Now we’re getting into the meat of it. This was definitely the chapter I read last time and felt overwhelmed by. There are two major conceptual megazords introduced here. There’s the “System” we looked at in last Friday’s Philosopher’s Toolkit with its three parts (elements, interconnections and functions/purposes), then there’s the grand model of this with the stocks and the inflows and outflows and then there’s a lot about feedback loops and two types of feedback loops (self-reinforcing and runaway).
That’s a lot of conceptual gunpowder to pack into one chapter. There’s a lot of distinctive terminology flying around, and I can only imagine that the rest of the book builds on this.
I’ve been having a couple of thoughts/feelings about the subject matter over the past couple of weeks. Firstly, I feel like I am a systems thinker through and through. From the Nietzschean/Jungian drive system/psychical structure, to Wilber’s wild systems time, to Marx’s very systemic perspective, to Sowell’s Constrained Vision and de Saussure’s Semiotics, wherever I’ve been on the ideological/political map, it has been more or less systemic. It’s clear to me that Wilber is a very close cousin of this school of thought, and the Metamodernists even more so. So the first feeling I’ve been having is a sense of deep familiarity, even while I’m a bit bamboozled by the conceptual framework being flung at me.
Secondly, I’ve found myself using the terminology multiple times this week. Today, I used it talking about finances — how I calibrate my outflows by my inflows rather than my stock (unlike some friends). But it’s proving to be a useful conceptual language. We shall see whether this deepens or fades as the book goes on, but it’s a promising sign.
Unpacking the theory
As far as the aforementioned conceptual megazords go, here’s my tl;dr
A system has three components:
Elements (people, buildings, trees, your stomach, etc.)
Interconnections (the physical and informational flow between these things)
Function/Purpose (the end towards which the system is geared)
Systems change over time. Here’s a way of picturing that1:
Stocks: the reserve of the element at any point in time (the water level of the reservoir, the amount of money in your bank account)
Flows: the amounts of the element flowing. These can be
Inflows: amount of the element flowing in, increasing the stock
Outflows: the amount flowing out, decreasing the stock
Systems are dynamic. They don’t just let the stock rise or fall with the blind whim of the flows. The flows can be manipulated. There are feedback loops:
Balancing feedback loop: this type of feedback loop responds to a change in the system by replenishing the outflow with inflow. I’m hungry, so I eat; I’m tired, so I sleep or I drink coffee.
Reinforcing feedback loop: the second type of feedback loop is a cascade. It’s an amplifying, self-reinforcing virtuous/vicious cycle on a one-way train to healthy growth or runaway destruction. “To those who have, more shall be given”. The stock in your bank account earns you interest, which increases the stock and increases the interest you will get in future (virtuous cycle). The more soil is eroded, the less plants are able to grow, the less roots there are holding the soil together, the more soil is eroded (vicious cycle).
Those are the three conceptual frameworks presented in this chapter. There’s a whole lot of nuance in there about the dynamics of these dynamics, but that should serve as a solid reminder for future reference.
What did you think? Were you bamboozled? Did you love it? Or was it all a bit meh?
Next week: TWO: A Brief Visit to the Systems Zoo (pp.35-74)
To be honest, I’m still not 100% sure on the connection between the stocks/flows concept piece and the three components of the system piece, but this is a workable start
Will follow to see how this flows.