#PapersInSystems
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ruthmalan.bsky.social
The next #PapersInSystems discussion is Monday Dec 1, 1-2pm Eastern, Josh Reynolds will lead, and the paper is "The Architecture of Complexity" by Herbert Simon.

More info/sign up (free of course): ti.to/bredemeyer/a...
Some quotes to tease the appetite for reading this 1962 paper: "Metaphor and analogy can be helpful, or they can be misleading. All depends on whether the similarities the metaphor captures are significant or superficial." "In such systems, the whole is more than the sum of the parts, not in an ultimate, metaphysical sense, but in the important pragmatic sense that, given the properties of the parts and the laws of their interaction, it is not a trivial matter to infer the properties of the whole. In the face of complexity, an in-principle reductionist may be at the same time a pragmatic holist." "Most physical and biological hierarchies are described in spatial terms. We detect the organelles in a cell in the way we detect the raisins in a cake — they are “visibly” differentiated substructures localized spatially in the larger structure. On the other hand, we propose to identify social hierarchies not by observing who lives close to whom but by observing who interacts with whom. These two points of view can be reconciled by defining hierarchy in terms of intensity of interaction, but observing that in most biological and physical systems relatively intense interaction implies relative spatial propinquity.”
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Next in #PapersInSystems:

“User Driven Innovation: a condensed version of Eric Von Hippel's course,” curated by Bracken Mosbacker

When: Mon Nov 3rd, 1–2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Notes with links to curated video segments: bracken.social/articles/use...

Info/signup: ti.to/bredemeyer/u...
User Driven Innovation
A curated synopsis.
bracken.social
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Next in the #PapersInSystems Discussion Series:

Critically Engaging with Models, by @rebeccawb.bsky.social
and @mathiasverraes.bsky.social

When: October 6th, 2025, 1–2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Paper: wirfs-brock.com/rebecca/blog...

More info/Sign-up: ti.to/bredemeyer/p...
Rebecca’s Web – Critically Engaging With Models
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock On the Web
wirfs-brock.com
September 13, 2025 at 11:16 AM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Next #PapersInSystems discussion:

Monday, Nov 4, 3-4PM Eastern Time

We'll be discussing this lecture by Donald Schon on Dynamic Conservatism (in systems): downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/radio...

Discussion will be led by @hibri.bsky.social

More info/signup: ti.to/bredemeyer/s...
downloads.bbc.co.uk
November 2, 2024 at 6:50 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social

Next up in #PapersInSystems: we’ll be discussing Crafting Conceptual Integrity: ch 2 of Learning Systems Thinking

Discussion will be led by Diana Montalion (the author!) — @mentrix.bsky.social on here.

Monday, February 10, 1-2pm Eastern Time

Free, but enroll for access: ti.to/bredemeyer/m...
Cover of Learning Systems Thinking, by Diana Montalion Sketchnote of key points in the Conceptual Integrity chapter. "Conceptual integrity must exist between people, before it can exist in the system” "hard to define, but we know when it's missing" “Software interacts with an ever-changing world.”
January 24, 2025 at 2:48 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
PapersInSystems discussion **next week** — great one to start the year!!

January 8th, 2023, 1PM - 2PM EST

Paper: “Value Capture," by C. Thi Nguyen, 2023, philarchive.org/rec/NGUVCH

Led by: Aria Stewart and @yvonnezlam.bsky.social

Free; sign up for access: ti.to/bredemeyer/v...
C. Thi Nguyen, Value Capture - PhilArchive
Value capture occurs when an agent’s values are rich and subtle; they enter a social environment that presents simplified — typically quantified — versions of those values; and those simplified ...
philarchive.org
January 2, 2024 at 7:56 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
The paper for Monday's (10 March) #PapersInSystems discussion is on Lisanne Bainbridge's site:

www.complexcognition.co.uk/2021/06/iron...
Ironies of Automation
This paper discusses ways in which automation of industrial processes may expand rather than eliminate problems with the human operator.   ...
www.complexcognition.co.uk
March 9, 2025 at 4:04 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Next in our #PapersInSystems discussion series: “How Complex Systems Fail” by Richard Cook

Discussion will be led by Bruno Felix

When: December 2nd, 2024, 1PM - 2PM Eastern Time (US/Canada).

Paper:
how.complexsystems.fail

Free, but sign up for access: ti.to/bredemeyer/h...
How Complex Systems Fail
how.complexsystems.fail
November 14, 2024 at 6:36 AM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Next up in the #PapersInSystems series:

Lisanne Bainbridge's "Ironies of Automation"

Monday, March 10, 1-2PM Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Discussion will be led by Alex Ptakhin

Free, but sign up: ti.to/bredemeyer/b...
Top of the first page of the Bainbridge paper, Ironies of Automation. Text is too small to read.
March 5, 2025 at 1:13 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Next in #PapersInSystems discussion series: “Quantifying causal emergence shows that macro can beat micro” by Erik Hoel et al
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Discussion will be led by @jessitron.bsky.social

When: October 7th, 2023, 1PM - 2PM Eastern Time (US/Can) PM

Sign up: ti.to/bredemeyer/e...
Quantifying causal emergence shows that macro can beat micro | PNAS
Causal interactions within complex systems can be analyzed at multiple spatial and temporal scales. For example, the brain can be analyzed at the l...
www.pnas.org
September 25, 2024 at 8:31 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Upcoming in the **PapersInSystems** remote discussion series:

July 1, 1-2pm ET: Tiani Jones will lead discussion of “A Classification of Uncertainty for Early Product and System Design,” by Olivier de Weck, et al

More/sign up (free): ti.to/bredemeyer/u...
Model of sources of uncertainty from the paper (at link) — includes endogenous and exogenous, and various contexts (use, market, political, etc.)
June 26, 2024 at 10:09 PM
aptakhin.name
@rebeccawb.bsky.social @mathiasverraes.bsky.social @ruthmalan.bsky.social Thank you for the lovely discussion yesterday! If you can advise, one question followed after the discussion: what could be an approach to choose our own blocks (and understand what's essential for us)? #papersinsystems
October 7, 2025 at 8:28 AM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Next #PapersInSystems Discussion:

February 5, 1-2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Sign up for access: ti.to/bredemeyer/l...

“A Review and Evaluation of Logistics Metrics,” by Chris Caplice and Yossi Sheffi
(pdf) sheffi.mit.edu/sites/sheffi...

Discussion will be led by @ryaneccles.bsky.social
sheffi.mit.edu
February 3, 2024 at 10:55 PM