System quotes

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Henry_Brooks_Adams

State Hostility

“The hostility of the state would be assured toward any system or science that might not strengthen its arm.”
  • Source: Henry Brooks Adams, In the Degradation of the Democratic Dogma (1919), 129.

W_Ross_Ashby

System Regulator Model

“Every good regulator of a system must be a model of that system.”
  • Source: Conan & Ashby (1972) Int J Sys Sci.
Keywords: System_quotes Regulation_quotes Model_quotes

F_Terry_Baker

Program Ownership

“A program or program system is a group product and should be produced in a way which allows and encourages maximum knowledge of it by each person involved. Furthermore, the management responsible for its development should be able to determine its status directly and not depend on the programmer's description of his progress on an 'invisible product'.”
  • Source: Baker, F. T. (1975). Software Management Through Improved Programming Technology. ACM ’75: Proceedings of the 1975 Annual Conference, 286–287. https://doi.org/10.1145/800181.810346
Keywords: Programming_quotes Library_quotes Source_Code_quotes Management_quotes Software_Management_quotes Program_quotes System_quotes Group_quotes Product_quotes Produce_quotes Allow_quotes Encourage_quotes Maximum_quotes Knowledge_quotes Person_quotes Involve_quotes Responsible_quotes Development_quotes Ability_quotes Determine_quotes Status_quotes Direct_quotes Depend_quotes Description_quotes Progress_quotes Invisible_quotes

Arthur_Bloch

Sodd's Second Law

“Sooner or later, the worst possible set of circumstances is bound to occur.
Corollary: Any system must be designed to withstand the worst possible set of circumstances.”
  • Source: Attributed to an unidentified person called Sodd, reported in the book "Murphy's Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong" written by Arthur Bloch, first edition publish in 1977 by Price/Stern/Sloan, Los Angeles, California. ISBN-10: 0843104287. ISBN-13: 978-0843104288. Chapter Murphology, page 17.
  • Notes: Who Sodd was has not been reliably identified.
Keywords: Murphy(topic)_quotes Law_quotes Worse_quotes Possible_quotes Circumstance_quotes Occur_quotes System_quotes Design_quotes Withstand_quotes

David_Bohm

Theory Purpose

“we must avoid postulating a new element for each new phenomenon. But an equally serious mistake is to admit into the theory only those elements which can now be observed. For the purpose of a theory is not only to correlate the results of observations that we already know how to make, but also to suggest the need for new kinds of observations and to predict their results. In fact, the better a theory is able to suggest the need for new kinds of observations and to predict their results correctly, the more confidence we have that this theory is likely to be good representation of the actual properties of matter and not simply an empirical system especially chosen in such a way as to correlate a group of already known facts.”
  • Source: David Bohm in the paper “A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of ‘Hidden’ Variables. II”. Published January 1952 in Physical Review volume 35 issue 2.
Keywords: Avoid_quotes Postulate_quotes Element_quotes New_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Mistake_quotes Admit_quotes Theory_quotes Observation_quotes Purpose_quotes Correlation_quotes Result_quotes Already_quotes Make_quotes Suggest_quotes Need_quotes Kind_quotes Prediction_quotes Better_quotes Correct_quotes Confidence_quotes Good_quotes Represent_quotes Actual_quotes Property_quotes Matter_quotes Empirical_quotes System_quotes Choose_quotes Way_quotes Group_quotes Known_quotes Fact_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Limits of Testing

“The limits of software are never more obvious than in its testing. Software systems are beyond discrete and statistical analysis. A single incorrect state - out of two to the trillionth states - can down a rocket: To find such a fault in a software system would require a hundred generations of programmers - but after the first failure is found and fixed, all bets are off; they wouldn't be testing the same system anymore. We can design and build fail-safe systems, but can we know we did?”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 56.
Keywords: Limitation_quotes Software_quotes Obvious_quotes Testing_quotes Discrete_quotes Statistics_quotes Analysis_quotes State_quotes Incorrect_quotes Correctness_quotes Error_quotes Rocket_quotes Fault_quotes System_quotes Programmer_quotes Programming_quotes Failure_quotes Correction_quotes Found_quotes Design_quotes Safe_quotes Knowledge_quotes Limit_quotes Beyond_quotes Trillion_quotes Down_quotes Find_quotes Require_quotes Generation_quotes First_quotes Fix_quotes Bet_quotes Off_quotes Fail_Safe_quotes

Testing Large Systems

“Many programmers do an adequate job of testing the logic of a single module. But testing an entire system is another matter. Once a module is absorbed into the mass of programs, running as part of the real world, the nature of testing changes.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 57.
Keywords: Programmer_quotes Testing_quotes Logic_quotes Module_quotes System_quotes Size_quotes Reality_quotes World_quotes Adequate_quotes Job_quotes Absorb_quotes Mass_quotes Program_quotes Run_quotes Part_quotes Nature_quotes Change_quotes Large_quotes

Scientific Method and Testing

“The scientific method is not part of their curriculum. The men and women who are called upon to test computer systems know little, if anything, about running a simple experiment.”
  • Source:Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 58.
Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Curriculum_quotes Education_quotes Testing_quotes System_quotes Computer_quotes Knowledge_quotes Experiment_quotes Part_quotes Men_quotes Women_quotes Call_quotes Little_quotes Run_quotes Simple_quotes

Failure Probability

“The probability of a failure in a computer system is never zero. There are always failures - if not evident, then latent.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 61.
Keywords: Probability_quotes Failure_quotes Computer_quotes System_quotes Latency_quotes Zero_quotes Evident_quotes

When to Stop Testing

“Two of the great questions in developing computer systems are (1) When do we stop testing? and (2) At any point during testing, how far along are we? The second question cannot be answered until the first one has been answered. The first question can be answered by fiat.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 61.
Keywords: Testing_quotes Question_quotes Development_quotes Computer_quotes System_quotes Stopping_quotes Progress_quotes Metric_quotes Completion_quotes Great_quotes Far_quotes Answer_quotes Fiat_quotes

Failure Discovery Rate

“A critical parameter in the development of any system is the discovery rate of software failures, especially during system testing.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 62.
Keywords: Critical_quotes Parameter_quotes Development_quotes System_quotes Discovery_quotes Rate_quotes Failure_quotes Testing_quotes Software_quotes

Testing Statistics

“...statistics are not enough. The kind of failures, correlated with their frequency, gives a clearer picture of the health of the system.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 63.
Keywords: Statistics_quotes Failure_quotes Correlation_quotes Frequency_quotes Health_quotes Status_quotes System_quotes Clear_quotes Picture_quotes

Mixed Abstractions

“... computer systems and programming attract brainy people because symbol systems mix abstractions. One thing appears to be something else depending on how you look at it.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 129.
Keywords: Computer_quotes System_quotes Brain_quotes Intelligence_quotes People_quotes Abstraction_quotes Perception_quotes Appearance_quotes Programming_quotes Programmer_quotes Symbol_quotes Depend_quotes Look_quotes

Acceptance Testing

“The very existence of an acceptance test ensures that, sooner or later, there will be pressure not to find failures, to reconcile test scenarios and the system they exercise so that the system will 'pass'. Remove this concept and testers would pursue the discovery of failures with a vengeance...”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 157.
Keywords: Acceptance_quotes Testing_quotes Pressure_quotes Bias_quotes Failure_quotes Reconciliation_quotes Scenario_quotes System_quotes Passing_quotes Success_quotes Discovery_quotes Existence_quotes Ensure_quotes Find_quotes Exercise_quotes Remove_quotes Pursue_quotes Vengeance_quotes

Requirements Testing

“Requirements testing is a subtle way of treating a nonlinear, unpredictable system as if it were a discrete symbol like a number or a word. The potential and the actual become muddled. Requirements are natural language statements, peppered in places with arithmetic. These are discrete and usually quite vague representations of the system as it might become. But the truth is that two teams writing requirements for the same system would describe them differently, and neither would get it quite right, simply because 'right' cannot be known until the system is built. ... Requirements testing is a little like trying to reduce crime in England by running a test for each line in the Magna Carta. In practice, rhetoric replaces the scientific method. As with mathematical proofs, the quest for 'true or not false' soon turns into a party - a not very cordial party - marked by endless debate over whether this sentence or that sentence has been verified by this moment of behavior or that.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 157.
Keywords: Requirements_quotes Testing_quotes Nonlinear_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Prediction_quotes System_quotes Symbol_quotes Potential_quotes Actual_quotes Language_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Discrete_quotes Vagueness_quotes Representation_quotes Truth_quotes Team_quotes Writing_quotes Description_quotes Correctness_quotes Accuracy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Magna_Carta_quotes Rhetorical_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Mathematics_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Debate_quotes Verification_quotes Behavior_quotes Subtle_quotes Treat_quotes Number_quotes Word_quotes Muddle_quotes Natural_quotes Pepper_quotes Right_quotes Build_quotes Try_quotes Reduce_quotes Crime_quotes England_quotes Line_quotes Practice_quotes Proof_quotes Quest_quotes Party_quotes Cordial_quotes Sentence_quotes Moment_quotes

Software Transition Problem

“The biggest problem is creating a new version of an old system is the transition.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 167.
Keywords: Problem_quotes Version_quotes System_quotes Transition_quotes Legacy_quotes Migration_quotes Big_quotes Create_quotes New_quotes Old_quotes

System Foresight

“No one can foresee how a system will unfold. No one gets it right the first time.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 154.
Keywords: Foresight_quotes Prediction_quotes Requirements_quotes Correctness_quotes First_Time_quotes System_quotes Unfold_quotes Right_quotes First_quotes Time_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Software Complexity

“Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer. Much of the complexity he must master is arbitrary complexity, forced without rhyme or reason by the many human institutions and systems to which his interfaces must conform. These differ from interface to interface, and from time to time, not because of necessity but only because they were designed by different people, rather than by God.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 184.
Keywords: Complexity_quotes Software_quotes Nature_quotes Deity_quotes Faith_quotes System_quotes Interface_quotes Human_Limitations_quotes Design_quotes Software_Design_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes Repeat_quotes Argue_quotes Simplify_quotes Explanation_quotes God_quotes Capricious_quotes Arbitrary_quotes Force_quotes Rhyme_quotes Reason_quotes Human_quotes Limit_quotes Institution_quotes Conform_quotes Different_quotes Time_quotes Necessary_quotes People_quotes

Great Designers

“A little retrospection shows that although many fine, useful software systems have been designed by committees and built by multipart projects, those software systems that have excited passionate fans are those that are the products of one or a few designing minds, great designers.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 202.
Keywords: Design_quotes People_quotes Software_quotes Quality_quotes Software_Quality_quotes Project_Management_quotes Excellence_quotes Software_Management_quotes Retrospection_quotes Fine_quotes Useful_quotes System_quotes Committee_quotes Build_quotes Multipart_quotes Excited_quotes Passionate_quotes Fan_quotes Product_quotes One_quotes Few_quotes Mind_quotes Great_quotes Designer_quotes Management_quotes

Rudolf_Carnap

System of Statements

"Science is a system of statements based on direct experience, and controlled by experimental verification. Verification in science is not, however, of single statements but of the entire system or a sub-system of such statements."
  • Source: Rudolf Carnap, The Unity of Science (1934), trans. Max Black, 42.
Keywords: Science_quotes Programming_quotes Experience_quotes Experiment_quotes Verification_quotes System_quotes Logic_quotes Statement_quotes Direct_quotes Control_quotes

C_West_Churchman

Assumptions

“When one is considering systems it's always wise to raise questions about the most obvious and simple assumptions.”
  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. ix.
Keywords: System_quotes Question_quotes Obvious_quotes Simplicity_quotes Assumption_quotes Consider_quotes Wise_quotes

Society Complex

“It is sheer nonsense to expect that any human being has yet been able to attain such insight into the problems of society that he can really identify the central problems and determine how they should be solved. The systems in which we live are far too complicated as yet for our intellectual powers and technology to understand.”
  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. x.
Keywords: System_quotes Humanity_quotes Nonsense_quotes Expectation_quotes Understanding_quotes Insight_quotes Problem_quotes Society_quotes Solution_quotes Complexity_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Technology_quotes

Larger System

“We are always obliged to think about the larger system. If we fail to do this, then our thinking becomes fallacious.”

  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. 27.
Keywords: System_quotes Thinking_quotes Size_quotes Large_quotes False_quotes Oblige_quotes Fail_quotes Fallacious_quotes

Eyes of Another

"A systems approach begins when first you see the world through the eyes of another."
  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. 231;
  • cited in Michael C. Jackson (2003) Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers. p. 139
Keywords: System_quotes Sight_quotes Perception_quotes Perspective_quotes World_quotes Eye_quotes Approach_quotes Another_quotes

No Systems Experts

"There are no experts in the systems approach."
  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. 232.
Keywords: System_quotes Expert_quotes Approach_quotes

Not a Bad Idea

"The systems approach is not a bad idea."
  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. 232.
Keywords: System_quotes Idea_quotes Approach_quotes Innovation_quotes Bad_quotes

Melvin_Conway

Conway's Law

"Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations."
Keywords: Organization_quotes System_quotes Design_quotes Communication_quotes Innovation_quotes Law_quotes Constrain_quotes Produce_quotes Copy_quotes Structure_quotes

Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi

True Believer

“The true believer is not really interacting with the belief system; he usually lets his psychic energy be absorbed by it. From this submission nothing new can come; consciousness may attain a welcome order, but it will be an order imposed rather than achieved. At best the self of the true believer resembles a crystal: strong and beautifully symmetrical, but very slow to grow.”
  • Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Elements of Enjoyment”, page 65. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
Keywords: True_quotes Believer_quotes Interact_quotes Belief_quotes System_quotes Usual_quotes Psychic_quotes Energy_quotes Absorb_quotes Submission_quotes Consciousness_quotes Attain_quotes Order_quotes Welcome_quotes Impose_quotes Achieve_quotes Self_quotes Resemble_quotes Crystal_quotes Strong_quotes Beautiful_quotes Symmetric_quotes Slow_quotes Grow_quotes

Faith

“It is also possible to lose oneself in systems of action that demand nothing but faith and allegiance. Fundamentalist religions, mass movements, and extremist political parties also offer opportunities for self-transcendence that millions are eager to accept. They also provide a welcome extension of the boundaries of the self, a feeling that one is involved in something great and powerful.”
  • Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Elements of Enjoyment”, page 65. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
Keywords: Possible_quotes Lose_quotes Self_quotes System_quotes Action_quotes Demand_quotes Faith_quotes Allegiance_quotes Fundamentalist_quotes Religion_quotes Mass_quotes Movement_quotes Extremist_quotes Political_quotes Party_quotes Offer_quotes Transcendence_quotes Million_quotes Eager_quotes Accept_quotes Provide_quotes Welcome_quotes Extension_quotes Boundaries_quotes Feel_quotes Involve_quotes Great_quotes Powerful_quotes

Paul_Davies

Hidden Links

"Finding hidden links between seemingly disparate phenomena is what makes the scientific method so powerful and compelling. The distinctive feature of science is that it is both broad and deep: broad in the way it tackles all physical phenomena and deep in the way it weaves them, economically, into a common explanatory scheme requiring fewer and fewer assumptions. No other system of thought can match its breadth and depth."
  • Source: Paul Davies, Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe is Just Right for Life (2007)
Keywords: Hiding_quotes Link_quotes Relationship_quotes Phenomena_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Power_quotes Feature_quotes Science_quotes Breadth_quotes Depth_quotes Explanation_quotes Scheme_quotes Requirements_quotes Assumption_quotes System_quotes Thinking_quotes Find_quotes Disparate_quotes Method_quotes Compelling_quotes Distinct_quotes Tackle_quotes Physical_quotes Deep_quotes Weave_quotes Economic_quotes

W_Edwards_Deming

Handicapped by the System

"The supposition is prevalent the world over that there would be no problems in production or service if only our production workers would do their jobs in the way that they were taught. Pleasant dreams. The workers are handicapped by the system, and the system belongs to the management."
  • Source: W. Edwards Deming (1982) Out Of The Crisis. The MIT Press. (2e ed. 1986) p. 134.
Keywords: Suppose_quotes Prevalence_quotes World_quotes Problem_quotes Production_quotes Service_quotes Worker_quotes Do_quotes Job_quotes Way_quotes Teaching_quotes Dreaming_quotes Handicap_quotes System_quotes Belong_quotes Management_quotes

Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra

Two Kinds of System Designers

“There are two classes of system designers. The first, if given five problems will solve them one at a time. The second will come back and announce that these aren’t the real problems, and will eventually propose a solution to the single problem which underlies the original five. This is the ‘system type’ who is great during the initial stages of a design project. However, you had better get rid of him after the first six months if you want to get a working system.”
Keywords: Class_quotes System_quotes Design_quotes Problem_quotes Project_quotes Requirements_quotes Solve_quotes Real_quotes Underlie_quotes Initial_quotes Rid_quotes Work_quotes

Peter_Drucker

Systems Management

“Organizationally what is required - and evolving - is systems management.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, New York: Harper & Row, 1973. p. 761.
Keywords: Organization_quotes Requirements_quotes Evolution_quotes System_quotes Management_quotes

Big Government

“No matter how deeply wedded one may be to the free enterprise system (and I, for one, am wedded for life), one has to accept the need for positive government; one has to consider government action on a sizable scale as desirable rather than as a necessary evil.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World”, New York: Harper & Row, 1959. p. 178.
Keywords: Matter_quotes Deep_quotes Wed_quotes Free_quotes Enterprise_quotes System_quotes Life_quotes Acceptance_quotes Need_quotes Positive_quotes Government_quotes Consider_quotes Size_quotes Scale_quotes Desire_quotes Necessary_quotes Evil_quotes Action_quotes

Big University Relics

“Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics. Universities won't survive. It's as large a change as when we first got the printed book. Do you realize that the cost of higher education has risen as fast as the cost of health care? And for the middle-class family, college education for their children is as much of a necessity as is medical care — without it the kids have no future. Such totally uncontrollable expenditures, without any visible improvement in either the content or the quality of education, means that the system is rapidly becoming untenable. Higher education is in deep crisis.”
  • Source: Peter Drucker, “Seeing Things as They Really Are”, Forbes (March 10, 1997)
Keywords:Year_quotes Big_quotes University_quotes Education_quotes Relic_quotes Survival_quotes Large_quotes Change_quotes First_quotes Printing_quotes Book_quotes Cost_quotes High_quotes Rise_quotes Fast_quotes Health_quotes Care_quotes Middle_quotes Class_quotes Family_quotes College_quotes Children_quotes Necessary_quotes Medicine_quotes Future_quotes Total_quotes Control_quotes Expense_quotes Visibility_quotes Improve_quotes Content_quotes Quality_quotes System_quotes Rapid_quotes Become_quotes Untenable_quotes Uncontrollable_quotes Deep_quotes Crisis_quotes Campus_quotes

Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

Science Unpoetical

“Science was false by being unpoetical. It assumed to explain a reptile or a mollusk, and isolated it — which is hunting for life in graveyards. Reptile or mollusk or man or angel only exists in system, in relation.”
  • Source: Ralph Waldo Emerson, In 'Letters and Social Aims: Poetry and Imagination', Prose works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1880), Vol. 3, 199.
Keywords: Poetry_quotes Science_quotes Explanation_quotes Reptile_quotes Life_quotes Search_quotes Hunting_quotes Graveyard_quotes Mollusk_quotes Humanity_quotes Angel_quotes Existence_quotes System_quotes Relationship_quotes

Milton_Friedman

Positive Knowledge

“In both social and natural sciences, the body of positive knowledge grows by the failure of a tentative hypothesis to predict phenomena the hypothesis professes to explain; by the patching up of that hypothesis until someone suggests a new hypothesis that more elegantly or simply embodies the troublesome phenomena, and so on ad infinitum. In both, experiment is sometimes possible, sometimes not (witness meteorology). In both, no experiment is ever completely controlled, and experience often offers evidence that is the equivalent of controlled experiment. In both, there is no way to have a self-contained closed system or to avoid interaction between the observer and the observed. The Gödel theorem in mathematics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics, the self-fulfilling or self-defeating prophecy in the social sciences all exemplify these limitations.”
  • Source: Milton Friedman, Inflation and Unemployment (1976), 348
Keywords: Society_quotes Nature_quotes Science_quotes Knowledge_quotes Failure_quotes Tentative_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Prediction_quotes Phenomena_quotes Explanation_quotes Elegant_quotes Infinity_quotes Experiment_quotes Meteorology_quotes Control_quotes Evidence_quotes Equal_quotes Closed_quotes System_quotes Avoidance_quotes Interaction_quotes Observation_quotes Measurement_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Mathematics_quotes Principle_quotes Physics_quotes Self-Fulfill_quotes Self-Defeat_quotes Prophecy_quotes Limitation_quotes Positive_quotes Grow_quotes Suggest_quotes Troublesome_quotes Gödel(topic)_quotes Heisenberg(topic)_quotes

Robert_M_Graham

Wright Brothers Construction

“We tend to go on for years, with tremendous investments to find that the system, which was not well understood to start with, does not work as anticipated. We build systems like the Wright brothers built airplanes — build the whole thing, push it off the cliff, let it crash, and start over again.”
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes System_quotes Investment_quotes Cost_quotes Understanding_quotes Requirements_quotes Anticipation_quotes Prediction_quotes Airplane_quotes Cliff_quotes Crash_quotes Repeatability_quotes Tend_quotes Year_quotes Work_quotes Build_quotes WrightBrothers_quotes

Stuart_Hameroff

Brain Neurons

“Well I used to think as other people do that the brain is a computer and I think instead, as I have said before, it's more of a multi-scale hierarchical system. More like a musical system in some sense. I'd refer to it as a quantum orchestra. Because I think the computational metaphor doesn't work because, well it works to a point but it treats neurons  as simple on/off switches and that's an insult to neurons... If you go inside neurons there's all this interesting, I hate to use the word complex because I think complexity is often the last refuge of the bewildered. Just say it's complex and that explains everything which I think is wrong. But you have all this structure, these microtubules doing all this interesting quantum stuff and quantum computation reducing by OR [Orchestrated Objective Reduction/Orch OR] is not the kind of computation I was disillusioned with. So, I'd say that one thing is that the brain is a multi-scale hierarchal system more like music than a classical computer.”
  • Source: Stuart Hameroff speaking in the YouTube video entitled “Sir Roger Penrose & Stuart Hameroff: Collapsing a theory of quantum consciousness? Part 2 (248)” on the channel entitled “Dr Brian Keating” streamed live 2022-08-05, retrieved 2024-04-17 from <https://www.youtube.com/live/OoDi856wLPM?si=XJrLm0AVUIl_dECG>.
Keywords: Think_quotes People_quotes Brain_quotes Computer_quotes Multi-Scale_quotes Hierarchical_quotes Music_quotes Quantum_quotes System_quotes Sense_quotes Orchestra_quotes Metaphor_quotes Work_quotes Point_quotes Treat_quotes Neuron_quotes Simple_quotes On-Off_quotes Switch_quotes Insult_quotes Inside_quotes Interest_quotes Hate_quotes Complex_quotes Last_quotes Refuge_quotes Bewilder_quotes Say_quotes Explain_quotes Everything_quotes Wrong_quotes Structure_quotes Microtubule_quotes Stuff_quotes Computation_quotes Reduce_quotes Orch-OR_quotes Kind_quotes Disillusion_quotes Classical_quotes

Yuval_Noah_Harari

Role of AI

“AI is taking up the role of both bureaucrats and mythmakers. AI systems know how to find and process data better than flesh-and-blood bureaucrats, and AI is also acquiring the ability to compose stories better than most humans.”
  • Source: Yuval Noah Harari writing in his book ‘Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI’. Published in 2024 by Random House. Kindle edition. Chapter 3 page 68. ISBN 978-0593734247.
Keywords: Artificial_Intelligence_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Role_quotes Bureaucrat_quotes Mythmaker_quotes System_quotes Knowledge_quotes Find_quotes Process_quotes Data_quotes Better_quotes Flesh_quotes Blood_quotes Acquire_quotes Ability_quotes Compose_quotes Story_quotes Human_quotes

Majority Dictatorship

“Supporters of strongmen often don’t see this process as antidemocratic. They are genuinely baffled when told that electoral victory doesn’t grant them unlimited power. Instead, they see any check on the power of an elected government as undemocratic. However, democracy doesn’t mean majority rule; rather, it means freedom and equality for all. Democracy is a system that guarantees everyone certain liberties, which even the majority cannot take away.”
  • Source: Yuval Noah Harari writing in his book ‘Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI’. Published in 2024 by Random House. Kindle edition. Chapter 5 page 123. ISBN 978-0593734247.
Keywords: Supporter_quotes Strongman_quotes See_quotes Process_quotes Antidemocratic_quotes Baffle_quotes Electoral_quotes Victory_quotes Grant_quotes Unlimited_quotes Power_quotes Check_quotes Government_quotes Undemocratic_quotes Democracy_quotes Dictatorship_quotes Majority_quotes Rule_quotes Freedom_quotes Equality_quotes All_quotes System_quotes Guarantee_quotes Everyone_quotes Liberty_quotes

Joseph_Heller

Mysterious Ways

“‘And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways,’ Yossarian continued, hurtling on over her objection. ‘There’s nothing so mysterious about it. He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about — a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?’”
  • Source: Heller, Joseph. 'Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition'. Chapter 18 'The Soldier Who Saw Everything Twice', page 207. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: God_quotes Work_quotes Mysterious_quotes Play_quotes Forget_quotes Kind_quotes People_quotes Talk_quotes Country_quotes Bumpkin_quotes Clumsy_quotes Bungling_quotes Brainless_quotes Conceited_quotes Uncouth_quotes Hayseed_quotes Reverence_quotes Supreme_quotes Being_quotes Necessary_quotes Phenomena_quotes Phlegm_quotes Tooth_quotes Decay_quotes Divine_quotes System_quotes Creation_quotes World_quotes Warp_quotes Evil_quotes Scatological_quotes Mind_quotes Rob_quotes Old_quotes Power_quotes Control_quotes Bowel_quotes Movement_quotes Pain_quotes

Donald_Hoffman

AI Computation

“If we look at an LLM [Large Language Model] or a future AI [Artificial Intelligence], it's going to be some kind of computational system. And computational systems have their limits. We have Gödel who said that at a minimum. I'm betting that you and I are avatars of an infinite intelligence that's the true source of all creativity and that Einstein or any scientist taps into when they come up with their truly original ideas. The first step would be to say, if it's just a computational bias, then it doesn't transcend. It doesn't get to this true originality. But then there's a deeper level... These are just avatars in a particular headset. So why can't we create a new avatar in our headset that looks like a computer that is actually an avatar of the deep intelligence? If we are only going to stick with the computational thing... But somehow the [human] avatar is a portal into the infinite consciousness... And we know one way of creating new portals into this infinite consciousness, and that is having kids. So that is one technology that allows us to do that. Once we understand spacetime as a headset, and we understand the headset and at least some layers of its relationship to the infinite reality, that's the source of true insight and true originality and creativity, could we figure out new ways to open up genuine new portals, and might that look like AI… The jury is out.”
  • Source: Donald Hoffman, in the YouTube video entitled “Donald Hoffman's New Approach To Consciousness” channel “Dr Brian Keating”. Online at <https://youtu.be/mU_WBela71Y?si=fNfLLsOsUDRDC1XD> posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. In video at 1:14:40.
Keywords: Look_quotes LLM_quotes Large_quotes Language_quotes Model_quotes Future_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Computation_quotes System_quotes Limit_quotes Gödel(topic)_quotes Minimum_quotes Bet_quotes Avatar_quotes Infinite_quotes True_quotes Source_quotes Creativity_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes Scientist_quotes Tap_quotes Original_quotes Idea_quotes Bias_quotes Transcend_quotes Deep_quotes Level_quotes Particular_quotes Headset_quotes Create_quotes New_quotes Computer_quotes Actual_quotes Human_quotes Portal_quotes Consciousness_quotes Kid_quotes Technology_quotes Allow_quotes Understand_quotes Spacetime_quotes Relationship_quotes Reality_quotes Figure_quotes Way_quotes Open_quotes Genuine_quotes Jury_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Simple Systems

“Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems.”
  • Source: Grace Hopper as quoted in "The Wit and Wisdom of Grace Hopper" by Philip Schieber in OCLC Newsletter, No. 167 (March/April 1987).
Keywords: System_quotes Complexity_quotes Simplicity_quotes Life_quotes World_quotes War_quotes

Aldous_Huxley

Protect Our Minds

“We protect our minds by an elaborate system of abstractions, ambiguities, metaphors and similes from the reality we do not wish to know too clearly; we lie to ourselves, in order that we may still have the excuse of ignorance, the alibi of stupidity and incomprehension, possessing which we can continue with a good conscience to commit and tolerate the most monstrous crimes.”
  • Source: Aldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Words and Behavior within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.
Keywords: Protection_quotes Mind_quotes Elaborate_quotes System_quotes Abstraction_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Metaphor_quotes Simile_quotes Reality_quotes Wish_quotes Clear_quotes Lie_quotes Excuse_quotes Ignorance_quotes Alibi_quotes Stupidity_quotes Comprehension_quotes Possess_quotes Continue_quotes Conscience_quotes Commitment_quotes Tolerance_quotes Monster_quotes Crime_quotes

Science without Art

“The peoples of the West no longer share a literature and a system of ancient wisdom. All that they now have in common is science and information. Now, science is knowledge, not wisdom; deals with quantities, not with the qualities of which we are immediately aware. In so far as we are enjoying and suffering beings, its words seem to us mostly irrelevant and beside the point. Moreover, these words are arranged without art; therefore possess no magical power and are incapable of propping or moulding the mind of the reader.”
  • Source: Aldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Words and Behavior within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.
Keywords: People_quotes West_quotes Sharing_quotes Literature_quotes System_quotes Ancient_quotes Wisdom_quotes Common_quotes Science_quotes Information_quotes Knowledge_quotes Deal_quotes Quantity_quotes Quality_quotes Aware_quotes Enjoy_quotes Suffering_quotes Being_quotes Relevance_quotes Point_quotes Word_quotes Arrangement_quotes Art_quotes Possess_quotes Magic_quotes Power_quotes Capability_quotes Prop_quotes Mold_quotes Mind_quotes Reading_quotes

Brooks_Jackson and Kathleen_Hall_Jamieson

Psychology

“Psychology ... tells us that we rarely work through reasons and evidence in a systematic way; weighing information carefully and suspending the impulse to draw conclusions. Instead, much of the time we use mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that save us mental effort. These habits often work reasonably well, but they also can lead us to conclusions we might dismiss if we applied more thought.”
  • Source: Brooks Jackson, As co-author with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, in unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (2007), 70.
Keywords: Psychology_quotes Work_quotes Reason_quotes Evidence_quotes System_quotes Weighing_quotes Information_quotes Careful_quotes Suspend_quotes Impulse_quotes Conclusion_quotes Mind_quotes Thinking_quotes Shortcut_quotes Rule_quotes Thumb_quotes Effort_quotes Habit_quotes Dismiss_quotes

Daniel_Kahneman

Heuristic Reliance

“The reliance on the heuristic caused predictable biases (systematic errors) in their predictions.”
Keywords: Reliance_quotes Heuristic_quotes Prediction_quotes Bias_quotes System_quotes Error_quotes

Immanuel_Kant

Systematic Unity Knowledge

“As systematic unity is what first raises ordinary knowledge to the rank of science, that is, makes a system out of a mere aggregate of knowledge, architectonic is the doctrine of the scientific in our knowledge, and therefore necessarily forms part of the doctrine of method.”
  • Source: Immanuel Kant, In 'The Transcendental Doctrine of Method', Critique of Pure Reason (2016), 653.
Keywords: System_quotes Unity_quotes Knowledge_quotes Science_quotes Aggregation_quotes Architectonic_quotes Doctrine_quotes Methodology_quotes

Systematic Unity Cognition

“Since systematic unity is that which first makes ordinary cognition into science, i.e., makes a system out of a mere aggregate of it, architectonic is the doctrine of that which is scientific in our cognition in general, and therefore necessarily belongs to the doctrine of method.”
  • Source: Immanuel Kant, From page 691, part II chapter 3 in Critique of Pure Reason; written by Immanuel Kant; originally published in 1788; translated by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood; published in English in 1998 by Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0-521-35402-1.
Keywords: System_quotes Unity_quotes Cognition_quotes Science_quotes Aggregation_quotes Architectonic_quotes Doctrine_quotes Methodology_quotes

Hollis_A_Kinslow

System Problems

“There are two classes of system designers. The first, if given five problems will solve them one at a time. The second will come back and announce that these aren’t the real problems, and will eventually propose a solution to the single problem which underlies the original five. This is the ‘system type’ who is great during the initial stages of a design project. However, you had better get rid of him after the first six months if you want to get a working system.”
Keywords: Design_quotes System_quotes Problem_quotes Compliance_quotes Creativity_quotes Optimal_quotes Analysis_Paralysis_quotes Project_quotes Class_quotes Solve_quotes Time_quotes Announce_quotes Real_quotes Propose_quotes Solution_quotes Underlie_quotes Initial_quotes Stage_quotes Rid_quotes Work_quotes

David_Kipping

Rendered Reality

“Reality could be rendered in real-time locally to deceive the inhabitants, rather than attempting to generate the entire system at once. Indeed, quantum systems need not truly be emulated, only our perceived observations of those systems, which may be far easier.”
  • Source: David Kipping from the paper “A Bayesian Approach to the Simulation Argument”, published 2020 in the journal ‘Universe’, volume 6, issue 8. DOI:10.3390/universe6080109. Online at https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/6/8/109 (2025).
Keywords: Simulation_quotes Reality_quotes Render_quotes Real_quotes Time_quotes Local_quotes Deception_quotes Inhabitant_quotes Attempt_quotes Generate_quotes Entire_quotes System_quotes Once_quotes Quantum_quotes Need_quotes Emulate_quotes True_quotes Perception_quotes Observation_quotes Far_quotes Easy_quotes

Kenneth_W_Kolence

Large Systems

“The basic problem is that certain classes of systems are placing demands on us which are beyond our capabilities and our theories and methods of design and production at this time ... It is large systems that are encountering great difficulties. We should not expect the production of such systems to be easy.”
Keywords: Problem_quotes System_quotes Class_quotes Demand_quotes Beyond_quotes Capability_quotes Theory_quotes Methodology_quotes Production_quotes Large_quotes Difficulty_quotes Easy_quotes Design_quotes Encounter_quotes

Software Not Physical

“We clearly do not now have an engineering capability comparable to those based on the physical sciences. Such a capability is what is implied by the term software engineering. But software is not a physical system, it is a description of what one describes how a given physical system (a computer of some sort) should act. Thus software is more akin to engineering drawings, either maintained on paper or within a computer. ... So probably it is incorrect to assume software engineering should be considered as a sibling in the family of the physical science based engineering disciplines.”
Keywords: Engineering_quotes Capability_quotes Compare_quotes Physical_quotes Science_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Software_quotes System_quotes Computer_quotes Activity_quotes Drawing_quotes Paper_quotes Sibling_quotes Family_quotes Discipline_quotes Consider_quotes Maintain_quotes Incorrect_quotes

Large System Evolution

“Large systems must evolve, and cannot be produced all at one time. You must have an initial small core system that works really well.”
Keywords: Large_quotes System_quotes Evolution_quotes Production_quotes Incremental_quotes Concurrent_quotes Time_quotes Small_quotes Core_quotes Quality_quotes Initial_quotes Work_quotes Well_quotes

Alexander_Kossiakoff et al.

Systems Engineering Function

“The function of systems engineering is to guide the engineering of complex systems.”
  • Source: Kossiakoff, Alexander; Sweet, William N.; Seymour, Samuel J.; Biemer, Steven M.. Systems Engineering Principles and Practice. Wiley. 2011. Kindle Edition. Section 1.1. Page 3.
Keywords: Function_quotes System_quotes Engineering_quotes Complexity_quotes Guidance_quotes

Skeptical Positive Thinking

"The Power of Skeptical Positive Thinking... is meant to capture an important characteristic of successful systems engineering. The skeptical part is important to temper the traditional optimism of the design specialist regarding the probability of success of a chosen design approach. It is the driving force for the insistence of validation of the approach selected at the earliest possible opportunity. The other dimension of skepticism, which is directly related to the characteristic of positive thinking, refers to the reaction in the face of failure or apparent failure of a selected technique or design approach. Many design specialists who encounter an unexpected failure are plunged into despair. The systems engineer, on the other hand, cannot afford the luxury of hand wringing."
  • Source:Kossiakoff, Alexander; Sweet, William N.; Seymour, Samuel J.; Biemer, Steven M.. 'Systems Engineering Principles and Practice'. 2011. Wiley. Kindle Edition. Section 1.6 page 23.
Keywords: Power_quotes Skepticism_quotes Positive_quotes Thinking_quotes Importance_quotes Success_quotes System_quotes Engineering_quotes Optimism_quotes Design_quotes Specialization_quotes Probability_quotes Validation_quotes Early_quotes Opportunity_quotes Failure_quotes Despair_quotes Luxury_quotes Characteristic_quotes Drive_quotes Force_quotes Insist_quotes Approach_quotes Select_quotes Dimension_quotes Direct_quotes Relate_quotes Reaction_quotes Face_quotes Apparent_quotes Technique_quotes Encounter_quotes Unexpected_quotes Plunge_quotes Afford_quotes Hand_quotes Wring_quotes

Pierre-Simon_Laplace

System of Nature

“The present state of the system of nature is evidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if we conceive of an intelligence that at a given instant comprehends all the relations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respective position, motions, and general affects of all these entities at any time in the past or future. Physical astronomy, the branch of knowledge that does the greatest honor to the human mind, gives us an idea, albeit imperfect, of what such an intelligence would be. The simplicity of the law by which the celestial bodies move, and the relations of their masses and distances, permit analysis to follow their motions up to a certain point; and in order to determine the state of the system of these great bodies in past or future centuries, it suffices for the mathematician that their position and their velocity be given by observation for any moment in time. Man owes that advantage to the power of the instrument he employs, and to the small number of relations that it embraces in its calculations. But ignorance of the different causes involved in the production of events, as well as their complexity, taken together with the imperfection of analysis, prevents our reaching the same certainty about the vast majority of phenomena. Thus there are things that are uncertain for us, things more or less probable, and we seek to compensate for the impossibility of knowing them by determining their different degrees of likelihood. So it was that we owe to the weakness of the human mind one of the most delicate and ingenious of mathematical theories, the science of chance or probability.”
  • Source: Pierre-Simon Laplace, 'Recherches, 1º, sur l'Intégration des Équations Différentielles aux Différences Finies, et sur leur Usage dans la Théorie des Hasards' (1773, published 1776). In Oeuvres complètes de Laplace, 14 Vols. (1843-1912), Vol. 8, 144-5, trans. Charles Coulston Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science (1997), 26.
Keywords: State_quotes Present_quotes System_quotes Nature_quotes Consequence_quotes Moment_quotes Precede_quotes Conceive_quotes Intelligence_quotes Instant_quotes Comprehension_quotes Relationship_quotes Universe_quotes Position_quotes Motion_quotes Causality_quotes Time_quotes Past_quotes Future_quotes Astronomy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Humanity_quotes Mind_quotes Idea_quotes Imperfect_quotes Law_quotes Celestial_quotes Body_quotes Mass_quotes Distance_quotes Analysis_quotes Determine_quotes Century_quotes Mathematics_quotes Velocity_quotes Observation_quotes Advantage_quotes Power_quotes Instrument_quotes Calculation_quotes Ignorance_quotes Cause_quotes Production_quotes Event_quotes Complexity_quotes Certainty_quotes Majority_quotes Phenomena_quotes Probability_quotes Impossibility_quotes Likelihood_quotes Weakness_quotes Theory_quotes Chance_quotes

George_Henry_Lewes

Systematic Classification of Experience

“Science is the systematic classification of experience.”
  • Source: George Henry Lewes, The Physical Basis of Mind (1877), 4.
Keywords: System_quotes Class_quotes Experience_quotes Science_quotes

Robert_K_Merton

Certified Knowledge

”The institutional goal of science is the extension of certified knowledge. The technical methods employed toward this end provide the relevant definition of knowledge: empirically confirmed and logically consistent predictions. The institutional imperatives (mores) derive from the goal and the methods. The entire structure of technical and moral norms implements the final objective. The technical norm of empirical evidence, adequate, valid and reliable, is a prerequisite for sustained true prediction; the technical norm of logical consistency, a prerequisite for systematic and valid prediction. The mores of science possess a methodologic rationale, but they are binding, not only because they are procedurally efficient, but because they are believed right and good. They are moral as well as technical prescriptions. Four sets of institutional imperatives – universalism, communism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism – comprise the ethos of modern science.”
  • Source: Robert King Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (1957), 552-3.
Keywords: Institution_quotes Goal_quotes Science_quotes Extension_quotes Certified_quotes Knowledge_quotes Technology_quotes Methodology_quotes Employment_quotes End_quotes Relevance_quotes Definition_quotes Empirical_quotes Confirmation_quotes Logic_quotes Consistency_quotes Prediction_quotes Imperative_quotes Derive_quotes Structure_quotes Morality_quotes Norms_quotes Implementation_quotes Final_quotes Objectives_quotes Evidence_quotes Adequate_quotes Validity_quotes Reliability_quotes Prerequisite_quotes Sustain_quotes Truth_quotes System_quotes Rational_quotes Mores_quotes Bind_quotes Procedure_quotes Efficiency_quotes Belief_quotes Right_quotes Good_quotes Prescription_quotes Universalism_quotes Communism_quotes Disinterest_quotes Skeptical_quotes Composition_quotes Ethos_quotes Modern_quotes

Ernest_Nagel

Explanations

“It is the desire for explanations that are at once systematic and controllable by factual evidence that generates science; and it is the organization and classification of knowledge on the basis of explanatory principles that is the distinctive goal of the sciences.”
  • Source: Ernest Nagel, The Structure of Science (1961), 4.
Keywords: Desire_quotes Explanation_quotes System_quotes Control_quotes Fact_quotes Evidence_quotes Generation_quotes Science_quotes Organization_quotes Class_quotes Knowledge_quotes Principle_quotes Distinct_quotes Goal_quotes

David_E_Nye

Postmodernism and Cyberspace

“Postmodernism is the inverted face of a production and consumption system in transition; the hallmark of that transition is the creation of an entirely new realm: cyberspace.”
  • Source: A book. Written by David E. Nye. Entitled 'Narratives and Spaces'. Published in 1997 by Univerity of Exeter Press, Exeter, UK. Hardback ISBN 0-85989-555-6. Paperback ISBN 0-85989-556-4. Chapter 10, page 175.
Keywords: Postmodernism_quotes Invert_quotes Face_quotes Production_quotes Consumption_quotes System_quotes Transition_quotes Hallmark_quotes Creation_quotes Entire_quotes Realm_quotes Cyberspace_quotes

Ipek_Ozkaya

Data as Code

“We need to teach them [software engineers] how to evolve systems to incorporate such [AI] components, and we need to teach them to treat data as code.”
  • Source: Ipek Ozkaya, “Application of Large Language Models to Software Engineering Tasks: Opportunities, Risks, and Implications,” in IEEE Software, volume 40, number 3, pages 4-8, May-June 2023, DOI: 10.1109/MS.2023.3248401.
Keywords: Teach_quotes Software_quotes Engineer_quotes Evolve_quotes System_quotes Incorporate_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Component_quotes Treat_quotes Data_quotes Code_quotes Need_quotes

Richard_Pascale

Efficiency and Variation

“Corporations, in the name of efficiency, suppress variation by 'getting all the ducks in line'. To optimize productivity, they evolve highly refined and internally consistent operating systems. Payoff results - as long as the music lasts. But in the face of nontraditional competitors or major environmental discontinuities, all that streamlining and reengineering limits diversity, suppresses self-organization by those closest to the disruptive change, and curtails a bottom-up emergent response to cope more effectively... Nothing fails like success. Over-adaptive organizations become inflexible. Disruptive change leaves them as helpless as a beached whale.”
  • Source: Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2010). “The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems”, p.190, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press
Keywords: Efficiency_quotes Corporation_quotes Suppress_quotes Variability_quotes Duck_quotes Optimization_quotes Productivity_quotes Evolution_quotes Refine_quotes Consistency_quotes Operating_System_quotes Pay_quotes Result_quotes Music_quotes Tradition_quotes Competition_quotes Major_quotes Environment_quotes Discontinuity_quotes Streamline_quotes Reengineering_quotes Engineering_quotes Limitation_quotes Diversity_quotes Self-Organization_quotes Organization_quotes Disruption_quotes Change_quotes Helpless_quotes Whale_quotes Line_quotes System_quotes Nontraditional_quotes Bottom-up_quotes Emergent_quotes Response_quotes Cope_quotes Effective_quotes Innovation_quotes Failure_quotes Success_quotes Over-adaptive_quotes Inflexible_quotes Beached_quotes

Unintended Consequences Inescapable

“Unintended consequences are an inescapable feature of life. Living systems do not follow a linear path. One can disturb them in a manner that approximates a desired outcome - but never fully direct them.”
  • Source: Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2010). “The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems”, p.191, Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press
Keywords: Intentional_quotes Unintentional_quotes Consequence_quotes Escape_quotes Feature_quotes Life_quotes System_quotes Linear_quotes Path_quotes Disturbing_quotes Manner_quotes Approximation_quotes Desire_quotes Outcome_quotes Result_quotes Inescapable_quotes Follow_quotes Direct_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Simulation Becomes System

“The critical point is that the simulation becomes the system.”
Keywords: Critical_quotes Point_quotes Simulation_quotes System_quotes

Iterative Simulation Design

“1. A software system can best be designed if the testing is interlaced with the designing instead of being used after the design.
2. A simulation which matches the requirements contains the control which organizes the design of the system.
3. Through successive repetitions of this process of interlaced testing and design the model ultimately becomes the software system itself.
I think that it is the key of the approach that has been suggested, that there is no such question as testing things after the fact with simulation models, but that in effect the testing and the replacement of simulations with modules that are deeper and more detailed goes on with the simulation model controlling, as it were, the place and order in which these things are done.”
Keywords: Software_quotes System_quotes Design_quotes Process_quotes Interlace_quotes Testing_quotes Usage_quotes Simulation_quotes Match_quotes Requirements_quotes Control_quotes Organize_quotes Repetition_quotes Iteration_quotes Model_quotes Key_quotes Approach_quotes Suggestion_quotes Question_quotes After_quotes Fact_quotes Effect_quotes Replace_quotes Module_quotes Deep_quotes Detail_quotes Order_quotes Place_quotes Do_quotes Ultimate_quotes

Software Engineering Competence

“It is a fact that there are software engineers around today who are quite competent. There are systems in many places which are quite stable and which provide magnificent service. It is also the case that there are large numbers of efforts, containing large numbers of programs and programmers, which have no software engineers on them, that is that people function as though they did not know how to build software.”
  • Note: Un-indexed continuation of quote: “I have a number of questions: 1. Is it possible to have software engineers in the numbers in which we need them, without formal software engineering education? 2. Is software engineering the same as Computer Science? 3. Is software engineering best provided by baccalaureate programs in universities? Or by adult education courses? Or by two year courses following the standard grade school education? 4. Do the people educated in these programs have a growing and future role in our society? 5. Will they be useful enough in a firm or government or university, and is their value such that they can distribute their talents in other activities, or must they always remain programmers? 6. What curriculum do we have in mind for software engineers, regardless of what level we choose to educate them? 7. Is software engineering really different from what we now call systems engineering?”
Keywords: Fact_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Competence_quotes System_quotes Place_quotes Stable_quotes Provide_quotes Magnificent_quotes Service_quotes Effort_quotes Large_quotesProgram_quotes Programmer_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Build_quotes Software_quotes Development_quotes Engineering_quotes

Useful Software Systems

“We recognize that a practical problem of considerable difficulty and importance has arisen: The successful design, production and maintenance of useful software systems. The importance is obvious and the more so since we see only greater growth in demands and requirements in the future. The consequences of poor performance, poor design, instability and mismatching of promise and performance are not going to be limited to the computing fraternity, or even their nearest neighbors, but will affect considerable sections of our society whose ability to forgive is inversely proportional to their ignorance of the difficulties we face. The source of difficulty is distributed through the whole problem, easy to identify, and yet its cure is hard to pinpoint so that systematic improvement can be gotten.”
Keywords: Usefulness_quotes Practical_quotes Problem_quotes Difficulty_quotes Importance_quotes Arise_quotes Success_quotes Design_quotes Production_quotes Maintain_quotes Software_quotes System_quotes Obvious_quotes Great_quotes Growth_quotes Demand_quotes Requirements_quotes Consequence_quotes Poor_quotes Performance_quotes Instability_quotes Mismatch_quotes Promise_quotes Go_quotes Limitation_quotes Computing_quotes Fraternity_quotes Near_quotes Neighbor_quotes Affect_quotes Considerable_quotes Section_quotes Society_quotes Ability_quotes Forgiveness_quotes Inverse_quotes Proportion_quotes Ignorance_quotes Face_quotes Source_quotes Distributed_quotes Easy_quotes Identify_quotes Cure_quotes Hard_quotes Pinpoint_quotes Improve_quotes

Command Language

“A good system can't have a weak command language.”
Keywords: Good_quotes System_quotes Weakness_quotes Command_quotes Language_quotes

Steven_Pinker

Computational Mind

“The mind is a system of organs of computation, designed by natural selection to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors faced in their foraging way of life, in particular, understanding and outmaneuvering objects, animals, plants, and other people.”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.
Keywords: Mind_quotes System_quotes Computation_quotes Organ_quotes Design_quotes Natural_Selection_quotes Solution_quotes Kind_quotes Problem_quotes Ancestor_quotes Forage_qoutes Way_quotes Life_quotes Understanding_quotes Maneuver_quotes Object_quotes Evolution_quotes Animal_quotes Plant_quotes People_quotes Prehistoric_quotes

Computational Mind Probabilistic

“The computational theory thus embraces an alternative kind of computer with many elements that are active to a degree corresponding to the probability that some statement is true or false, and in which the activity levels change smoothly to register new and roughly accurate probabilities. (As we shall see, that may be the way the brain works.) The key idea is that the answer to the question 'What makes a system smart?' is not the kind of stuff it is made of or the kind of energy flowing through it, but what the parts of the machine stand for and how the patterns of changes inside it are designed to mirror truth-preserving relationships (including probabilistic and fuzzy truths).”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 2 Section: The search for Intelligent Life in the Universe.
Keywords: Computation_quotes Theory_quotes Embrace_quotes Alternative_quotes Kind_quotes Computer_quotes Element_quotes Activity_quotes Degree_quotes Correspondence_quotes Probability_quotes Statement_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Level_quotes Change_quotes Smooth_quotes Register_quotes Rough_quotes Accuracy_quotes Sight_quotes Way_quotes Brain_quotes Work_quotes Key_quotes Idea_quotes Answer_quotes Question_quotes System_quotes Smart_quotes Stuff_quotes Energy_quotes Flow_quotes Part_quotes Machine_quotes Stand_quotes Pattern_quotes Inside_quotes Design_quotes Mirror_quotes Fuzzy_quotes Truth_quotes Preservation_quotes Mind_quotes

Two Modes of Thinking

“People think in two modes. They can form fuzzy stereotypes by uninsightfully soaking up correlations among properties, taking advantage of the fact that things in the world tend to fall into clusters (things that bark also bite and lift their legs at hydrants). But people can also create systems of rules — intuitive theories — that define categories in terms of the rules that apply to them, and that treat all the members of the category equally.”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 2 Section: Connectoplasm.
Keywords: People_quotes Thinking_quotes Mode_quotes Form_quotes Fuzzy_quotes Stereotype_quotes Uninsightful_quotes Soak_quotes Correlation_quotes Property_quotes Advantage_quotes Fact_quotes World_quotes Tendency_quotes Fall_quotes Cluster_quotes Bark_quotes Bite_quotes Leg_quotes Hydrant_quotes Create_quotes System_quotes Rule_quotes Intuition_quotes Definition_quotes Category_quotes Term_quotes Apply_quotes Treat_quotes Member_quotes Equal_quotes

Michael_Polanyi

Scientific Method Elucidation

“Almost every major systematic error which has deluded men for thousands of years relied on practical experience. Horoscopes, incantations, oracles, magic, witchcraft, the cures of witch doctors and of medical practitioners before the advent of modern medicine, were all firmly established through the centuries in the eyes of the public by their supposed practical successes. The scientific method was devised precisely for the purpose of elucidating the nature of things under more carefully controlled conditions and by more rigorous criteria than are present in the situations created by practical problems.”
  • Source: Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge (1958), 183.
Keywords: Major_quotes System_quotes Error_quotes Delusion_quotes Humanity_quotes Year_quotes Practical_quotes Experience_quotes Horoscope_quotes Incantation_quotes Oracle_quotes Magic_quotes Witchcraft_quotes Cure_quotes Witch-Doctor_quotes Medical_quotes Practitioner_quotes Modern_quotes Medicine_quotes Firm_quotes Establish_quotes Century_quotes Eye_quotes Public_quotes Suppose_quotes Success_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Devise_quotes Precision_quotes Purpose_quotes Elucidate_quotes Nature_quotes Careful_quotes Control_quotes Condition_quotes Rigorous_quotes Criteria_quotes Present_quotes Situation_quotes Create_quotes Problem_quotes Thousand_quotes Doctor_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes

Vast Knowledge First and Second Hand

“Nobody knows more than a tiny fragment of science well enough to judge its validity and value at first hand. For the rest he has to rely on views accepted at second hand on the authority of a community of people accredited as scientists. But this accrediting depends in its turn on a complex organization. For each member of the community can judge at first hand only a small number of his fellow members, and yet eventually each is accredited by all. What happens is that each recognizes as scientists a number of others by whom he is recognized as such in return, and these relations form chains which transmit these mutual recognitions at second hand through the whole community. This is how each member becomes directly or indirectly accredited by all. The system extends into the past. Its members recognize the same set of persons as their masters and derive from this allegiance a common tradition, of which each carries on a particular strand.”
  • Source: Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge (1958), 163.
Keywords: Vast_quotes Knowledge_quotes Tiny_quotes Fragment_quotes Accredit_quotes Dependence_quotes Turn_quotes Complexity_quotes Organization_quotes Member_quotes Community_quotes Science_quotes Judgment_quotes Validity_quotes Value_quotes First-Hand_quotes Reliance_quotes View_quotes Acceptance_quotes Second-Hand_quotes Authority_quotes People_quotes Scientist_quotes Number_quotes Small_quotes Fellow_quotes Eventual_quotes Recognition_quotes Return_quotes Relationship_quotes Chain_quotes Transmit_quotes Mutual_quotes Direct_quotes Indirect_quotes System_quotes Extend_quotes Past_quotes Master_quotes Derive_quotes Allegiance_quotes Common_quotes Tradition_quotes Carry_quotes Particular_quotes Strand_quotes

Karl_Popper

Theory Personality

“Understanding a theory has, indeed, much in common with understanding a human personality. We may know or understand a man's system of dispositions pretty well; that is to say, we may be able to predict how he would act in a number of different situations. But since there are infinitely many possible situations, of infinite variety, a full understanding of a man's dispositions does not seem to be possible.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, Objective Knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach (1972), 299.
Keywords: Understanding_quotes Theory_quotes Common_quotes Humanity_quotes Personality_quotes Knowledge_quotes System_quotes Disposition_quotes Prediction_quotes Differences_quotes Situation_quotes Infinity_quotes Possibility_quotes Variety_quotes Full_quotes Possible_quotes

Method of Science

“The method of science depends on our attempts to describe the world with simple theories: theories that are complex may become untestable, even if they happen to be true. Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification — the art of discerning what we may with advantage omit.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, Karl Raimund Popper and William Warren Bartley (ed.), The Open Universe: an Argument for Indeterminism (1991), 44. by Karl Raimund Popper, William Warren Bartley - Science - 1991
Keywords: Methodology_quotes Science_quotes Dependence_quotes Attempt_quotes Description_quotes World_quotes Simplicity_quotes Theory_quotes Complexity_quotes Testing_quotes True_quotes Truth_quotes Art_quotes System_quotes Discern_quotes Advantage_quotes Omit_quotes Untestable_quotes

Science Not Certain

“Science is not a system of certain, or established, statements; nor is it a system which steadily advances towards a state of finality... And our guesses are guided by the unscientific, the metaphysical (though biologically explicable) faith in laws, in regularities which we can uncover — discover. Like Bacon, we might describe our own contemporary science — 'the method of reasoning which men now ordinarily apply to nature' — as consisting of 'anticipations, rash and premature' and as 'prejudices'.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959), 278.
Keywords: Science_quotes System_quotes Certainty_quotes Establish_quotes Statement_quotes Steady_quotes Advance_quotes State_quotes Final_quotes Guess_quotes Guide_quotes Unscientific_quotes Metaphysics_quotes Biology_quotes Explanation_quotes Faith_quotes Law_quotes Regular_quotes Uncover_quotes Discovery_quotes Description_quotes Contemporary_quotes Methodology_quotes Reason_quotes Humanity_quotes Ordinary_quotes Apply_quotes Nature_quotes Consist_quotes Anticipation_quotes Rash_quotes Premature_quotes Prejudice_quotes Bacon(topic)_quotes

Irresponsible Dreams

“The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities — perhaps the only one — in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there. In most other fields of human endeavour there is change, but rarely progress ... And in most fields we do not even know how to evaluate change.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, From Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963), 216. Reproduced in Karl Popper, Truth, Rationality and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1979), 9.
Keywords: History_quotes Science_quotes Humanity_quotes Idea_quotes Irresponsible_quotes Dreaming_quotes Obstinate_quotes Error_quotes Activity_quotes System_quotes Criticism_quotes Often_quotes Time_quotes Correction_quotes Learning_quotes Mistake_quotes Speak_quotes Clear_quotes Sensibility_quotes Progress_quotes Field_quotes Endeavour_quotes Change_quotes Evaluation_quotes

Explain Away

“Whenever the ‘classical’ system of the day is threatened by the results of new experiments which might be interpreted as falsifications according to my point of view, the system will appear unshaken to the conventionalist. He will explain away the inconsistencies which may have arisen; perhaps by blaming our inadequate mastery of the system.”
  • Source: Popper, K. R. (2005). The Logic of Scientific Discovery | 1935 (1935/Epub ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Keywords: Classical_quotes System_quotes Day_quotes Threat_quotes Result_quotes New_quotes Experiment_quotes Interpretation_quotes Falsification_quotes According_quotes Point_of_View_quotes Appearance_quotes Unshaken_quotes Convention_quotes Explanation_quotes Inconsistent_quotes Arise_quotes Blame_quotes Inadequate_quotes Mastery_quotes

Rittel_and_Webber

Planning Problems are Wicked Problems

“A great many barriers keep us from perfecting such a planning/governing system. Theory is inadequate for decent forecasting, our intelligence is insufficient to our tasks, plurality of objectives held by pluralities of politics makes it impossible to pursue unitary aims, and so on. The difficulties attached to rationality are tenacious, and we have so far been unable to get untangled from their web. This is partly because the classical paradigm of science and engineering - the paradigm that has underlain modern professionalism - is not applicable to the problems of open societal systems.”
Keywords: Great_quotes Barrier_quotes Keep_quotes Perfect_quotes Plan_quotes Govern_quotes System_quotes Theory_quotes Inadequate_quotes Decent_quotes Forecast_quotes Intelligence_quotes Insufficient_quotes Task_quotes Pluralistic_quotes Objective_quotes Political_quotes Impossibility_quotes Pursuit_quotes Unitary_quotes Aim_quotes Difficulty_quotes Attach_quotes Rational_quotes Tenacious_quotes Untangle_quotes Web_quotes Classical_quotes Paradigm_quotes Science_quotes Engineering_quotes Modern_quotes Professional_quotes Applicable_quotes Problem_quotes Society_quotes

Bertrand_Russell

Coherence

“It is said that the mark of falsehood is failure to cohere in the body of our beliefs, and that it is the essence of a truth to form part of the completely rounded system which is The Truth.”
  • Source: Bertrand Russell, (1912), In the book entitled “The Problems of Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell. Second edition published in 1998 (originally published in 1912) by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. Chapter 12. ISBN 978-0-19-285423-0. Online at <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5827> retrieved 2022.
Keywords: Mark_quotes Falsehood_quotes Failure_quotes Coherence_quotes Body_quotes Belief_quotes Essence_quotes Truth_quotes Form_quotes Part_quotes Complete_quotes Round_quotes System_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Natural Born Scientist

“Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.”
  • Source: Carl Sagan, Quoted in interview with magazine staff, Psychology Today (Jan 1996).
Keywords: Kid_quotes Children_quotes Nature_quotes Birth_quotes Scientist_quotes Education_quotes Beat_quotes Few_quotes Trickle_quotes System_quotes Wonder_quotes Enthusiasm_quotes Science_quotes Intact_quotes

George_Sarton

Science an Outgrowth of Life

“Abstract as it is, science is but an outgrowth of life. That is what the teacher must continually keep in mind. ... Let him explain ... science is not a dead system — the excretion of a monstrous pedantism — but really one of the most vigorous and exuberant phases of human life.”
  • Source: George (Alfred Léon) Sarton, In 'The Teaching of the History of Science', The Scientific Monthly (Sep 1918), 195-196.
Keywords: Abstraction_quotes Science_quotes Life_quotes Teaching_quotes Mind_quotes Explanation_quotes Dead_quotes System_quotes Excretion_quotes Outgrowth_quotes Monster_quotes Pedantism_quotes Vigor_quotes Exuberant_quotes Humanity_quotes

Scientific Progress

“No history of civilization can be tolerably complete which does not give considerable space to the explanation of scientific progress. If we had any doubts about this, it would suffice to ask ourselves what constitutes the essential difference between our and earlier civilizations. Throughout the course of history, in every period, and in almost every country, we find a small number of saints, of great artists, of men of science. The saints of today are not necessarily more saintly than those of a thousand years ago; our artists are not necessarily greater than those of early Greece; they are more likely to be inferior; and of course, our men of science are not necessarily more intelligent than those of old; yet one thing is certain, their knowledge is at once more extensive and more accurate. The acquisition and systematization of positive knowledge is the only human activity which is truly cumulative and progressive. Our civilization is essentially different from earlier ones, because our knowledge of the world and of ourselves is deeper, more precise, and more certain, because we have gradually learned to disentangle the forces of nature, and because we have contrived, by strict obedience to their laws, to capture them and to divert them to the gratification of our own needs.”
  • Source: George (Alfred Léon) Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (1927), Vol. 1, 3-4.
Keywords: History_quotes Civilization_quotes Tolerance_quotes Completion_quotes Explanation_quotes Science_quotes Progress_quotes Doubt_quotes Sufficient_quotes Constitute_quotes Essential_quotes Differences_quotes Early_quotes Course_quotes Period_quotes Country_quotes Small_quotes Saint_quotes Great_quotes Art_quotes Intelligence_quotes Old_quotes Year_quotes Greece_quotes Inferior_quotes Knowledge_quotes Extension_quotes Accuracy_quotes Acquire_quotes System_quotes Positive_quotes Humanity_quotes Activity_quotes True_quotes Cumulative_quotes World_quotes Depth_quotes Precision_quotes Certainty_quotes Gradual_quotes Learning_quotes Disentangle_quotes Force_quotes Nature_quotes Contrive_quotes Strict_quotes Obedience_quotes Law_quotes Capture_quotes Divergence_quotes Gratify_quotes Need_quotes Progressive_quotes

Gene_Spafford

Only Truly Secure System

“The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards - and even then I have my doubts.”
  • Source: Spafford, Eugene "Gene". Quoted in Computer Recreations: Of Worms, Viruses and Core War by A. K. Dewdney in Scientific American, March 1989, pp 110.
Keywords: True_quotes Security_quotes System_quotes Power_quotes Cast_quotes Block_quotes Concrete_quotes Seal_quotes Lead_quotes Lead-lined_quotes Room_quotes Arm_quotes Guard_quotes Doubt_quotes

Frederick_Winslow_Taylor

Systematic Soldiering

“The greater part of the systematic soldiering, however, is done by the men with the deliberate object of keeping their employers ignorant of how fast work can be done. So universal is soldiering for this purpose, or under any of the ordinary systems of compensating labor, who does not devote a considerable part of his time to studying just how slowly he can work and still convince his employer that he is going at a good pace.”
  • Source: F.W. Taylor (1903) "Shop management; a paper read before the American society of mechanical engineers, " in: Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 24: 1337-1480. p. 1351.
Keywords: Productivity_quotes Soldiering_quotes Ignorance_quotes Employment_quotes Labor_quotes Deception_quotes Worker_quotes Great_quotes Part_quotes Systematic_quotes Men_quotes Deliberate_quotes Keep_quotes Employer_quotes Fast_quotes Work_quotes Done_quotes Universal_quotes Purpose_quotes Ordinary_quotes System_quotes Compensation_quotes Devote_quotes Considerable_quotes Time_quotes Study_quotes Slow_quotes Convince_quotes Go_quotes Pace_quotes Good_quotes

Great Men Needed

“In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first. This in no sense, however, implies that great men are not needed. On the contrary, the first object of any good system must be that of developing first-class men; and under systematic management the best man rises to the top more certainly and more rapidly than ever before.”
  • Source: F.W. Taylor, 1911. Principles of Scientific Management. New York and London, Harper & brothers. p. 7: Introduction.
Keywords: Merit_quotes Worker_quotes Employment_quotes System_quotes First_Class_quotes Scientific_Management_quotes Future_quotes Management_quotes Past_quotes Man_quotes First_quotes Sense_quotes Great_quotes Men_quotes Need_quotes Contrary_quotes Object_quotes Science_quotes Good_quotes Develop_quotes Best_quotes Rise_quotes Top_quotes Certain_quotes Rapid_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Knowledge Came Slowly

“In ages past, the knowledge came very slowly, and one man in his life was not likely to see much change other than that wrought by nature. The controlled incorporation of arsenic into copper to make bronze took several thousand years to develop; the substitution of tin for the more dangerous arsenic took another thousand or two. In our modern age, laboratories turn out an alloy a day, or more, with properties made to order. The alloying of metals led to the rise and fall of civilizations, but the changes were too slow to be appreciated. A truer blade meant victory over the invaders, but changes were local and slow enough to be absorbed by a million tiny adjustments without destroying the species. With an alloy a day, we can no longer be sure. Science and engineering have been the catalysts for the unprecedented speed and magnitude of change. The physicist shows us how to harness the power of the nucleus; the chemist shows us how to increase the quantity of our food; the geneticist shows us how to improve the quality of our children. But science and engineering have been unable to keep pace with the second-order effects produced by their first-order victories. The excess heat from the nuclear generator alters the spawning pattern of fish, and, before adjustments can be made, other species have produced irreversible changes in the ecology of the river and its borders. The pesticide eliminates one insect only to the advantage of others that may be worse, or the herbicide clears the rain forest for farming, but the resulting soil changes make the land less productive than it was before. And of what we are doing to our progeny, we still have only ghastly hints. Some have said the general systems movement was born out of the failures of science, but it would be more accurate to say the general systems approach is needed because science has been such a success. Science and technology have colonized the planet, and nothing in our lives is untouched. In this changing, they have revealed a complexity with which they are not prepared to deal. The general systems movement has taken up the task of helping scientists unravel complexity, technologists to master it, and others to learn to live with it.”
  • Source: Weinberg, Gerald (2011-04-07). An Introduction to General Systems Thinking (Kindle Locations 264-267). Weinberg & Weinberg. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: History_quotes Knowledge_quotes Slow_quotes Humanity_quotes Life_quotes Change_quotes Nature_quotes Arsenic_quotes Copper_quotes Bronze_quotes Technology_quotes Tin_quotes Metal_quotes Laboratory_quotes Property_quotes On_Demand_quotes Rise_quotes Fall_quotes Civilization_quotes Appreciation_quotes Victory_quotes Blade_quotes Invader_quotes Adjustment_quotes Species_quotes Science_quotes Engineering_quotes Catalyst_quotes Speed_quotes Physics_quotes Chemistry_quotes Food_quotes Genetics_quotes Quality_quotes Children_quotes Effect_quotes Heat_quotes Fish_quotes Irreversible_quotes Ecology_quotes River_quotes Pesticide_quotes Insect_quotes Herbicide_quotes Forest_quotes Farming_quotes Soil_quotes Productivity_quotes Progeny_quotes System_quotes Failure_quotes Accuracy_quotes Colonize_quotes Planet_quotes Earth_quotes Complexity_quotes Preparation_quotes Man_quotes Nucleus_quotes Quantity_quotes Second-order_quotes First-order_quotes Nuclear_quotes Generator_quotes Alter_quotes Spawn_quotes Pattern_quotes Border_quotes Eliminate_quotes Advantage_quotes Worse_quotes Rain_quotes Land_quotes Ghastly_quotes Hint_quotes General_quotes Approach_quotes Success_quotes Accurate_quotes Say_quotes Untouch_quotes Reveal_quotes Master_quotes Learn_quotes

Fisher's Fundamental Theorem

“Fisher's Fundamental Theorem states — in terms appropriate to the present context — that the better adapted a system is to a particular environment, the less adaptable it is to new environments. By stretching our imagination a bit, we can see how this might apply to computer programs as well.”
  • Source: Chapter 2. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Fundamental_quotes Theorem_quotes System_quotes Environment_quotes Adaptability_quotes Imagination_quotes Computer_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Better_quotes Particular_quotes Stretch_quotes Bit_quotes Might_quotes Law_quotes Fisher(topic)_quotes

Stephen_Wolfram

Second Law of Thermodynamics

“The second law is essentially a computational statement of the fact that systems that start simple to describe will typically become complicated to describe. It's kind of like encryption. You're saying you start with that simple initial seed and then you run this thing and you get something which for all practical purposes looks random. That's what's happening in these systems. It doesn't have to do with molecules running around. It doesn't have to do with the specifics of temperature and so on. It really is a very basic computational phenomenon that actually is a consequence of computational irreducibility.”
  • Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘Stephen Wolfram | My Discovery Changes Everything’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-01-19. Video offset 22:17. Online at https://youtu.be/c-RO3vM10Ok?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Computation_quotes Second_quotes Law_quotes Essential_quotes Statement_quotes Fact_quotes System_quotes Start_quotes Simplicity_quotes Description_quotes Typical_quotes Complicated_quotes Like_quotes Encryption_quotes Say_quotes Initial_quotes Seed_quotes Run_quotes Practical_quotes Purpose_quotes Look_quotes Random_quotes Happen_quotes Molecule_quotes Specific_quotes Temperature_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Consequence_quotes Irreducibility_quotes Thermodynamics_quotes

Simple Purpose

“Whenever there’s computational irreducibility we can think of it as exerting a powerful force towards unpredictability and randomness... So for a system to achieve an overall “computationally simple purpose” this computational irreducibility must in some sense be tamed, or at least contained. And in fact it’s an inevitable feature of computational irreducibility that within it there must be “pockets of computational reducibility” where simpler behavior occurs. And at some level the way computationally simple purposes must be achieved is by tapping into those pockets of reducibility. When there’s computational irreducibility it means that there’s no simple narrative one can expect to give of how a system behaves, and no overall “mechanism” one can expect to identify for it. But one can think of pockets of computational reducibility as corresponding to at least small-scale “identifiable mechanisms”... When there’s a “simple overall purpose” being achieved these mechanisms tend to become more manifest.”
Keywords: Computation_quotes Irreducibility_quotes Think_quotes Exertion_quotes Powerful_quotes Force_quotes Toward_quotes Unpredictability_quotes Predictability_quotes Randomness_quotes System_quotes Achieve_quotes Simple_quotes Purpose_quotes Tame_quotes Contain_quotes Inevitable_quotes Feature_quotes Pocket_quotes Reducible_quotes Behavior_quotes Occur_quotes Level_quotes Way_quotes Tap_quotes Narrative_quotes Expect_quotes Overall_quotes Mechanism_quotes Identify_quotes Correspond_quotes Least_quotes Small_quotes Scale_quotes Tend_quotes Become_quotes Manifest_quotes

Shoshana_Zuboff

Authority is the Spiritual Dimension of Power

“Authority is the spiritual dimension of power because it depends upon faith in a system of meaning that decrees the necessity of the hierarchical order and so provides for the unity of imperative control. Authority requires collective participation in a system of meaning that extends beyond the immediate context, beyond those who command or obey, and reaches into the domain of transcendent values. Members of a hierarchical order are linked together through allegiance to or faith in a common belief system, and every action that ensures the smooth exercise of imperative control refers back to, and expresses the bonds one has with, some fundamental source of meaning.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 222. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Authority_quotes Spirituality_quotes Power_quotes Faith_quotes Belief_quotes Meaning_quotes System_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Order_quotes Unity_quotes Cooperation_quotes Participation_quotes Allegiance_quotes Tribalism_quotes Transcendent_quotes Values_quotes Bonding_quotes Religion_quotes Dimension_quotes Depend_quotes Necessity_quotes Provide_quotes Imperative_quotes Control_quotes Collective_quotes Immediate_quotes Context_quotes Command_quotes Obey_quotes Reach_quotes Domain_quotes Member_quotes Link_quotes Together_quotes Common_quotes Action_quotes Ensure_quotes Smooth_quotes Exercise_quotes Express_quotes Bond_quotes Fundamental_quotes Source_quotes

Computer Dependency

“As managers use computerization to escape their dependency on workers' unique skills, both managers and workers alike become more dependent upon the computer system.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 269. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Management_quotes Automation_quotes Computerization_quotes Dependency_quotes Worker_quotes Skill_quotes System_quotes Escape_quotes Unique_quotes Computer_quotes

Panopticon Recording

“Information systems that translate, record, and display human behavior can provide the computer age version of universal transparency with a degree of illumination that would have exceeded even Bentham's most outlandish fantasies. Such systems can become information panopticons that, freed from the constraints of space and time, do not depend upon the physical arrangement of buildings or the laborious record keeping of industrial administration. They do not require the mutual presence of objects of observation. They do not even require the presence of an observer. Information systems can automatically and continuously record almost anything their designers want to capture, regardless of the specific intentions brought to the design process or the motives that guide data interpretation and utilization.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 322. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Panopticon_quotes Information_quotes System_quotes Translation_quotes Display_quotes Computer_quotes Surveillance_quotes Universal_quotes Transparency_quotes Illumination_quotes Fantasy_quotes Constraint_quotes Time_quotes Space_quotes Dependency_quotes Physical_quotes Arrangement_quotes Administration_quotes Building_quotes Industrial_quotes Object_quotes Observation_quotes Automation_quotes Record_quotes Design_quotes Capture_quotes Intentional_quotes Process_quotes Motivation_quotes Guidance_quotes Interpretation_quotes Utilization_quotes Human_quotes Behavior_quotes Provide_quotes Age_quotes Version_quotes Free_quotes Laborious_quotes Keep_quotes Require_quotes Presense_quotes Observer_quotes Continuous_quotes Designer_quotes Regardless_quotes Specific_quotes Data_quotes

Automated Evaluation

“The system automatically computed efficiency ratings for each worker by comparing the amount of time it took to complete a job had been priced. Such calculations with the amount of time for which it could have been generated only by a computer system, since 'we could never have enough clerks to compute these kinds of ratios.' The ratings were considered management information and were not accessible to the craftworkers. Many foremen cautioned against taking the ratings at face value. The most experienced craftsperson frequently was loaded with the most difficult assignments. That individual might show the worst efficiency rating simply because his or her assignments were the most complex and required more than the assigned time.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 331. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: System_quotes Automation_quotes Evaluation_quotes Efficiency_quotes Rating_quotes Time_quotes Calculation_quotes Computer_quotes Management_quotes Information_quotes Accessibility_quotes Transparency_quotes Worker_quotes Craft_quotes Supervision_quotes Surveillance_quotes Experience_quotes Difficulty_quotes Assignment_quotes Individuality_quotes Complexity_quotes Requirements_quotes Computation_quotes Compare_quotes Amount_quotes Job_quotes Price_quotes Clerk_quotes Ratio_quotes Craftworker_quotes Foremen_quotes Face_quotes Value_quotes Frequent_quotes Load_quotes Worse_quotes

Pay and Promotion

“As operators' skills improved, so did their dissatisfaction with the pay and promotion system.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 412. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Operator_quotes Skill_quotes Satisfaction_quotes Pay_quotes Promotion_quotes Compensation_quotes System_quotes Improve_quotes Dissatisfaction_quotes

Automation and Labor

“Perhaps the most compelling reality that drives managers to a narrowly conceived emphasis on automation is the web of economic logic in which they must operate. Frequently, new expenditures for technology can be justified only as a capital substitution for labor. It is often assumed that whatever was provided by the human contributor can be transferred to the automatic functioning of the machine system.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 248. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Management_quotes Automation_quotes Labor_quotes Economics_quotes Logic_quotes Technology_quotes Expenditure_quotes Cost_quotes Justification_quotes Capital_quotes Skill_quotes Knowledge_quotes Compelling_quotes Reality_quotes Drive_quotes Narrow_quotes Conceive_quotes Emphasis_quotes Web_quotes Operate_quotes Frequent_quotes Substitution_quotes Human_quotes Contributor_quotes Transfer_quotes Function_quotes Machine_quotes System_quotes

Panopticon Coaching

“To be sure, some managers saw the enhanced certainty of their information about subordinates as an opportunity to accelerate learning and improve performance. They found that the data from the Overview System made it possible to survey a wide range of behavior for evidence of irregularities. To the extent that the sources of such irregularities could be discovered, the data could be used to 'coach' subordinates and to help them realign their behavior within acceptable standards... On the other hand, many of Cedar Bluff's managers were more interested in the possibility of obtaining foolproof data than in the opportunity of using such data for coaching. In the context of a conventional technology, managers had to rely on their subordinates for valid information. The quality of the data they received was likely to be a function of the quality of the reciprocal relationship they had established. In contrast, an informating technology could provide valid information under any conditions.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 324. ISBN:0465032125.
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