Another five words
from frankie_ecap
Systems
"Systems" is a word that can mean many things; a chunk of information technology, a set of bidding conventions, a means to break the bank at Vegas etc. The most interesting one, I think, is something to do with the mutual relationships between a set of "agents". Given this definition, many things can be considered as "systems"; a forest, a hospital, a production line for example. Given careful analysis of the agents and the relationships between them, system boundaries and the influence of externalities very useful insights into the behaviour of the system can be gained and the likely impact of interventions in the system explored. One of the strengths of this approach is that it is morally and politically neutral. It doesn't presuppose that certain agents are privileged in the change process for example. It merely asks "what if?" It's not easy to do though. One has to be very aware of the decisions one makes in abstracting reality to a model, in setting boundaries and so on. A given level of abstraction, for example, might be perfectly adequate for optimising bed utilisation in a hospital but quite unhelpful for an issue like staff retention.
LJGK
I've never had a relationship with a non human like I have with Jane. It started with a tiny, very sick, very scared kitten and went from there. I doubt you have seen a kitten with as many parasites, internal and external, as Jane had. She was just skin and bone:
She bonded to me very early. Her favourite place was on my shoulder. She'll still do that at, for example, the vet though she's a bit big for my shoulder now. She does like to creep up behind me when I'm at my desk and make mrowing noises in my ear from on top of the printer. If I lean back she'll climb over my shoulder and down my chest into my lap. I think she's mostly a happy cat but she can still be very skittish, will snap at me for no special reason and is very nervous of strangers. I really wonder what happened in those few weeks before she came to us.
Relationships
Algebraic ones I can cope with. Systems, see above, I can cope with. People ones I'm pretty crap at. I think I have an odd way of looking at the world that seems to make people uncomfortable. It's probably a result of me being very introverted. I can function socially but the real conversation is with myself. The only person I feel entirely comfortable with is lemur_catta and that's probably because she is as odd, in a different way, as I am.
Other people
See above. Sartre was right. "L'enfer, c'est les autres".
Learning
I'm always learning. I need to learn. That's probably why I read vastly more non fiction than fiction. Not that one can't learn from fiction but one learns much less in unit time from all but a small number of works. There are always questions that I want to answer. Often they are, on the surface, quite obscure like my current delvings into how the doctrines of the Church of England evolved and why. Others are broader and occupy me on and off for years. The classic that has been a quest since about 1980 is the search for a politics that is both progressive and realistic. I'm still looking and learning.
Systems
"Systems" is a word that can mean many things; a chunk of information technology, a set of bidding conventions, a means to break the bank at Vegas etc. The most interesting one, I think, is something to do with the mutual relationships between a set of "agents". Given this definition, many things can be considered as "systems"; a forest, a hospital, a production line for example. Given careful analysis of the agents and the relationships between them, system boundaries and the influence of externalities very useful insights into the behaviour of the system can be gained and the likely impact of interventions in the system explored. One of the strengths of this approach is that it is morally and politically neutral. It doesn't presuppose that certain agents are privileged in the change process for example. It merely asks "what if?" It's not easy to do though. One has to be very aware of the decisions one makes in abstracting reality to a model, in setting boundaries and so on. A given level of abstraction, for example, might be perfectly adequate for optimising bed utilisation in a hospital but quite unhelpful for an issue like staff retention.
LJGK
I've never had a relationship with a non human like I have with Jane. It started with a tiny, very sick, very scared kitten and went from there. I doubt you have seen a kitten with as many parasites, internal and external, as Jane had. She was just skin and bone:
She bonded to me very early. Her favourite place was on my shoulder. She'll still do that at, for example, the vet though she's a bit big for my shoulder now. She does like to creep up behind me when I'm at my desk and make mrowing noises in my ear from on top of the printer. If I lean back she'll climb over my shoulder and down my chest into my lap. I think she's mostly a happy cat but she can still be very skittish, will snap at me for no special reason and is very nervous of strangers. I really wonder what happened in those few weeks before she came to us.
Relationships
Algebraic ones I can cope with. Systems, see above, I can cope with. People ones I'm pretty crap at. I think I have an odd way of looking at the world that seems to make people uncomfortable. It's probably a result of me being very introverted. I can function socially but the real conversation is with myself. The only person I feel entirely comfortable with is lemur_catta and that's probably because she is as odd, in a different way, as I am.
Other people
See above. Sartre was right. "L'enfer, c'est les autres".
Learning
I'm always learning. I need to learn. That's probably why I read vastly more non fiction than fiction. Not that one can't learn from fiction but one learns much less in unit time from all but a small number of works. There are always questions that I want to answer. Often they are, on the surface, quite obscure like my current delvings into how the doctrines of the Church of England evolved and why. Others are broader and occupy me on and off for years. The classic that has been a quest since about 1980 is the search for a politics that is both progressive and realistic. I'm still looking and learning.