Internet commentary

Citation

Andrew, A.M. (2003), "Internet commentary", Kybernetes, Vol. 32 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2003.06732cag.001

Internet commentary

Keywords: General systems, Ecology, Economics

Abstract Internet discussions having a bearing on the relevance of systems theory to world order are reviewed, as well as sites offering news coverage and debate and support for worthy causes.

Systems and world order

A particularly interesting debate, among the many that can be followed on the online Cybernetics Discussion Group associated with the American Society for Cybernetics, was on the relevance of systems theory to world order. Archives of the discussions are on the Web site: http://hermes.circ.gwu.edu/archives/cybcom.html, and as has been mentioned in earlier Commentaries, applications to subscribe to the discussion group “listserv” are made by sending a message:

SUB CYBCOM firstname lastname to the E-mail address listserv@hermes.circ.gwu.edu

There are many indications that the state of the world should give cause for concern. Natural resources are being depleted, and populations are increasing, and there is poverty and obvious inequality that breeds resentment and encourages terrorism. Since the situation is complex it is natural to look to systems theory for remedies. It has been claimed by J.L. Elohim that a solution to the world's problems was to be found in von Bertalanffy's works. (The claims were made in contributions to the Cybernetics Discussion Group and particularly in one called: “Something else to think over, but soon” dated 29 December 2001). Elohim has been an active participant in conferences and discussions in the Cybernetics field for many years, including being the local organiser of the WOSC Congress in Mexico City in 1981, and more recently he organised a conference to mark the centenary of von Bertalanffy, who was born on 19th September 1901.

Although, the insights of von Bertalanffy can help in planning better social and economic systems they do not indicate how the improvements can be brought into being and it is rather usual to assume, as Elohim does, that a generally moral and altruistic attitude is associated with the theory, like a mathematical corollary, and will provide the needed stimulus. Unfortunately the assumption does not have the certainty of a corollary, and since the existing system is the product of evolution over many centuries it is automatically resistant to change. Concern about this was expressed by Gary Boyd of Concordia University, Montreal, in a message to the discussion list dated 30 December 2001. He agrees that most systems scientists and philosophers are aware of the grave state of human life and indeed all life on the planet, and are probably broadly in agreement in supporting what he terms a “cosmology or better-world vision which is more or less scientifically coherent”. He goes on to point out, however, that few if any among this community has political power, and successful action depends on some sort of disciplined organisation, and mass media attention. Systems scientists do not have either, and are justifiably suspicious of any organisation that does.

It was claimed by Shann Turnbull (in a reply also dated 30 December) that improvement of the situation depends on a drastic revision of the cultural outlook of the majority of the population. He goes so far as to claim that something as fundamental as the principle of personal ownership needs to be abandoned. He commends an alternative adopted by Australian Aboriginals, who did not have a word in their language to describe exclusive rights over nature or manufactured objects. They did, however, have a word that has no precise equivalent in western languages, denoting a state of stewardship, or of responsibility for land and resources. Turnbull has used the term “ownee” to denote a person undertaking such stewardship.

At first sight, the proposal that such an attitude shift should be widely accepted seems to be an extreme example of something with little hope of realisation. On the contrary, however, it becomes clear, from following links in his communications, that the reference to aboriginal culture is a graphic illustration of a major theoretical treatment that has been defended in numerous publications and particularly in a book by Shann Turnbull first published in 1975 as New Money Sources and Profit Motives, and republished in digital form in 2000 as Democratising the Wealth of Nations. The new digital version can be downloaded at the address: http://cog.kent.edu/lib/TurnbullBook/TurnbullBook.htm. Copies of recent publications are available as free downloads from the address: http://www.mpx.com.au/~strunbull/index.html associated with Macquarie University, Sydney. The currently popular term “stakeholder” appears in several of the titles.

Strategies for reform proposed in the book do not require a break with capitalist principles, and are in fact referred to as “social capitalism”. The treatment has something in common with an earlier one, though devised and developed independently. The earlier treatment is due to the economist Louis Kelso and termed the Kelso Plan or “universal capitalism”, and its principles have been approved and partly implemented by the government of the United States.

In a message to the CYBCOM list on 20th June 2002, Elohim looks forward to a roundtable discussion on “Bertalanffian Thinking” to which he has been invited by Professor Matjaz Mulej and Professor Miroslav Rebernik, but he does not specify time or place. He also commends a Bertalanffy biography with the title: Uncommon Sense: the Life and Thought of Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Father of General Systems Theory by Mark Davidson, with a foreword by R. Buckminster Fuller and introduction by Kenneth R. Boulding (J.P. Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1983). A check on: http://www.amazon.co.uk showed that it is not currently available there, but it is of course held in a reading room of the British Library.

Other contributors to the theme of world problems have placed greater emphasis on the need for altruism as a basis for the needed reforms. Exhortations to be altruistic are part of the teachings of most of the main religions, and it is not surprising that some of the movements aimed at social and economic reform have a religious character. Examples are the “Ecocosm Dynamics” with details on the Web site http://www.ecocosmDynamics.org and “Cosmosofy” on http://www.cosmosofy.org. “Ecocosm Dynamics” was the basis of a plenary address at the Twelfth International WOSC Congress in Pittsburgh.

News, debates and causes

There are many valuable sources of world news on the Internet, including sites associated with press agencies and leading newspapers, and the main stories can be found on the home pages of some Internet Service Providers such as that of Freeserve on http://www.freeserve.net. A service giving wide coverage, including items that do not make the headlines elsewhere, is the “Drudge Report” at: http://www.drudgereport.com. The word “Drudge” suggests a focus on sleaze and scandal that is not entirely inappropriate but arises as the surname of the originator, Matt Drudge.

World events are reviewed from a left-wing point of view in an online journal called The Red Critique, whose details and archives can be found at: http://www.redcritique.org. The third issue was announced on 10th May 2002.

A peace campaign stimulated by the events of September 11 has been conducted by Eli Pariser and details can be found on: http://www.moveon.org. People on the mailing list receive details from time to time of events for which a protest is felt to be appropriate, along with addresses to be used in adding further voices. The first issue of the campaign was an appeal to the United States government to show restraint in their reaction to the attack on the World Trade Center, and a variety of other issues has been raised since. A recent one was the hypocritical position of Britain in publicly deploring the sabre-rattling between India and Pakistan while continuing to sell arms to both.

A campaign that does not have the same obvious urgency, but nevertheless raises important issues, is conducted by Michael Macpherson who feels that developments in information technology allow intimate participation of the public in government, in what he calls e-democracy. Details of his “Citizen's Initiative and Referendum” can be found on: http://www.iniref.org.

Another journal that will certainly provide valuable food for thought is termed Nonprofit Quarterly, available both as a printed magazine and a free online newsletter. The aim is to provide “innovative thinking in the nonprofit sector”. The editor-in-chief is Ruth McCambridge, who is the daughter of Jerry Lettvin, an influential figure in the development of cybernetics, and the lateral thinking of the pioneers in the field shows through. Information about the issue that is current at the time of writing this can be found at: http://www.tsne.org/section/106.html, where the initials stand for: “Third sector New England.”

The issue includes an article by Ruth McCambridge entitled: “A Suggested Alternative to Frightening Ourselves to Death”, which is said to argue that the United States should “become a participant in the world”. At the time of writing this Commentary, the links in the Web site had not been fully implemented and it was not possible to download the McCambridge article in full, but no doubt this will be remedied.

Alex M. Andrew