#ISSS2016 Boulder

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Wholeness could be explained from an oriental point of view, but in the end it seems to coincide with modern western systems thinking. It starts from the concentration on the parts in Reductionistic thinking, to the concentration on wholeness in Systems thinking. The second step involved the combination of the observer and decision maker with the teaching of Buddha. Finally last step would be to investigate the structure of the environment.

The application of system theory requires the understanding of ourselves, each other, the nature,  the past and future possibilities in a systemic way. That is, we need to understand both the structure and dynamics of our physical body systems, and of our mental observers. Research shows that the composition of our body and that of our mind may be explained by the same system theory relating energy, matter, life and information. We employed this simple ancient system theory as taught by Buddha to investigate how our naturally systemic-structured mind artificially developed all this non-systemic and problematic thinkings.  We use our body to experience the world around us but our mind is the one who is observing and making the decisions to change the world. System theory sees the world composed of observers,decision makers, systems, the environment, the boundaries and the relationships among them. And there are two opposite forces in the world that constantly interacting with each other, creating the flow of energy, matter and information between systems and the environment. On one hand we have the disorder force governed by the second law of thermodynamics that drive everything into a equilibrium state with maximum entropy. On the other hand we have the organizational force governed by the constrains of a system that drive the system into a particular desired  steady state with a low entropy.
 
Our mind are both the observer and the decision maker with a major problem. Throughout our life we have been looking for satisfaction that brings happiness. Our government have been relying on economics to achieve this but 80% of the time we are dis-satisfied with the people and situations around us, bringing craving, aversion and ignorance into our minds and creating all sorts of problems in our society. This is called suffering in the teaching of Buddha, and he offered us with a three step solution for our mind. In this workshop we investigate the systemic view of these three steps namely self protection, concentration and purification of our mind. We also investigate a 10 days Vipassana mental healthcare program for people of all religions including scientific communities. It is believed such a program could bring happiness, peacefulness and harmony for our community. 

Death is the end of our lives or just the beginning of another new life? A system undergoes a transition of system state upon death, but will the system continue in other forms at other places? Or will it just terminate totally? What are the possible new system states and are they sustainable? In this workshop we will investigate the sustainability of Heaven, Hell, Earth and Nibbana (null). And we investigate the way to prepare ourselves to transit into these states.   

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Ancient, Native, Indigenous and Tribal cultures.

A 2 hour documentary film “Force of Nature” produced by David Suzuki Foundation, CA, will be shown as the main event for the workshop. The filmbuilds on Dr. Suzuki’s personal experiences and contrasts the main stream Western world view with the Indigenous world view for the survival of all life on our planet. An opinion letter to be published in Ancient Science titled “conscious world view Transforming Individuals, Science, its Education and Research by V. Gupta, I. Gupta and J. Saldarriaga, will be distributed to the participants well before the workshop.

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The systemic thinking of the unification of nature and man has been the fundamental concept in traditional Chinese culture since around 500BC. The concept is also embedded in the teaching of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The traditional Chinese system theories under investigation include the Taichi yin-yang system theory, the Five systems theory of the human mind, and the Traditional Chinese Medicine differential diagnosis-cure process. These theories are found to be related to different modern system theories compared including Viable system model.

Taichi yin-yang system theory describes the relationship between any two entities (element/process) at any level of interest. It concerns the quantitative and qualitative changes between the entities. This is related to causal loop diagram (CLD) in system dynamics which uses reinforcing loop and balancing loop. The observer is not specified in the theories, but the perspectives of the observer actually determine the entities, the unit of quantitative changes, and the ratio of qualitative changes.The Five systems theory of the human mind is one of the important concepts developed in the teaching of Buddha. The Five systems are: awareness, perspective, sensation, action and physical object. These five systems are able to describe the properties of the observer and the decision maker.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine differential diagnosis-cure process is a practical systemic process that has been used daily for more than 2000 years. It is believed that the whole macroscopic-microscopic spectrum of systems is suitable. The system state identification involves three pairs of direction-forming spectrums. The Superficial and Internal spectrum gathers information between the boundary and the system. The Cold and Hot spectrum gathers information between the form and function, or matter and energy within the system. The Deficient and Excess spectrum gathers information between the environment and the system. Strategy can then be formulated to regulate and maintain the system.

Keywords:
Reuniting Nature and Humanity, Buddhism, Causal loop diagram CLD, Confucianism, Five systems of human mind, General System Theory, Health and system thinking, quantitative and qualitative changes, Spirituality and Systems, System dynamics, Taichi Yin-Yang System Theory, Taoism, Buddha's teaching, Traditional Chinese Medicine differential diagnosis-cure process, Unification of nature and man, Viable system model VSM. 

Supporting Agencies:
Ancient Balance Medicine Research and Education Fund Foundation Ltd. 

2949  What is it like to be Trans-Gendered? Is it easier to comprehend through the Anticipatory Systems Lens of Robert Rosen's scientific work?In this dual presentation, we will explore these ideas and hopefully arrive at a much clearer understanding of what Gender Dysphoria is like to live with as well as a greater comprehension of what causes it, from a model-based, model-guided Systems Science perspective.Donna Rosen is a trans-gendered woman who has already undergone the process of transition and surgery that is currently the standard of medical care in the United States. She has written a book about her experiences and will share what it's like at the age of 3 to realize you are stuck in a strange situation that other people cannot see but you can't tell anybody about it, either.Judith Rosen will discuss Anticipatory Systems Theory and show how the human mind and body represent an evolutionary development as a dual-Anticipatory System in one living organism. The interaction between mental models and somatic models can often be dysfunctional, particularly when they are each defining the “self” in conflicting ways. Gender Dysphoria is precisely that situation.

2937 System Literacy and Systemic Innovation for Thrivable Future 

2783   This workshop will expand upon the content and ideas provided in the earlier session: Outdoor Adolescent Rites of Passages: Theoretical Foundations, Contemporary Shortcomings, and the Emerging New Model. Participants will be engaged by exploring personal connections to the outdoors and meaningful experiences they have had in the wilderness. A practical and working model of a community-based outdoor youth engagement initiative will then be presented. Participants will be asked to contribute to the development of this model through critical feedback, generative dialogue, and human-centered design. Participants will leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of how outdoor rites of passage can be offered in any community, as well as having contributed to the development of a practical initiative in Colorado.

2949  What is it like to be Trans-Gendered? Is it easier to comprehend through the Anticipatory Systems Lens of Robert Rosen's scientific work?In this dual presentation, we will explore these ideas and hopefully arrive at a much clearer understanding of what Gender Dysphoria is like to live with as well as a greater comprehension of what causes it, from a model-based, model-guided Systems Science perspective.Donna Rosen is a trans-gendered woman who has already undergone the process of transition and surgery that is currently the standard of medical care in the United States. She has written a book about her experiences and will share what it's like at the age of 3 to realize you are stuck in a strange situation that other people cannot see but you can't tell anybody about it, either.Judith Rosen will discuss Anticipatory Systems Theory and show how the human mind and body represent an evolutionary development as a dual-Anticipatory System in one living organism. The interaction between mental models and somatic models can often be dysfunctional, particularly when they are each defining the “self” in conflicting ways. Gender Dysphoria is precisely that situation.

2946  Systems Literacy is a coordinated ongoing effort to create a greater awareness and understanding about “Systems” in society, schools and universities and engineering and to develop a comprehensive set of big ideas, supporting concepts and learning progressions. This Plenary is an invitation to join this initiative throughout the conference and beyond.

The presentation will describe the work completed in the past 12 months since this project began at last year’s ISSS Annual conference in Berlin 2015. The International Society for Systems Sciences is partnered with the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR) to develop Systems Literacy. In 2000 work began at the National Geographic to encourage geographic literacy. This work progressed with the support of U.S. Government agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and many varied not for profit and educational organizations, to embrace projects on ocean literacy, earth science literacy, atmospheric literacy, climate literacy and energy literacy. These subject areas are a good foundation and models for exploring how Systems Literacy can be a path towards realizing sustainable futures.  The specific case of the Ocean Literacy project will be described as a model for Systems Literacy.  It was started in 2004 and has now influenced US Ocean Policy, the development of the recently published Next Generation Science Standards and now European Union sponsored projects on ocean literacy in Europe. A similar aspiration and challenge for Systems Literacy will be described. Connections to other conference plenaries and the themes of this conference will be made. Learning opportunities and ways to contribute will be outlined. A look forward to Plenary X will be made with the intent of building a richer picture of the Systems Literacy project development possibilities and plans by the Friday of the conference. 

2784  The workshop develops a network thinking lens then builds inter-organizational networking capacity with participants using Network Weaving principles and processes (Holley, 2010). Participants interact using Liberating Structures (Lipmanowicz & McCandless, 2014) to build relationships in the session and unleash collective intelligence to form inclusive networks of diverse stakeholders. An exercise makes the group’s structure visible first on butcher paper and then modeled in a free on-line network mapping tool (Kumu). An appreciation of the power of network thinking is developed. Techniques for building action-oriented, intentional, relationship-rich, and supportive networks can be applied to participant’s respective domain practices. Facilitated structures that achieve surprisingly good group engagement are easily adopted upon returning to participant home organizations. And we have fun!
This highly participatory workshop addresses the challenge of sustainability in human collectives working for change together by harnessing their diversity through intentional and systematic relationship building.  It uses information technology to make relationship structure visible (Kumu). It uses a “social technology of discourse” (Liberating Structures) to engage the active intelligence and diversity of every participant to build a social structure (Community of Practice) that can affect change through harnessing and coordinating their common intention.

Participants learn and take away:
1. A network thinking lens• Use a network thinking lens to engage differently in organizations • Use Network Weaving principles to begin to build out intentional networks for action• Holley, J. (2012). Network weaver handbook: A guide to transformational networks. Network Weaver Publishing
2. Use Liberating Structures to enable surprisingly good outcomes for groups• Learn the Liberating Structure called “1-2-4-all” to enhance the generative potential of any meeting• Learn the Liberating Structure “Social Network Webbing” so face-to-face groups visualize their networks• Capture the value diversity brings through full participation; encourage every voice• Lipmanowicz, H., & McCandless, K. (2014). The surprising power of liberating structures: Simple rules to unleash a culture of innovation.
3. Connect with people doing similar work, create Communities of Practice• Use Kumu to capture and model those relationships• Get support from like-minded network builders in the session when we return to our practices• https://kumu.ioParticipants discuss how and why building intentional networks based on strong, supportive relationships result in action. We’ll demonstrate Network Weaving concepts and methods applied to organizational networks. We’ll make networks visible by actually capturing and modeling the network of participants. Using Liberating Structures that hold both the individual and collective in the session enables participants to try them in their practices. Participants leave with new perspectives, increased skills in facilitating conversations, and accessible demonstrations of simple tools that support ongoing organizing.

The session is a micro-iteration of a participatory action research cycle. By observing, thinking, acting, and reflecting, the participants move together through cognitive and behavioral transformation about network thinking. The session uses a series of generative and participatory interactions (Liberating Structures) to engage people to learn and build a Community of Practice (CoP) for thinking from a network perspective and for building effective networks. The community structure is modeled in a tool (Kumu) that will allow participants to easily access each other after the session and use the tool to model their own native relationship and intentional networks.Impact? Effective large-scale collaborative relationship building and network thinking can be part of sustaining structures of intention and agency. Networks can address the challenge of systemic power imbalance; encourage peer relationships, valuing everyone’s unique contribution. Network thinking can empower everyone to step into leadership roles. Networks reach across a diversity of stakeholders drawing them near to each other in adaptive interaction. Promoting network thinking in a group of passionate change practitioners can lead to changes at scale.

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