are associated with constructivist epistemology (Humberto
Maturana, Paul Watzlawick and Ernst
von Glasersfeld), the hypercycle (Manfred
Eigen) and the self-referential calculus (Francisco
Varela, A Calculus for Self-reference, International Journal
of General Systems, 2, 1975, pp 5-24). A journal (Cybernetics
and Human Knowing) is now devoted to the issues of second order cybernetics, autopoiesis and
cyber-semiotics.
However it had in fact been sociologist Magoroh
Maruyama (The
Second Cybernetics: deviation-amplifying mutual causal process. American
Scientist, 1963) who had named "second cybernetics" to differentiate
it from "first cybernetics" with its emphasis on the negative feedback
process fundamental to self-correcting homeostasis.
This enabled him to highlight the peculiar effects of recursive positive (deviation
amplifying) feedbacks implicated in shaping the dynamics of organizational
forms in response to environmental turbulence. He distinguished two processes
on which he considered that every living system depended:
- “morphostasis”: namely the maintenance of system constancy
through negative feedback mechanisms. “...constancy
in the face of environmental vagaries”
- “morphogenesis”: referring to deviation and system variability
through positive feedback mechanisms. “...at times
a system must change its basic structure”
According to Maruyama: “...it is possible to have both positive and
negative mutual causal loops counterbalancing one another in any given situation".
This understanding of the function of both positive and negative feedback loops
is clearly of relevance to the hundreds of thousands of such loops documented
under the auspices of the Union of International Associations
-- available, as hyperlinks, to exploration (and visualization) online (cf Feedback
Loop Analysis in the Encyclopedia Project, 2000)
The very large networks of looping functional relationships documented
and visualized there , bring the user literally "face-to-screen"
with the cognitive limitations to significant knowledge management in relation
to strategic challenges. Such representations, notably of value
networks or of subtle human development concepts (and modes of awareness)
from many disciplines, raise issues which highlight the relevance of second
order cybernetics.
In this respect, Brian Holmes (Network,
Swarm, Microstructure, Multitudes, May 2006) argues:
On the one hand, the use of social network analysis tools is giving us pictures
of very complicated interlinkages between individuals and groups. These pictures
are quite simply fascinating, because they aggregate lots of data and allow
one to glimpse patterns, or at least, the possibility of patterns, of regularities.
But the maps are not enough. One needs an understanding of the quality of
the links themselves, of what encourages a group to cooperate even when its
membership is atomized and dispersed in space.... This is where the questions
asked by complexity theory become so interesting and timely. What gives form
and pattern to emergent behavior ? ....
To describe the specific contents out of which richer and vaster worlds of
meaning are made, and to detail the effects of the specific tools and procedures
that make it possible to continuously transform them and to coordinate actions
within their horizons, are the tasks of a complexity theory which seeks to
understand how groups organize their own behavior, when they are no longer
decisively influenced by traditional institutions. Bateson pointed the way
to this possibility of a cybernetic understanding, an understanding of feedback
processes, with his "Steps to an Ecology of Mind."
Wolfram Lutterer (Systemics:
the social aspects of cybernetics, Kybernetes, 34 Issue:
3/4, Mar 2005) proposes the term “systemics” instead of “second-order
cybernetics”.
Third order cybernetics, in principle represents the current
state of the art. Here the observer is understood to be part of a coevolving
system -- the focus is on how observers and systems co-evolve across different
social systems. The dominant discourse isunderstood to be reproduced and transformed
through local interactions. As noted by Chris
Lucas (Complexity Theory:
Actions for a Better World, 2001):
This is a more intrinsic (embodied) methodology and shows
the ongoing convergence of all the various systemic disciplines, as part
of the general world paradigm shift noticed recently towards more integrated
approaches to science and life. In 21st Century systematics, boundaries between
systems are only partial and this implies that we must evolve with our systems
and cannot remain static outsiders. Thus our mental beliefs echo our systemic
behaviours, we co-create our realities and therefore internal and external
realities become one. Understanding this mutual control, exhibited by us
on our world and our world on us, takes us into the metaview outlined here,
where we can see ourselves as being part of the system under examination.
Because of the intimate connection with reflection on social
constructivism and constructivist
epistemology, the use of "second order cybernetics" has been
interwoven with various proposals for a "third order cybernetics".
David Pocock (Loose
Ends), offers a critique of such usage in family therapy -- an obvious
example of "mutable worlds". Another discussion speculated on the
distinction: 1st order cybernetics is spectacular; 2nd order cybernetics
is simulating potential fields with request/response; 3rd order cybernetics
is potential fields, smell [more].
Note also the discussion by Kent D Palmer (On
the Social Construction of Emergent Worlds: the foundations of reflexive
autopoietic systems theory.
1996).
Concern has been expressed that any third order human system configured on
the metaphor of autopoiesis would necessarily be oppressive, inhuman, and parasocial
(William P. Hall, Are
Third Order (i.e. Social) Autopoietic Systems Necessarily Autocratic? 2003).
Discussion of
"observers observing observers", namely certain forms of strategic
management consultancy, is held to require such a third order cybernetics by
Vincent Kenny and Philip Boxer (The
Economy of Discourses: a third order cybernetics? Human Systems
Management, 1990).
Fourth order cybernetics: Helpfully summarizing the contrasts
between the above, M. Zangeneh and E. Haydon (The
Psycho-Structural Cybernetic Model, Feedback, and Problem Gambling: a new
theoretical approach, International Journal of Mental Health
and Addiction,
1, 2, 2004) propose a fourth order cybernetics as follows:
Central to this effort is the application of a unique, critical theory inspired
by the works of Anthony Giddens (1971, 1990; see discussion on modernity
and reflexivity) and John Francois Lyotard (1979; see discussion on postmodernity)
to the cybernetic theoretical framework. The epistemological orientation
of the theory proposed here is that of multiple realities shaped by social,
cultural, economic, ethnic, gender and disability values, which centralize
on the asymmetric power relations in society
Fourth order cybernetics is thus understood as concerned
with how multiple realities are shaped by, and impinge upon, power relationships
within society.
Complex adaptive systems: Some of the confusion
in relation to the above distinctions is helpfully clarified by Chris
Lucas (personal
communication, 2007):
I'm rather amazed that third-order cybernetics seems not to have 'taken-off'
as it were, few people seem to mention it now.... It is interesting to note
how much this unwillingness to recognise the 'outside influence' on self
is based upon current scientific dogma, this is well illustrated by a foreword from
Bruce Lipton [to Louise LeBrun, Phoenix Rising! The Freeing of Human
Potential].
Yet the actual idea of co-evolution between system and its environment is
very much to the fore today. I think perhaps the term 'cybernetics' has itself
a poor, mechanical, feel to many people, so the term used in complexity theory
for perhaps the same idea is 'Complex
Adaptive Systems' (CAS). This is frequently now used in organizational
contexts (e.g. see my review of
the book Open Boundaries: creating business innovation through complexity by
Howard Sherman and Ron Schultz)
When I write on these themes nowadays I tend to use other terms, for example
my 2006 essay "Complex
Living Tensegrities" (2006) used "Complex Interacting
Systems" (of which CAS was 1 of 4). In "Integral
Intersubjectivity" (2006) I contrasted the third person
(objective) view (1st order), with the
first person (subjective) view (2nd order), to generate a middle way (intersubjective) which is close to 3rd order. Finally
in... "Qualitative
Living and Thinking" (2006) I brought in three forms of knowing,
'knowing how' (1st order), 'knowing that' (2nd order) and 'knowing from'
(3rd order).
Whilst the terms aren't common perhaps the understanding is getting more
so, the environmental crisis highlights the coevolution of people and planet
in a way perhaps never before part of the public mind... I tend to stress
recently the need to take three levels into account, these aren't the three
cybernetic levels as such, but as Stan Salthe notes, our focus on one level
cannot ignore the level below (N-1) which gives rise to level N, nor the
level above (N+1) which constrains its behaviour. In human cultural terms
the biosphere sustaining planet is N+1, the organizational greed is N and
the genetically fear driven human is N-1. A potent mix !
Human ecologies: Holmes points to the innovative work of Félix
Guattari (Cartographies Schizoanalytiques, 1989) in trying to
create even more dynamic models of human ecologies. He considers Bateson
and Guattari as being:
...probably the most important references for the art of composing mutable
worlds, where the goal of the participants is to carry out continuous transformation
of the very parameters and coordinates on which their interactions are based
(this is also understood as 3rd-order cybernetics, where the system produces
not just new information, but new categories of information)
However Holmes considers the work of sociologist Karin
Knorr Cetina (Complex
Global Microstructures: the new terrorist societies, Theory,
Culture & Society, 2005), which he reviews, to be more accessible
and strategically relevant. It is questionable whether such insights could
be effectively applied to the static networks documented by the Union of
International Associations rather
than to the challenge of the dynamically gated communities they imply (Dynamically
Gated Conceptual Communities, 2004).
Such communities exemplify the challenge recognized by Magoroh Maruyama (Peripheral
Vision: polyocular vision or subunderstanding? Organization
Studies, 2004) of enhancing "polyocular vision" to
avoid the dangers of "subunderstanding". A mathematical
clarification of this challenge has been provided by Ron Atkin (Multidimensional
Man; can man live in 3-dimensional space? 1981) and by D. Dubois,
H. Prade & P. Smets (Representing
partial ignorance. IEEE Trans. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics,
26, 1996, pp 361-378).
Maurice Yolles (Knowledge
Cybernetics: a new metaphor for social collectives 2005) has developed
an approach to complex systems drawing on work of Cohen and Stewart (The
Collapse of Chaos: discovering simplicity in a complex world, 1994).
It derives from epistemological antecedents, created by Stafford Beer (1959,
1985) in his Viable
System Model (VSM), and explored through concepts of ontology by Eric
Schwarz (Towards
a Holistic Cybernetics: from science through epistemology to being, Cybernetics
and Human Knowing, Vol. 4, 1997). It suggests a new form of knowledge
management that is connected with the notions of S P Marshall (Schemes
in Problem Solving, 1995) and her new radical classifications for
knowledge. For Yolles:
These ideas can be closely associated with concepts of lifeworld and the
ideas of communicative action by Habermas,
and leads to a useful knowledge cybernetic framework.... Just as the system
is normally seen as a metaphor, knowledge cybernetics is metaphorical in
that it: (a) explores knowledge formation and its relationship to information;
(b) provides a critical view of individual and social knowledge, and their
processes of communication and associated meanings, (c) seeks to create an
understanding of the relationship between people and their social communities
for the improvement of social collective viability, and an appreciation of
the role of knowledge in this.
Indicative examples of 2nd and 3rd order environments
Approaches to detecting the exemplification of higher order, self-reflexive
contexts -- posibly "centres of embodiment" as opposed to "centres
of excellence" -- might include:
Of course a case could be made for inclusion of various kinds of monastic
environment, including ashrams and Zen communities centred on a temple (and its
garden). For the individual interacting with a complex world, examples of 3rd
order processes would include:
In the spirit of "infinite games", Flemming
Funch (New
Civilization) provides
an extensive list of links to a collection of web resources on the "game
of the new civilization" -- as being about "creating a new civilization
that works better" (cf World
Transformation website). It remains unclear whether
there are groups that can indeed be distinguished as characterized by infinite
game-playing (in Carse's sense!) within their own context, with groups of
similar persuasion, or with bodies that do not share that persuasion.
Resources on the possibility of such initiatives and examples (obtained with
the assistance of Chris Lucas), are notably to be found at
- Research perspective: Complex
Adaptive Systems Research (maintained by Mark Voss), which illustrates
the extent to which the focus is on modelling behaviours of intelligent
agents. However most of the agent models would not be third order -- since
clearly the agents in the models cannot be claimed to be self-aware. The modelling
of artificial societies is represented by the collaborative initiative
of the Brookings Institution, the Santa
Fe Institute, and the World Resources Institute (cf Joshua M. Epstein and
Robert Axtell, Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science From the
Bottom Up, 1995)
- Consultancy perspective: The consultancy literature
contains information on situations in which efforts are made to 'convert'
CEOs and/or their people to a more open viewpoint. The most likely third-order
locus of application of CAS ideas is therefore probably in companies, either
by consultants working with the CEO and bringing them up to speed in such
coevolutionary thinking or by the company people doing
so themselves (cf David Rooke and William R. Torbert, Organizational
Transformation as a Function of CEOs’ Developmental Stage, Organization
Development Journal 16, 1, 11-28, 1998). Ironically however it is the monitoring
by the consuotants of their effort which effectively then introduces a third-order
perspective in action (or not !). Another source are the resource list maintained
by Chris Lucas (Economics,
Business & Management Papers), notably the papers of Marilyn Herasymowych
and Henry Senko (Corporate
Culture and Complexity, 2001-3)
- Learning organization perspective and organizational innovation :
understood as a recent alternative to "complex adaptive system",
as represented by the resources at Stanford
Learning Organization Web (SLOW) and those maintained by Peter Senge
(Resources
on Senge's Learning Organization; The
Fifth Discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization,
1990). Metaphor has been extensively used in describing the emergence of
new corporate management styles (Rosabeth Moss Kanter, When Giants Learn
to Dance, 1989; Bobby Logue, Even
Dinosaurs Learn to Dance, Security Management Today,
June 2005; Dudley Lynch and Paul L. Kordis, Strategy
of the Dolphin: scoring a win in a chaotic world,1989; Dee Hock, The
Birth of the Chaordic Organization, 1999)
A valuable summary in terms of organizational innovation is provided
by Eleanor D. Glor (A
Gardener Innovator’s
Guide to Innovating in Organizations, 2006). Glor considers
innovation from the perspective of individuals (individual plants), challenges
(particular diseases, nourishment) and the culture (garden, neighborhood,
region) as a whole. She addresses the question of whether it is possible
to change existing organizational patterns as long-lasting
ways organizations and societies have of behaving. How patterns change
is considered in terms of patterns within patterns developed earlier
(Innovation
Patterns, 2001).
A quite different approach is offered by Jean M. Bartunek and Michael
K. Moch (Third-order
Organizational Change and the Western Mystical Tradition, Journal
of Organizational Change Management, 7, 1994, 1, pp
24 - 41)
- Aesthetic perspective: As a flourishing cultural phenomenon,
the Société Imaginaire (founded
in 1984, and sustained by the initiative of the Batuz Foundation) groups
over 500 artists, writers and scholars from around the world (The
Imaginary Society, International
Herald Tribune,
4 January 1995). The challenge of "describing"
and "defining" a third order initiative is well illustrated by
the "non-descriptions"
of it offered on its website:
People ask, "What is the Société lmaginaire? Does it exist?
Or is it an Illusion?" The answer is: the Société Imaginaire
exists, but it cannot be summarized without its subtlety being blunted or
its fluency being compromised. It lives by refusal, by saying "no" to
what other groups or societies depend on for survival. It has no manifesto,
and will not be bound by any explicit formulation of its aims. It exists
as a paradox; it is most alive when its life can be least assumed. Although
it welcomes attempts to define what it is, it knows none will be right. If
its members are evasive when asked to explain it, it is because they know
that any answer, once uttered, comes too late. It is committed to "beyondness",
to being always one step ahead of what can be said about it. Thus, it keeps
growing.
Only someone who is primarily universal and only
then local can comprehend this new situation and live at one and the
same time, i.e. simultaneously, in many cultures, like a neutron which
can appear simultaneously in several places.
Man's own limitations, his methods of apperception,
can con-tribute to his salvation in mastering this new challenge because
his powers of perception are capable of modification. Paz has expressed
this similar idea poetically and clearly: The understanding
of others
is a contradictory ideal: it asks that we change without changing, that
we be other without ceasing to be ourselves.
Surely everyone recognizes today that man must
alter and adapt his means of perception in order to be able to meet the
new challenge. When we say man does not
live in one culture only but in many, he cannot do it with his old methods
of apperception.
As the abstract in art becomes comprehensible
for us only when we surrender our figurative images, so we must renounce
our provincial selves if we want to understand today's world, or worlds,
and feel at home in them.
- Interpersonal perspective: clearly analogues to third
order organizational initiatives are fruitfully explored in new approaches
to interpersonal relationships following experience of the constraints of
modes of organization based on the patterns of first and second order cybernetics.
- Individuation perspective: as noted above (Varieties
of Rebirth: distinguishing ways of being "born again",
2004; Web
Resources on Being "Born Again", 2004), any process of individuation
may give rise to what might be considered a third order understanding and
relationship to the environment. In the context of mytho-poesis many
births refer to the birth process with specific exemplars recognized
as "twice-born" or "thrice-born" (as
with Hermes Trismegistus). For Louise Cowan (Epic
as Cosmopoesis, 1992): "If
we read epic poems with attentiveness, putting aside preconceived ideas
about the dominance of the patriarchal virtues, we see in them something
of a palimpsest, indicating that nations are not only 'twice-' but 'thrice-born'".
Becoming a Freemason has for example been described as a third birth,
or becoming "thrice-born".
- Open organizations perspective: inspired by the open software
philosophy. From this perspective, the structures that organizations typically
use for decision-making are closed: individuals are unaccountable, abuses
of power are hard to prevent and knowledge is hoarded. The open
organizations project explains how to set up and maintain transparent,
accountable and truly participative communities. The desire for open organizations
stems from a widespread dissatisfaction not only with the formal power structures
found in governments and corporations, but also with the informal structures
found in many voluntary and activist groups. Examples are
given of groups that explicitly claim to use the framework (including Indymedia,
ATTAC and European
Social Forum), with links to
related work.
- International relations perspective: An account of the
significance of complexity science for international relations theory
is provided by R.M. Cutler (Complexity
Science and Knowledge-Creation in International Relations Theory,
In:
Encyclopedia of Institutional and Infrastructural Resources, Oxford,
Eolss Publishers for UNESCO, 2002).
He explains its epistemological and ontological significance for the level
of analysis, scope of analysis, and scale of analysis.
This followed his earlier study (Autopoeisis in Transgovernmental
Networks: para-interparliamentary group action for sustainable development,
World Society Foundation, 1999). Cutler continued his focus in a more recent
study (The
Paradox of Intentional Emergent Coherence: Organization and Decision in a
Complex World, Journal of the Washington
Academy of Sciences, 2007)
In a study of operations of the United Nations, John G.I. Clarke (Transcending
organisational autism in the UN system response to HIV/AIDS in Africa, Kybernetes,
35, 2006, 1/2, pp 10-24) determined that there was a disconnect between
what the system does and what the system espouses – a
bias toward “doing things right” rather than “doing the
right thing”. The study drew on the writings of Berry (eco-spirituality),
Beer (VSM), Argyris and Schon (double loop learning), Hock (chaordic organisation)
and Ackoff (corporate planning) to suggest that the sub-optimal
organisational performance was best interpreted as an “autistic” condition,
whereby organisations become “so locked up inside themselves that nothing
and no one can get in”.
Subsequently, however, in the abstract of a presentation to the ECCO (Evolution,
Complexity and COgnition) transdisciplinary research group (Free University
of Brussels, directed by Francis Heylighen), Mehmet Teczan (A
complex systems critique to mainstream IR theory: a case study of foreign
policy integration in Europe as a complex system, 2007) notes
the call:
... for ‘another International Relations (IR)’ that will
finally recognize international relations as being an emergent realm
of non-linear patterns of social interactions. Nevertheless, the (neo-)positivistic
hegemony is today hampering the introduction of Complexity Theory (CT)
to IR and the former’s full-fledged employment.
Graeme Chesters (Global
Complexity and Global Civil Society, 2004) suggests that the emergence
of “antagonistic” relationship between actors is
best understood through the lens of complexity theory and offers some conceptual
tools to begin the process of analyzing global civil society as an outcome
and effect of global complexity.
- Legal perspective: K.-H Ladeur (The
Theory of Autopoiesis as an Approach to a Better Understanding of Postmodern
Law: from the hierarchy of norms to the heterarchy of changing patterns
of legal inter-relationships, EUI Working Paper, 1999, LAW 99/3). In
a review by Jason A Beckett (Conflicting
Orders: how peace is waged, Leiden Journal
of International Law,
20, 2007), of a study by William Rasch (Sovereignty
and Its Discontents: on the primacy of conflict and the structure of the
political, London, Birkbeck
University Press, 2004), Beckett argues that:
There is no reason not to understand
the sub-systems of the international legal order as operationally closed,
as autopoietic systems. If this is so, then our familiar clichés
regarding hierarchy, or the ‘logical connections’ between the
sub-systems and general international law, must be opened to challenge. Moreover,
behind the familiar responses of hierarchy, coherence, dispute allocation,
or co-ordination of the sub-systems – that is, behind the questions
of how to (re-)establish order in PIL [public international law] – the
real question comes into relief: why do we desire this order at all?
- Activist perspective:
- Civil society networks: These may regard themselves
as coevolving, and may therefore offer examples from a third order perspective
although there appears to be little literature on specific examples treated
from that viewpoint.
- An early proposal, which may effectively be operational
was for a "potential
association" (Wanted
- A New Social Entity: Role of the Potential Association --
Annex I of: Next
Step in Inter-organizational Relationships, 1971). Such
an association would, as such, not have "members" in
the sense of people subsribing in common to a particular set
of views or being represented in any way via any election procedure.
The relationship would be loose - almost to vanishing point -
to avoid any threat to autonomy. The bodies brought into relationship
via a potential association would be held, or, strictly speaking,
would hold themselves, in this relationship simply by the fact
that they received information, whether on a paying basis or
as some form of subsidized service, from a central point oh topics
of interest to them.
- In terms of the interpretation of
the vMemes of
Spiral Dynamics, Ken Wilber (How
to Stage a 2nd-Tier Protest, You
Tube) offers a
unique articulation of the scope for activism beyond those envisaged
by conventional organization.
- "Adaptive networks": Typically these are
studied as a variant of civil society networks, notably of NGOs. Studies
include:
- "Uncivil" society networks: To the extent
that networks perceived to be disruptive of the social order are excluded
from any definition of "civil society" (possibly by broad interpretation
of anti-terrorist legislation), it is appropriate to recognize the innovative
forms of unconventionaql organization tthey may employ (Interacting
Fruitfully with Un-Civil Society: the dilemma for non-civil society organizations,
1996). Commentators have, for example frequently described al-Qaida
as a movement of opinion and ideas, even a set of principles
and a strategy. As noted by Jason Burke (Al-Qaida
is now an idea not an organisation, The Guardian, 5
August 2005):
... we need to face up to the simple truth that Bin Laden,
al-Zawahiri et al do not need to organise attacks directly.
They merely need to wait for the message they have spread around the
world to inspire others. Al-Qaida is now an idea, not an organisation.
The same might be said of many a secretive "cabal" with a questionable
agenda.
In each of the above cases the challenge is to distinguish
claims for those environments to a "higher order" condition from
the actuality thereof. It is also the case that any such claims might well
be an indication of the aspiration to some understanding of such a condition
when it has not indeed been successfully embodied in practice.
Testing for "higher order" characteristics: One test would be the extent to which the "adaptive" nature
of such complex initiatives is indeed a consequence of conscious self-reflexivity
-- or is merely adaptive in some more conventional (reactive) sense. A more systematic test might be to review the nature and quality of the questions that the initiative asks of itself, exemplified in the case of a self-analysis, in response to "typical difficulties", by the Scientific and Medical Network (John Clarke, Where Are We Going? -- the future of SMN, Network Review, Spring 2005) which explicitly asks itself questions such as:
- whether we have a a special and unique contribution to make to the spiritual
and intellectual life of our times?
- what shape should that contribution take?
- how can we respond to the existential crisis of meaning and purpose that is characteristic of our times?
- should we continue to build on the intellectual approach and pattern of activities that have proved successful in the past?
- should we:
- encourage a wide spectrum of perspectives -- and how wide should these spread?
- increase scientific rigour, discouraging any perceived tendency to "New Age flakiness"?
- cultivate the original commitment to spiritual goals, even if it undermines scientific respectability?
- should our conferences move beyond what has been framed as "sages on stages"?
- should we reappraise our basic philosophy and operational strategies?
- in considering our membership:
- are we sufficiently attentive to their possibilities of involvement?
- should we seek to attract a greater proportion of younger members?
- do we, indeed, have good reasons to continue to exist at all?
- should we:
- take a strong position, directing our appeal to "right brain" or "left brain" needs?
- emphasize greater commitment to more experiential and personal dimensions of learning?
- continue to emphasize what has has been framed as a professional "elitist" identity?
- should we consider ourselves:
- a kind of praetorian guard of a particular intellectual/spiritual ethos?
- an openly populist organization?
- can we continue to call ourselves a "scientific" and "medical" network when:
- we expend much of our effort in examining philosphical and theological
issues?
- many of our members are not directly associated with any of the sciences?
- should we:
- have a distinctive worldview and seek to propagate a coherent set
of values and beliefs?
- contiue to avoid the temptation to formulate dogmas or creeds?
- how do we:
- rediscover the "spirit" of our organization -- beyond its
immediate difficulties?
- determine what we stand for?
Ironically, in the light of the pattern offered by the Zen ox-herding pictures
-- and the fact that oxen (like steer) are often adult, castrated male cattle
-- such questions put an interesting twist on new significance that might be
attached to a third order "steer-ing" committee. The
term cybernetics is intimately associated through its Greek origin with understanding
of steering and governance mechanisms. Ironically again, given the castrated
state of oxen and steer, this suggests the unfortunate parallel
of members of any steering body to the castrati singers
required to express the higher notes in early operatic productions (by inhibiting
normal maturation of the voice after puberty). Such a parallel might be contrasted
with any cognitive or governance metaphor based on overtone
singing.
Given the socio-economic factors (including the livelihood of those involved)
that typically constrain organizational innovation, of particular relevance
for the immediate future is the facility with which such environments may be
created virtually. Perhaps in a Third
Life rather
than in Second Life (Bryan
Alexander, Towards
Third Life, 20 February 2007)?
Conclusion: emergence of "post-systemic" forms
of organization of "higher order"?
Might it be the case that all the "problems" faced by humanity
are (using Maruyama's term) subunderstood design elements of an inherently
sustainable "engine" --
whose operational integrity is of a higher degree of virtualization than
currently considered credible? Being subunderstood, the design elements
are mismanaged and therefore malfunction. This is notably a view highlighted
by Douglas Flemons (Completing Distinctions, 1991).
Beyond, "third-order" or "fourth order" cybernetics, the
possibility of a progression in degrees of cognitive recursiveness and self-reflexivity
is implicit in the work of a number of authors. These include:
-
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson:
-- Metaphors We Live By (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1980)
-- Philosophy In The Flesh: the embodied mind and
its challenge to western thought. (Basic Books, 1999)
- Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch. The
Embodied Mind.
(MIT Press, Cambridge, 1991)
- Francisco Varela. Laying Down a Path in Walking. In: W I Thompson
(Ed). Gaia:
A Way of Knowing (Massachusetts, Lindisfarne Press, 1987)
The work of Varela is most notably associated with the articulation of enactive
cognition or enactivism --
a form of embodied knowing. Using the series of Zen ox-herding
pictures as
an indicator, this might be understood as corresponding to one of the later
stages of self-reflexive recursiveness potentially expressible through some
form of organization -- as yet to be widely understood. Such a series might
include forms primarily characterized by what may be understood by:
"potential" association, mirroring, shadowing, embodiment, intentionality
and entelechy (cf Entelechy:
actuality vs future potential, 2001) -- even a
sense of destiny (fatum).
The elaboration (above) of approaches to the world problematique offers an
example in terms of that series. The Zen series is valuable because it embodies
the challenge of comprehending successive stages, whereas many authors readily
fall into a form of descriptive trap corresponding to the perspective of one
of the earlier stages of self-reflexivity -- effectively obscuring the nature
of that challenge.
Although a sequence of stages, even expressed in a table, is necessarily inappropriate
to the qualities to be distinguished (in the light of the cautionary arguments
of Schiltz), the following table is an effort to juxtapose (very tentatively)
some of the distinct understandings which might emerge as significant for the
future in the light of quite different analytical devices.
Indicative pointers
to higher orders of self-reflexivity
(tentatively ordered in terms of the classic series of 10 Zen ox-herding
pictures,
but without implying more than a possible correspondence across columns
of the table,
a "correspondence" on which the proponents of each would have strong
reservations) |
Ox
picts.
(a) |
Identity
(b) |
Feedback
(c)
|
Evaluation:
criticism/
appreciation
(d) |
Problem-
atique
(e) |
Resolut-
ique
(f) |
WH-
Questions
(g) |
Cybernetic
order
(h) |
Polyhedra
(Fuller)
(i) |
Systematics
(Bennett)
(j) |
Learn/
Action
cycle
(Young)
(k) |
Spiral
Dynam.
(Beck)
(l) |
Aikido
(mgt)
(m) |
Philosophy /
Principle
(n) |
| Ox-1 |
Conventional
legal entity |
Negative |
External |
. |
. |
where/what/
when/how |
First |
. |
wholeness |
. |
instinctive
(beige) |
. |
Us vs. Them |
| Ox-2 |
Organizational
system |
Negative
Positive |
External |
. |
. |
which/how |
Second |
. |
polarity |
. |
animistic (purple). |
. |
Le Chatelier
|
| Ox-3 |
Learning
organization
|
Negative
Positive |
External
Internal |
. |
. |
why |
Third
(CAS) |
. |
relatedness |
. |
egocentric
(red) |
. |
Embracing
error |
| Ox-4 |
? |
? |
? |
. |
. |
? |
Fourth |
. |
subsistence |
. |
absolutist
blue. |
. |
. |
| Ox-5 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
? |
? |
. |
potentiality |
. |
materialistic
orange |
. |
. |
| Ox-6 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
? |
. |
. |
repetition |
. |
humanistic
(green) |
. |
. |
| Ox-7 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
structure |
. |
systemic
(yellow) |
. |
. |
| Ox-8 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
individuality |
. |
holarchic
(turquoise) |
. |
|
| Ox-9 |
|
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
pattern |
. |
infinite
(coral) |
. |
. |
| Ox-10 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
creativity |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Notes to table:
- Ox-pictures: It is appropriate to note that there
are many commentaries on the challenging distinctions implied by the
Zen ox-herding pictures
- Identity: In the absence of common terms, higher order entities might
include swarms, flash mobs, potential associations, and various known
forms of virtual entity
- Feedback: There is the possibility of distinguishing
new kinds of
"feedback", perhaps at least reflecting the distinction between
negative, positive, negative and positive, neither negative nor positive.
Feedback might be extended to include notions of subject-object interactivity
as proposed by Chris Lucas (Integral
Intersubjectivity, 2006)
- External/Internal: In combining (c) with (d), correspondence with
the AQAL system of Ken Wilber emerge (notably as discussed in Interrelating
Metaphors -- to enable a cycle of transformation between epistemological
modes, 2007)
- Problematique: The "world
problematique" is a term promoted by the
Club of Rome as referring to the cluster of intertwined socioeconomic
problems. An articulation of the contents of this column is given above
- Resolutique: The "world
resolutique" is a term promoted by the Club of Rome as
referring to the cluster of intertwined strategic responses to socioeconomic
problems [more].
Presumably a corresponding series to that for the problematique could
be elaborated. As a result of the Global
Strategies and Solutions Project of the
Encyclopedia of World
Problems and Human Potential, a specific commentary relating
to this possibility is relevant.
- WH-questions: The possibility of a relationship
between this classic set of questions and questions of "higher
order" has been explored
elsewhere (Engaging
with Questions of Higher Order: cognitive vigilance required
for higher degrees of twistedness, 2004; Functional
Complementarity of Higher Order Questions: psycho-social sustainability
modelled by coordinated movement, 2004) notably in relation
to the dimensionality of catastrophe (Conformality
of 7 WH-questions to 7 Elementary Catastrophes: an exploration of
potential psychosocial implications, 2006)
- Cybernetics: The comments of Chris Lucas (above) with respect to
some distinctions to be made here should be noted
- Polyhedra: Aside from the work of Fuller, which
tends (despite the subtitle of Synergetics) to be allusive with regard
to the cognitive distinctions, the many commentaries on sacred geometry
by other authors point to another mode of understanding these distinctions
(including those on projective geometry by anthroposophy)
- Systematics (Bennett): An explanation of the multi-term
systems is given elsewhere. Those
for 11- and 12-term systems are not included in the table.
- Learning-Action cycle (Young):
The focus of Arthur
Young (Geometry
of Meaning, 1978) is on a 12-phase
learning-action cycle necessary for ordered experience
-- potentially to be understood as extending beyond first and second-order
cybernetics (arising in his case from a generalization of his experience
in helicopter design and operation). Various possibilities for
further generalizing these insights have been explored elsewhere
(cf Cycles
of dissonance and resonance; Typology
of 12 complementary strategies essential to sustainable development;
Typology
of 12 complementary dialogue modes essential to sustainable dialogue;
Varieties
of experience of past-present-future complexes)
- Spiral Dynamics (Beck): A useful summary of spiral
dynamics in relation to complexity theory is provided by Chris
Lucas (Spiral
Complexity Dynamics, 2006), notably the distinction between
the "1st tier" (1-6) and "2nd tier" (7-9) vMemes
in the table, from that perspective. A case could of course be made
for treating the lst tier as corresponding to different styles of first-order
(or even second-order) cybernetics -- with those of 2nd tier as different
styles of third-order cybernetics.
- Aikido (in management): In recent
years, Aikido has become a model for leadership and management development
at organizations, universities, and governments throughout the world.
Practitioners apply established
principles of balance, leverage, position, and movement to achieve
harmony and collaboration rather than competition -- offering an
effective strategy for managing change. The question is whether the
levels of (self-) understanding of this martial art offer insights
-- ranked by dan --
correspond in any way to other degrees of insight in the table. The
dan system is also used in the strategy game of go -- now
considered of some relevance to management.
- Philosophy / Principle: The first row helps to clarify
a general point, namely that whilst it appears to consitute a polarity,
this is only recognizable from a perspective corresponding to the second
row. Similarly, whilst Stafford Beer's adaptation of Le Chatelier's
Principle (cited earlier) is a characteristic of the dynamics of the
second row, it can only be recognized from a perspective of the third
row. Similarly the play on "Us vs Them" offers cognitive
modalities that can be distributed as characteristic of other rows: "Us
and Them"
("same struggle"), "Neither Us nor Them" (larger
issue). These might be considered precursors to more complex forms
of mutual engagement (as with any Other).
|
Such a conceptual array necessarily calls for "tuning" -- with the
usual challenge regarding choice of "musical
tuning" system.
Furthermore, in the light of the above-mentioned conclusions of Donald H. McNeil
(What’s
Going on with the Toplogy of Recursion? S.E.E.D. Journal: Semiotics,
Evolution, Energy, and Development, 4, 1, 2004), a more appropriate form
to interrelate such distinctions might indeed be the torus, as explored elsewhere
(Comprehension
of Requisite Variety for Sustainable Psychosocial Dynamics: transforming a
matrix classification onto intertwined tori, 2006).
Also of relevance
in considering such possibilities (in the light of Fuller's work on tensegrity
and that of Chris Lucas on Complex
Living Tensegrities, 2006) is the use of
a toroidal tensegrity of some kind (cf Bob Burkhardt, Ten-stage
Tensegrity Torus, 2003) and the possibility of its display as
a virtual reality structure. A 10-stage stage structure might be able to hold
the complexity capable of reconciling some of the disparities associated
with inappropriate juxtaposition of items in the above table -- as well as
offering understandings of the relationships between stages..
In a world of increasing psychosocial complexity, the emergence of organizations
of knowledge and people of increasing virtualization and self-reflexivity points
to the possible emergence of modes of collective "surfing" of the
cognitive catastrophes of that turbulent environment (cf Interrelating
Cognitive Catastrophes in a Grail-chalice Proto-model: implications of
WH-questions for self-reflexivity and dialogue, 2006).
One intriguing possibility, suggested by the example of the Société Imaginaire (above), is
that the higher orders of self-reflexivity may be (necessarily) more intimately
related in cognitive terms to aesthetics -- if only in the future (Aesthetics
of Governance in the Year 2490, 1990).
The possibilities with respect to music and song, consistent with the rationale
of sacred chant, have been explored elsewhere (A
Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006). Some
wire-and-tube tensegrities, encoding significant content for the design of
collective initiatives, might even serve as wind harps (aeolian
harps) -- suggestive
of yet other levels of significance, and possibly rendering them comprehensible!
Ken Wilber (The
Look of a Feeling: the importance of post-structuralism #28) offers
valuable qualifications to such possibilities:
Technically, a song is an artifact and as such cannot adequately be used
as an example of an organism or compound individual; if we do so, we would
have to say that the organism is a self-song: it is autopoietic. This is
similar to saying that an organism is a system, which is acceptable but slightly
misleading in that it is a system with a dominant monad, which is not what
we usually mean by a system... . There are similar
problems with the metaphor of a song, which does not adequately apply to
an organism or sentient holon, nor to a stream or line in a sentient being,
but rather to an artifact of a sentient holon. Likewise, the interaction
of those artifacts is a song sung by a choir, not a big organism. Gaia, for
example, is not a big compound individual, nor a song sung by an individual,
but a song sung by a chorus or choir of all sentient beings. That choral
song, alas, is being sung off key, it is out of harmony, due to one species
singing off-key loudly... There
is, however, one sense in which interior developmental lines are indeed artifacts,
namely, artifacts of the transcendental Self....
I will
continue to refer to developmental lines or streams as songs, simply because
the analogy is so useful, but only with all of those qualifications.
A splendid justification for eliciting the pattern of songlines
of the noosphere (Cultivating
the Songlines of the Noosphere: from presentations by representatives to embodying
presence in transformation, 1996). Or, combining classical tales, is
adocacy of such virtuality a case of yet newer "clothes
for the Emperor" (Nero)
and "fiddling
while Rome burns"?
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