Posted inGeneral Systems Theory Systems Thinkers
Howard T. Odum | Mapping the World with Energy Systems
What if a tree, a thriving stock market, and a simple motor could all be described using the same scientific rules? That was the idea…
Posted inGeneral Systems Theory Systems Thinkers
Sir Geoffrey Vickers | The Thinker Who Mapped Human Judgment
Sir Geoffrey Vickers was a unique figure in the history of systems thinking. Unlike many early systems pioneers who were scientists or mathematicians, Vickers was…
Posted inGeneral Systems Theory Systems Thinkers
Kenneth Boulding | System Thinker Who Mapped Systems
Kenneth Boulding was far more than an economist. He was one of the most broad-minded and diverse thinkers of the 20th century. Boulding was a…
Posted inGeneral Systems Theory Systems Thinkers
Ludwig von Bertalanffy | Founder of General Systems Theory
If you want to understand life, you cannot just look at the smallest pieces. That was the powerful belief of Ludwig von Bertalanffy, an Austrian…
Posted inCybernetics Systems Thinkers
W. Ross Ashby: The Cyberneticist Who Mastered Stability and Complexity
If you want to understand the minimum amount of effort required to control a complex situation, you need to understand the work of W. Ross…
Posted inCybernetics Systems Thinkers
Margaret Mead: The Anthropologist Who Saw Culture as a System
If you want to understand why a society resists new ideas or why tradition can be so hard to change, you need to understand culture…
Posted inCybernetics Systems Thinkers
Warren McCulloch: The Cyberneticist Who Modeled the Brain
What if the complex activity of the human mind could be broken down into simple, logical, mathematical steps? That was the core question that drove…
Posted inCybernetics Systems Thinkers
Norbert Wiener: Father of Cybernetics, Control, and Communication
Imagine a field that uses the same universal rules to explain how a human brain learns, how a steam engine is regulated, and how a…
Posted inCybernetics Systems Thinkers
Gregory Bateson: The Pioneer of Cybernetics and the Double Bind
What do the communication patterns of dolphins, the behavior of a primitive tribe, and the struggles of a family system have in common? They are…