Hey Wilf,
Personally, the only major problem I've ever had with systems theory is its serious limitations. When the two are combined in a ppt, however, there are some problems . Did you notice that Moynihan stated:
That's an interesting assumption, that the default mode of thought is linear, and I don't believe it is borne out by the data. It may be the situationally appropriate default mode (by training), but it isn't the default for the species, and this has some implications for the use, comprehension and value of systems thinking.Unlike linear thinking, the default mode of the human brain, system dynamics thinks about repercussions and occasionally unintended consequences of actions.
For one thing, systems theory operates in a minimum of 4 dimensions (go back to von Bertalenffy), but powerpoint rarely is able to present more than 3. When we are dealing with interacting human systems, each node (person) is also input and output capable and, just to make things interesting, is totally able to construct almost any picture of their operating environment that they wish. We can probabilistically "predict" patterns, and make interpretations based on those predictions, but they aren't a "vision of the future". Unfortunately, powerpoint presentations have a biasing effect that influences how what is presented is interpreted (from a probabilistic to a predictive).
To my mind, systems theory is OK, as far as it goes, but it has some serious limitations that are exacerbated by powerpoint. Just my $.02
Cheers,
Marc
ps. Wilf, love the FB rant against the overuse of "complexity"!
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