The author of this book is Denella meadows. The author has many titles, such as:
1, one of the greatest system thinking masters;
2. The first author of The Limits of Growth;
3. The author of the Fifth Commandment, Peter Shengji's teacher (one of them), if you are unfamiliar with this name, then Mr. nan huaijin must have heard that Master Nan and Peter Shengji are also disciples. As evidence, the * * * of two awesome people in different fields may prove that this person is extraordinary.
The version of this book I chose is Mr. Qiu Shaoliang's translation version, which is also the best translation version in China. Mr. Qiu himself is a long-term practitioner of systematic thinking.
The main content of "The Beauty of System" is to show you.
1. What is a system?
? Try to imagine that a forest, a river and even your country, city, company and community can be regarded as a system.
2. Composition of the system: elements, connections and functions (behaviors).
? Examples show that human society as a system, its elements are people and things; What connects people is information; What connects people and things is communication; The connection between things is agreement and so on; Behavior is the connection and reaction between people and things.
3. Three characteristics of the system: adaptability, self-organization and hierarchy.
? Adaptability can be understood as the ability of the system to maintain its own characteristics and organizational stability, that is, the ability of the system to maintain stability, which seems to be the instinct of the system.
? Self-organization is of course a translation, but I think it is more important to actively choose and evolve in translation. It can be understood as the self-evolution and organizational autonomy of the system, as well as the ability to automatically become more complex and advanced.
The hierarchy is easy to understand. The system is hierarchical, and the hierarchy has priority, importance and assistance, but it is not the pyramid or parallel flat structure we imagined. This hierarchy is much more complicated.
4. Different types of systems
Simple and complex systems. A simple system consisting of a set of feedback loops (regulation and enhancement loops); A simple system composed of multiple groups of feedback loops.
5. Difficulties in identifying the system
1) to determine the system boundary.
2) Understand the complex feedback loop of the system.
3) Time delay and feedback delay of the system.
4) Limited resources and bounded rationality of the system
6. Common system traps and countermeasures
? 1) Policy resistance
? 2) Tragedy of the Commons
? 3) Target erosion
? 4) Competition escalation
? 5) The rich are getting richer.
? 6) Transfer the burden
? 7) circumvention rules
? 8) Target dislocation
? 7. Systematic intervention lever.
? 8, the survival law of the system world
1) keep pace with the system: each system follows the general rules of the system and has its own unique behavior. The key is to recognize and follow the trend of the system.
2) Trust, respect and share information: strengthen contacts and links and open up vertical and parallel channels.
3) Focus on the key points, the 28 rule.
4) Pursuing the overall interests: recognize your own level and role in the system and adapt to the strengthening cycle of the system as much as possible.
5) Recognize and respect the complexity of the system.
6) Stay humble and be a lifelong learner.
7) The delay of the system, especially the delay of time and information, makes you understand the importance of waiting and patience, and can grasp the leverage point.
The above is my simple summary of the book "The Beauty of Systems". I believe that friends who have read the original book have found that I have not completely copied the contents of the book, added my own understanding and elaboration, and made considerable streamlining. If there is anything wrong, please forgive me and welcome criticism and correction. I believe that through the above simple description, you can get a general understanding of the charm of the book "The Beauty of Systems", hoping to stimulate everyone's interest in reading, and also hope that everyone can master systematic thinking and learn to observe and analyze things around them with systematic thinking.
Special instructions:
1, "The Beauty of the System" because I didn't read the original English version, so all my understanding and extension came from the Chinese version of the book, which may be wrong. Please forgive me and welcome to correct me. Learn and discuss with me.
2. System theory is not a new thing. The theory of traditional Chinese medicine and China's thought of harmony between man and nature belong to system theory. The ancient recuperation policy and many ancient agricultural knowledge belong to the category of system theory.
3. Contrary to system theory, reductionism can be understood as oxidation and reduction of chemical reactions.
This book is a collection of works written by the author at 1993. It's almost 30 years now, so some theories may not be perfect now.
The research of system theory is still going on. I recommend two books, The Limit of Growth and Systematic Thinking.
1. Why does the system have delayed feedback? The modern information society has largely eliminated the feedback delay, but it still exists. The existence of matter itself means that delay must exist and will not disappear.
2. Is the system only composed of elements, connections and behaviors (purposes)?
3. Where will all systems eventually go? From my observation and practice, it is silence, entropy increase and return to the beginning. From this point of view, the big bang theory may be right, but it brings another question, that is, what is the initial power of the system?
Leave you a few extra questions:
Everyone is very concerned about the national census in 1 and 20021.Please analyze the problem of population growth and aging in China with systematic thinking, and put forward your intervention policies and leverage points.
2. For a resource-rich province like Xinjiang, please use systematic thinking to analyze the economic trends and leverage points of provinces that rely on natural resources.
* * * Due to the limitation of space, I don't have any additional explanation about all the system traps and countermeasures. I will write a special topic about this part to discuss with you.