Systemantics. The Systems Bible

This marvelous Theorem, grasped in a once-in-a-lifetime flash of intuition by Tom Rohe of Bremerton, Washington[xli], will serve as our introduction to the grim topic of Systems-exploitation: DESIGNERS OF SYSTEMS TEND TO DESIGN WAYS FOR THEMSELVES TO BYPASS THE SYSTEM We pause only briefly to validate it with a well-known example from Government: E

Summary and Recapitulation: Not just ourselves, but our Systems also, are such stuff as dreams are made on. It behooves us to look to the quality of our dreams.

THE FUNCTION (OR PRODUCT) IS DEFINED BY THE SYSTEMS- OPERATIONS THAT OCCUR IN ITS PERFORMANCE OR MANUFACTURE The importance of Korzybski’s contribution to understanding Systems is now apparent. An Apple that has been processed through the supermarket System is not the same as an apple picked right off the tree, and we are in error to use the same w

Having thoroughly digested this introduction, we should have notrouble understanding that: IF A SYSTEM CAN BE EXPLOITED, IT WILL BE Nor will we cavil at its twin: ANY SYSTEM CAN BE EXPLOITED

There is a man in our neighborhood who is building a boat in his back yard. He knows very little of boat-building and still less of sailing or navigation. He works from plans drawn up by himself. Nevertheless, he is demonstrably building a boat and can be called, in some real sense, a boat-builder. Now if you go down to Hampton Roads or any other g

But although people build Systems almost instinctively,[b. ] they do not lightly turn their ingenuity to the study of How Systems Work. That branch of knowledge is not congenial to human beings; it goes against the grain. Goal-oriented Man, the Upright Ape with the spear, is interested in the end-result. If the spear flies wide of the mark, Man is

SPECIALIZED SYSTEMS SELECT FOR SPECIALIZATION —or, in plain English: THE END RESULT OF EXTREME COMPETITION IS BIZARRENESS

“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

This principle has emerged from the observation that temporary buildings erected to house Navy personnel in World War I continued to see yeoman service in World War II as well as in subsequent ventures, and are now a permanent, if fading, feature of Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. The construction of the Pentagon, a few short miles away acr