Systems and Beliefs

In this introduction to a thematic issue dealing with free will, some possibilities of free will in different physical, social, and technological worlds, as well as discussions of the possibilities are considered. What are the possibilities and limitations of free will in various other worlds differing from our world? What are the possibilities and limitations of free will in different species, both in our world and in other hypothetical worlds, including future species, naturally evolving, and artificially modified? What are the possibilities and limitations of free will related to the development of AI? How can the diversity of free will levels in an agent be related to possible levels (depth) of its self-knowledge? What can agents differing in levels of self-knowledge know and think about the issue of free will? How do different societies (social worlds) support and inhibit different manifestations of free will in different areas? What is the role of hard neurodeterminism and "mindless neuroscience" in general neuroscience? What are ethical aspects of the questions, including the initial one: "If a neuroscientist denies free will, how can they write a text of voluntary informed consent and propose to sign it?".

In prior work, we proposed elements of a generalized core language for systems thinking that characterizes a systems approach. We developed this foundational language through the relationship between critical thought and systems in the definition of systems thinking. We submitted our interpretation of this language, i.e., the Dimensions of Systems Thinking (DST), to the systems community for further development. Assuming that the DST provides a basis in language to express systems thought in a systems design or analysis, our objective in this phase is to present a strategy for discovering objective statistical evidence of systems thinking based on the linguistic elements of the DST in an unread corpus of documents. With that goal, we consider statistical semantic characterization of systems thought through a process of supervised learning, term frequency and inverse document frequency (tf–idf), cosine similarity, and naive Bayes classifiers, specifically Rocchio classifiers and quadratic discriminant classification. Finding evidence of systems thinking in unread text through natural language processing establishes a foundation for computationally assessing systems thinking quality in a document or corpus of design-related documents without having to read the subject document or corpus. Once demonstrated, the method can be applied to systems thinking fluency in design-focused documents across a range of application areas, such as transportation, healthcare, and environmental policy. This study demonstrates that capability with a high degree of selectivity. Our approach establishes correlation and allows us to assess the systems thinking quality of a corpus of unread analysis and design studies on life cycle assessment. We show that assigning a prior probability improves that assessment. We posit that quantitative relations between the specific dimensions of systems thinking and a document would be useful for recognizing good systems thinking and improving the quality of systems analyses.

The article addresses the problem of determining the criteria of assessing systems thinking development within professional training in the field of Economics, as well as the issue of determining indicators and levels of systems thinking. The author conducted an analysis of dissertations on this topic resulting in identifying two ways of classification prevailing in research over the past one and a half decades - one being based on components of systems thinking and the other – on the process of problem solving using a systems approach. The author illustrates each method with a characterization of various researchers' position, considering its applicability to the experiment in terms of completeness, consistency of definitions and non-overlap of essential parameters. In the second part of the article, the author proposes the following criteria for ascertaining the formation of systemic thinking: motivational, theoretical, integrative and creative. The expected results for each of these criteria are described as four levels: insufficient, minimum, advanced, and high. The conclusion states the advantage of such a structure enabling an individualized assessment, over the previously widespread practice of generalized description of the of systems thinking levels.

As science and engineering projects are becoming increasingly more complex, sophisticated, comprehensive and multidisciplinary, there is a growing need for systems thinking skills to ensure successful project management. Systems thinking plays a major role in the initiation, effective management, and in facilitating inter-organizational tasks. This research assesses the capacity for engineering systems thinking and its contribution in carrying out a multidisciplinary project. The research also reviews the cognitive process through which systems thinking skill is acquired. The study focused on a group of students who have completed their senior design projects in high-tech industry, while their plans were being integrated into existing larger projects in the respective industrial sites. The systems thinking skill of the students was examined according to a questionnaire for assessing the Capacity for Engineering Systems Thinking (CEST). Statistical analysis shows significant differences in the students capacity for systems thinking at the beginning and end of the work (p<0.001). This research demonstrates that systems thinking skills can be improved through awareness and involvement in multidisciplinary projects.

Purpose – This paper explores the implications of systems thinking for the deconstructing of sustainability within the context of ecological worldview. Design/methodology/approach – A systems thinking approach to sustainability is undertaken to explore the ecological worldview. Findings – The ecological framework relates basic concepts and assumptions within the modern to postmodern thought. For the most part, the scientists, decision-makers have only been exposed to mechanistic thinking within the related subjects. The aim of systems thinking framework is to shift the ecological thinking by engaging with sustainability from different perspectives, rather than presenting one version of sustainability. The influence of and tensions between paradigms operative in the sustainability field is discussed. Then problems common to the discourse as a whole are outlined and positive recent developments that indicate a more integrative and systemic approaches are briefly presented. The framework has proven to be useful in developing critical and reflecting and discussion. Originality/value – The paper provides a summary of ecological worldview as applied to systems thinking and describes how this is used in sustainability paradigm. Paper type Research study

IntroductionHealthcare is a highly complex adaptive system, requiring a systems approach to understand its behaviour better. We adapt the Systems Thinking for Everyday Work (STEW) cue cards, initially introduced as...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of an intervention on primary school students’ construction of knowledge on ocean acidification and the development of their systems thinking. Eighty-five 11 to 12-year-old students from five different classes of two public primary schools in Greece participated in the 8-h intervention. The intervention included inquiry-based and knowledge-integration activities, and students worked in groups during all activities. Rich pictures, made by the groups at the beginning and the end of the intervention, were used to evaluate their progress in their knowledge concerning the carbon cycle, as well as in their systems thinking. Our findings showed that the intervention contributed to primary students’ conceptual knowledge of the carbon cycle and the inclusion of ocean acidification in the carbon cycle. It also helped them improve their systems thinking, indicating that students’ systems thinking at this age could be developed through formal instruction with interventions which emphasize content knowledge and use an earth systems approach. Moreover, our findings indicate that the systems thinking perspective can serve as an effective approach to help children better understand and critically engage with complex environmental issues, such as ocean acidification.

Cybersecurity decisions are made across a range of social, technical, economic, regulatory and political domains. There is a gap between what companies and institutions plan to do while developing their internal IS-related policies and what should be done according to a multi-stakeholder system perspective in this area. Our task as researchers is to bridge this gap by offering potential solutions. The aim of our work is to promote the usage of the socio-technical systems (STS) approach to support the emerging role of systems thinking in cybersecurity education, using simulation as a supporting tool for learning. Meanwhile, new trends in cybersecurity curricula suggest an important shift toward new thinking approaches such as adversarial and systems thinking. We explored individuals’ adversarial and systems thinking skills in an open agent-based simulated environment and subsequently assessed the impact based on a participant survey. We discuss these results and point to directions for further investigation. The second contribution of the article is the provision of a tool for developing target users’ skills in making quantitative risk decisions and giving them a deeper understanding of the importance and use of key indices in the cyber risk management process.

Systemic thinking aims to develop a common language that makes it possible for scientists of different disciplines and technologies to communicate with one another. The specific methodology of systemic thinking is a means of tackling complex, interrelated problems by applying a holistic approach that focuses on the interrelation of individual aspects. In this article, an attempt is made to show the impact of systemic thinking in different areas of science and technology. In particular, the authors argue that a multidisciplinary, systemic approach can play an important role in developing a general theory of safety science. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 231–242, 2003.

Optical phenomena visible to everyone abundantly illustrate important ideas in science and mathematics. The phenomena considered include rainbows, sparkling reflections on water, green flashes, earthlight on the moon, glories, daylight, crystals, and the squint moon. The concepts include refraction, wave interference, numerical experiments, asymptotics, Regge poles, polarisation singularities, conical intersections, and visual illusions

Systems thinking

Deriving from a critique of the theory of management that has influenced the practice of project management, this article explores an alternative paradigm in the form of systems thinking. The known multi-disciplinary usefulness of systems thinking is proposed as a means of reconsidering project planning, implementation and control, leading to potential implications for the education of project managers. The appropriate selection of systems approaches for use in the planning and control of complex projects in any development sector, including construction, is considered. Although the specific details of any specific ‘process-based’ systems approaches are not presented, the conceptual rationale for such approaches to project planning and control is presented. This is done within a framework of critical consideration of those factors that are argued to contribute to failure to meet key project outcomes, especially in complex projects. Contemporary literature (extensively referred to in this article) increasingly suggests that there are limits to the established ‘rational-oriented’ approaches to project management. The current body of practice knowledge requires the addition of complementary, ‘process-based’ approaches for a new generation of strategic project managers. Specific recommendations for educational development in this regard are made. This article explores the influence of contemporary organisational theory on project management and hence the need to add critically necessary soft skills capacity to the current body of knowledge.

This article concerns with human-computer-interaction (HCI) from a neuroscientific perspective. The motivation for this perspective is the demographic transition, which shifts population structures of industrial nations. The authors will explain consequences of the demographic transition in terms of HCI and establish a hypothesis for these research activities. To evaluate this hypothesis the authors develop an approach, which combines different disciplines. This approach examines the effects of IT-accessibility on human cognitive processing. Therefore, required methodologies and instruments will be explained, discussed and selected. Possible effects of IT-accessibility on human cognitive processing will be illustrated with an acknowledged cognition model. The result of this article will be a concept, which enables the measurement of IT-accessibility impacts on human cognitive processing.

Healthy Together Victoria (HTV) was a large-scale intervention that adopted a systems approach to prevention. It established the capability of an inexperienced workforce by cultivating their understanding of systems theories, tools and practice. This paper explores how this capacity was developed and what helped and hindered the process. This qualitative research included 31 primary semi-structured interviews that focused on participants' understanding of systems thinking. Deductive thematic analysis was undertaken. A workforce development framework informed the coding that was used to create a causal loop diagram. The findings display the multiple influencers on capacity-building. Practice change was enabled with training-although it lacked coordination and participation was limited. Yet, the systems approach was strengthened with governance arrangements, policies, funding, team support and leadership that empowered practitioners to trial systems methods. Capacity-building was hindered by HTV's unspecified theory that made it harder for novice practitioners to grasp. Funding cuts due to political changes reduced the initiative's duration and prompted resignations, causing the newfound experience to exit the workforce. Capacity-building for systems practice requires a holistic approach of simultaneous, complimentary actions that address the individual and environmental influences of workforce development, especially the drivers of organisational culture that facilitate new practice. SO WHAT?: Effective training methods should specifically teach skills and knowledge that help practitioners to implement systems thinking. The workforce development requirements of other contributors also need to be considered, in addition to the policies, opportunities and resources that embed practice change.

Surrogacy intersects with ethical, social, and legal dilemmas, making it an invaluable case study for bioethics education. This paper posits that surrogacy can serve as an effective teaching tool, engaging students with complex issues that mirror broader societal concerns. By integrating systems thinking methodology into Moral Case Deliberation (MCD), educators can enhance students' understanding of these multifaceted dilemmas. Systems thinking allows for a holistic analysis of the interconnected factors and stakeholders involved in surrogacy, leading to more comprehensive and pragmatic solutions. The phenomenon of cross-border surrogacy, with its intricate layers involving surrogates, medical professionals, legal systems, and socio-economic factors, exemplifies a real-time bioethical issue. This approach encourages students to develop critical thinking, moral evaluation, and socio-cultural awareness. Adopting systems thinking in MCD enables bioethics education to address the complexities of modern reproductive technologies and their ethical implications more effectively.