Quoting Wikipedia, as good as any for this purpose, "Cybernetics is a broad field of study, but the essential goal of cybernetics is to understand and define the functions and processes of systems that have goals, and that participate in circular, causal chains that move from action to sensing to comparison with desired goal, and again to action. Studies in cybernetics provide a means for examining the design and function of any system, including social systems such as business management and organizational learning, including for the purpose of making them more efficient and effective."
In a complex or white-water uncharted world, it is simply crucial that the cybernetic loop actually function. Errors or even sluggishness in observation, perception, correct parsing, admitting error, modifying mental models, and revising action are absolutely required.
These facts need a seat at the table. The "command and control" system needs to become, and very quickly, apolitical and based on cybernetics, not some form of politics that worked in 1900.
Some fraction, at least 5%, of the "bailout" should go into intensive and immediate public discussions of why our command and control system is so out of touch and what to do about it.Behavior theory would argue that changing the few humans at the top will NOT alter the system, all by itself. We need an entire culture pressing, and demanding, for that loop to work, for government to be responsive to facts as well as to lobbies, fear, and greed. Nation rebuilding must start with that on the agenda.
This is a "paradigm shift", moving from lines of causality to loops of causality. It is huge and defies our linear intuition regarding where things break and where to push to fix them. When we see increasingly words like "spiral", "feedback", "in turn" our answer should no longer be "who could have known?"
I wrote a "gentle introduction to feedback" for those who want to pursue this thread.
http://newbricks.blogspot.com...
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