The decision to become involved with a particular System should be made carefully, on the basis of a balanced judgment of one’s interests. One need not drift (or sail, or barge) into Systems uncritically: CHOOSE YOUR SYSTEMS WITH CARE Remember: DESTINY IS LARGELY A SET OF UNQUESTIONED ASSUMPTIONS

Systems Never Do What We Really Want Them To

WHEN A FAIL-SAFE SYSTEM FAILS, IT FAILS BY FAILING TO FAIL SAFE

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

we present the following Functional Indeterminacy Theorem (F.I.T.): IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS, MALFUNCTION AND EVEN TOTAL NON-FUNCTION MAY NOT BE DETECTABLE FOR LONG PERIODS, IF EVER

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.

Naturally (see Primal Scenario) most of the things we human beings desire are non-systems things. We want a fresh apple picked right off the tree. But this is precisely what a large System can never supply. The System has other goals and other people in mind.

Such cycles may be found everywhere, wherever Systems exist. In Fashion, skirts go up and down, neckties become wider or thinner. In Politics, the mood of the nation swings Left or Right. Sunspots advance or retreat. Economic indicators rise or decline. The pragmatic Systems-student neither exhorts nor deplores, but merely notes the waste of energy

Systems are seductive. They promise to do a hard job faster, better, and more easily than you could do it by yourself. But if you set up a System, you are likely to find your time and effort now being consumed in the care and feeding of the System itself. New Problems are created by its very presence.[a.] Once set up, it won’t Go Away; it Grows and