Systemantics. The Systems Bible

Systems can do many things, but one thing they emphatically cannot do is to solve Problems. A System represents someone’s solution to a Problem. The System itself does notsolveProblems.

A great deal of nonsense is talked these days about positive feedback. When the term is used merely as an inflated way of referring to praise given a person for a job well done, no particular harm results. But positive feedback in electronic systems leads to a loud squeal and loss of function. The entire energy of the System suddenly goes down the

Incredibly enough, the first big breakthrough in recognition of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle did not come until the 1950’s, when a daring—if anonymous—group of biologists toppled Watsonian determinism with one short, pithy aphorism, now known as the Harvard Law of Animal Behavior: Under precisely controlled experimental conditions, a test

We require at this point a definition: ANERGY. ANERGY-STATE. Any state or condition of the Universe, or of any portion of it, that requires the expenditure of human effort or ingenuity to bring it into line with human desires, needs, or pleasures is defined as an ANERGY-STATE. Anergy is measured in units of effort required to bring about the desire

FUNCTIONARY’S FAULT: A complex set of malfunctions induced in a Systems-person by immersion in the System, and primarily attributable to sensory deprivation (that is to say, to lack of alternative, or contrasting, experiences).

“Knowledge is power,” wrote Francis Bacon. But Bacon’s vast knowledge did not keep him from taking bribes and falling into disgrace. Clearly, Bacon’s knowledge did not have the power to save him from himself.[a.] What Bacon overlooked, we now make explicit: Knowledge is useful in the service of an appropriate Model of the Universe[b.] , and not oth

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT COMMUNICATE

Preface to the Third Edition

The next step is even more catastrophic. Since Trillium has clearly stated his Goals and Objectives, it is now possible to deduce with rigorous logic how he should spend his working and waking hours to achieve them. No more pottering around pursuing spontaneous impulses and temporary enthusiasms! No more happy hours in the Departmental greenhouse!

No history of the subject would be complete without some reference to the semi-legendary, almost anonymous Murphy[d.][xiv] (floreat circa 1940?) who chose to disguise his genius by stating a fundamental Systems Theorem in commonplace, almost pedestrian terminology. This Law, known to schoolboys the world over as Jelly-bread always falls jelly side