The Viable System – a German version of the classic scheme

Since I “discovered” the VSM I can not stop thinking about the model and its implications. I will try to transduce the free schematics of Stafford Beer into the German language. It is really a pity (and an opportunity) that these insights are everything but well known in Germany. So I will help to spread this knowledge in my socio-cultural space. The point: Stop whining. Start finding. Open up for relativity. Find closures and put the pieces together, rather than trying to differentiate parts which are inherently connected to each other.

And most importantly: Do not expect to change a system by using the old tools and methods which have not worked out before. You will get the same results – temporal relief, but not an essential NEW (re-)solution of the “problem”. Actually it is about dissolving problems – and not about solving them. But it is likely not to be rewarded for that. It’s “post heroic” management. It’s about the model.

We are slaves to our epistemological imprints. If we are not aware of the long term effects of this historic development – how deeply it is integrated in our value system – then we will not be able to understand the impact of the implementation of the new model.

I think we have a choice: Do we want to be proud of our hierarchical hunter-and-gatherer structures and stay in this mess, or do we use a new way to understand the “physics” of control? Do we want to design a viable system by chance or by using the fundamental mechanics of complexity. Do we want to be intelligent?

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