District 9

I was talking systems with a coworker today, he had just finished watching District 9 and we were talking about it. He said that it was unrealistic to have that many aliens live on a planet for so long and not have an uprising. I then countered this with the 'drift to low performance', my new favorite type of system failure. If aliens came to earth and lost their one resource needed to have their weapons and modes of transportation then after a while more and more would feel hopeless and just start to give up, until they reach the point where practically no one cares anymore and they just go on with living with the available resources. But of course since it is a movie there has to be a few left who are able to be the heroes. :)

Work. School. Homework. Cat. Clean. = My Life.

     Lately I have gotten into the habit of painting my nails, I used to hate doing it as a kid but now I can't get enough of it. It got me to thinking about body image and body image in itself is a system. It seems to have all of the parts to make it one; elements which can be seen as clothing choice (hair style, make-up, etc), rules which the society lends in order to say what is in and what is out, and the purpose which is to fit into society and societies norms. If someone does not work ideally in the system then they are considered an outcast, people will make fun of them and mock them because that is what society tells us to do. If this system was to fail, how would it happen? What is it's breaking point? Why is this system still in place if it ridicules people just by how they dress?

Guns, Germs, and Steel: China

I read my chapter for Guns, Germs, and Steel yesterday during work. I did chapter... 16....? I don't remember right now but it was about how China has always been Chinese. I thought it was very interesting and though I did do my summary on it I feel really motivated to write more, so here it is.

China is one of the largest and fastest growing countries in the world. If my history classes in high school taught me anything, it was that China had many things going for them almost from the beginning. The chapter in Guns, Germs, and Steel talks a little about this but I kept thinking, "if China was so advanced compared to Europe early on why didn't they travel abroad as much as Europe did?". This is one of my questions asked along with my summary but I just can't figure out why they wouldn't travel out. Did they not feel the need to travel like the Europeans did? What would have happened if China conquered the world?

These are all additional questions to what I put in my summary, what do you guys think?

Silo Effect

     While talking to a co-worker about business' and what would happen if the pool (somehow) became a huge business with multiple pools, hot tubs, and an incredibly large fitness center. He then told me about the silo effect and how in the end it could end out very badly. The silo effect refers to a lack of communication and different management groups going towards different goals instead of working together. Thinking about this later, I realized that this is one way a system can fail. If it grows to fast and too big, then there can be different goals within the system. Add in a lack of communication and you have a failed system, or a system close to failure.

Röyksopp - Remind Me

Hello all, while looking for different music videos I stumbled upon this one and could not stop thinking about all the different systems within this woman's life working together. It is a good video (plus I really enjoy the music), hope you all enjoy it also.

What intrigued you the most about this video?

Grounded Cognition

Hey everyone, I found this great video online that really helped me to understand more about grounded cognition. I personally found it a little difficult to follow the reading without going to other resources to help me out. Hopefully this will help you out too!

Video about Grounded Cognition

Failing Systems

     I am (as of yesterday) very sick, because of it I have not be very productive. Due to this 'unproductive-ness' I have been thinking a lot of how systems are connected with each other. My body as a system directly corresponds to my life as  a system. Then there is everything involved with my life (but I won't get into that now), if my system were to fail from lack of resistance (from being sick for example) and another system was not put into place then my cat (whom I care for about a lot) will (after a while of not being fed or cared after) no longer be a system any more either.

(Kolzak)

     Things like that are very interesting to think about sometimes. How when one systems fails, other system can be effect, and how many other systems fail because of it.

Systems All Around Us

     Within this world there are so many systems around us that most people fail to notice. Working at a pool it is easy to see how all the different elements/parts come together to make sure that the pool functions and can work properly. Within this system you need to have the  the cashier who takes the money from the people who choose to use the pool and makes sure those that come in are able to use the pool, life guards to make sure that those that use the pool are safe, a maintenance crew to ensure the pool chemicals are at the ideal percentage and that the pool area is clean to keep it a safe environment. Of course the pool could not stay open unless the public has a need to use the facility.
~System: The pool.
~Parts/Elements: The different jobs needed.
~Interconnections (rules): The people that work there need to work together in order to ensure that everything works correctly. Users of the pool must follow the set pool rules so that the employees can do their job.
~Function: To be open for use.

Quote

I very much enjoyed this quote, "A system generally goes on being itself, changing only slowly if at all, even with complete substitutions of its elements - as long as its interconnections and purposes remain intact".
Page 16, Thinking in System b y D. H. Meadows

Questions

Questions:

-Can a system exist even if the purpose is unknown or very vague?

-What starts a reinforced feedback loop?

-Do systems start by the need of a simple purpose/ function or is there more to it?

-Can a system exist without rules even if there is a set purpose/function and the goal is met?

-Can a system without rules met its goals?