A Philosophical Look at System Dynamics
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- Опубліковано 28 лип 2024
- Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Spring of 1977. In this lecture, Donella Meadows takes on a more philosophical concept. How can we bring ourselves to be aware of the assumptions we make as systems thinkers? She asserts that models are a set of assumptions. Donella Meadows defines some of these system dynamics assumptions (such as causal relationships and feedback loops) in this video.
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UA-cam videos covered by CCBY license and uploaded with permission from the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College.
It is such a gift to be able to „sit“ in her classroom, decades after Dana Meadows gave this brilliant lecture. Her work, her attitude and her wisdom are such an inspiration. It is a tragedy she isn‘t among us anymore. Fortunately, thanks to these videos and her great book „Thinking in Systems“ we can still interact with her work and her thinking.
Who knew a lecture from 1977 would be the best lecture on this subject I ever watched.
Donella Meadows was one of the greatest thinkers and system designers to ever live. The book she wrote with her husband The Limits to Growth is a revolutionary perspective in the ways we interpret or design systems but also how we can use these techniques to save our planet. RIP ❤️❤️
Man she was brilliant. What a beautiful mind.
Amazing that we can watch this wonderful lecture in 2020 on UA-cam.
👍👍
👍👍
And 2024!
I am so greatful to whomever decided that making this recording was a good idea and to whomever, many years later, digitized and shared it. She's so brilliant, and still so human. I love to see how she's as scared as I am about public speaking, but also too excited about the ideas to let that fear stop her. Am I projecting? Maybe.
I feel it in her presentation you are not projecting. Her level breathing stops and picks up as she goes as if at some point she is holding her breath. Like we do when we are scared.
You just read my mind too.
I think her comfort with the content stabilizes her minor public speaking discomforts we are critiquing. Her example is a powerful one for us to acknowledge. Knowledge and familiarity with the content helps manage the discomforts we all have about public speaking. Key in appearing human is knowledge & familiarity of the content & one’s self.
Coach Kip, you are projecting spot on. Knowledge of the material covers up all our jitters.
Well said, Paul
"The problem is not where to start, but when to stop." Dana is good!
This is pure Intelligence at work, simply marvelous. She breakdown complex systems in easily understandable matter. Too bad we lost her too early.
Master class of system thinking 🙌. Clear, dynamic and stimulating. Thanks for sharing 🤗
PD: I highly recommend her book Thinking in Systems 💯
These are the kind of lectures that we need to start with to understand a complicated subject like system dynamics. Shows a person with passion and deep love for what she does. it really seems to come natural to her. one of the best useful hours i have spent!!
Well said! You said it all for me.
She is so elegant and graceful! I like the way she drew the loops on the board.
19:45 funny hearing that example since “induced demand” is probably a great example of system dynamics. “One more lane ought to fix it” says the laymen, politicians, and traffic engineers, but it creates more people to drive at peak times, more people to decide to take a trip in the first place, to live further away from where they work, shop, and recreate, and much more. In a few years the road is full again except the total vehicle miles traveled is higher.
Thankful for videos of Donella. I got to live on the Meadow's farm in New Hampshire the end of the 70s. I'll never forget how wonderful she was.
43 years old lecture. Amazing, thanks to the wonders of technology!
i feel so sorry for her in the age of no internet ... but her lecture is so good that it taugh me the most about systems dynamics ... it was slower and gave me time to reflect. I use this to introduce my consultants on the topic.
Brilliant. Great voice to listen to.
Agree 100%
A rare combination of beauty, humility, elegance and acute wit. I can listen to this person ceaselessly.
Samad Lamdarass Yo, totally agree. I was thinking "I hope I can marry someone like this!"
A historical combination. You don't find that these days...
This gets me so excited! I never cared to much for public school teachings and never pursued college because I thought it was the same. Now I would give anything to be able to get a system dynamics degree in person. I know there online courses but I also know myself so that means I know I learn best in person.
You were too early to the arena, we needed you now, in 2020
I am impressed of her casual way in which she almost playful explains all these ideas. Makes me interested in reading more..
totally agree... and i really enjoyed her book. here's a link: wtf.tw/ref/meadows.pdf
triple agree & thanks for sharing this@@asffapoisj
Fletcher Forehand legend where Can i find more book about this topic? There are other authors like John W. Forrester, and John Sterman.
Anyone located the “readings from last week” she mentions? I.e “Lasmo”
@@patrickwilkie5576 just discovered this lecture but the reading is likely selections from Ervin Laszlo's The System View of the World, if I could guess
Just wonderful! Even with the recent changes in the field of computer modeling and System Dynamics, she did cover fundamentals perfectly yet so easy to understand. Must be super cool to talk about such emerging topics in the 70's.
Thank you for this post. Its one for the ages.
I ditto! I love this presentation.
Out of system dynamics came scenario planning. Shell oil used this tool in the 1980's to find oil.'They became really good at it. Scenario planning has now worked its way into many industries....I use this tool in harmony with critical reasoning every day...
"There's another loop from population" laugter. Love it.
This is amazing, thank you so much for sharing this !
I love her way!
Donella was a genius.
thanks to the tec we have today...otherwise hats off to that lady for doing hours of work for just one lecture...lovely teacher
She’s just great! Prof. Meadows shows our present education system simply doesn’t produce people with this level of acuity, intelligence, and cognitive clarity anymore… you think we aren’t getting dumber- we are. Look what we used to be like (watch any tertiary level lecture from the 1950-1980s and you’ll see the same thing: far smarter people talking far more competently) ❤
This is simply amazing
I have read the main book from Dana. This video is very useful to me.
Fantastic! She is confident and knowledgeable enough to write on the blackboard and it is easier for me to follow. So different today when we sit, blinded by technology.
Coming from engineering background it was quite refreshing to see sys. dynamics theory being applied to a Non-technical scenarios.
Beyond engineering complications is systems thinking complexity. While engineering keeps getting more complicated, systems thinking enables one to go beyond the complexity ending in simplicity - clarity of the whole.
Non technical sciences and the humanities take whatever we can, thank you very much!
@@JT-xg1nq It's never that easy. There are systems that you do not see, so no easy closure for you.
@@JT-xg1nq Well said.
Watching this feels like touching youtube's heart ❤
thank you for clear explanation
Thank you! Such a great privilege to be able to experience Donella's mind in action. :)
Such elegance & flow insight throughout
I have no idea what is system dynamics is...
browsing youtube videos to help me understand it...
then found this video...
omg, I finished one lecture! and surely want to hear more about it
donella meadows was one of the authors of The Limits of Growth. her primer on systems thinking is a great beginning. this video though stunned me about how it would have been great to have attended a class by her!!!!!
Always enjoy hearing about the systems approach, especially from such an amazing scientist.
Quite informative.
SD is debunked linear relationship model used for so many years in sciences and still dominates our policy design and frame. I love this video and i really would love to learn how to use it for modeling.
"The key concept in system dynamics is that a system's behavior arises from the interactions of its components over time, rather than simple linear cause-and-effect relationships."
It's not linear???
Great scientist and system analyst-engineer !
SD is so fundamental to the work that i now do. Building a paddy growth model from SD to allow an AI engine architectue to "suggest" formulas and processes to increase paddy yield.
What an amazing voice
35:00 is a really important point
System- Dynamics is the KEY of understanding our BIOSPHERE as the BASE for the EXISTENCE of MANKIND 😉
Ty
I was taught this in 2015 for a sustainability class
One problem of course is that traditional system dynamics only applies to strong causal relations and the bayesian perspective needs to be integrated
I would look into project Cyber-Syn in Chile 1971-1973. More specifically Cyberstride, it was the computer program that took all levels (stocks) of economic output (over 3/4 of the national economy), and analyzed it in almost real time. The outputs were measured in a goal seeking fashion using bayesian statistics.
Too bad the project was destroyed.
I align more with cybernetics, which was discovered before systems science. It utilizes more statistical and subjective probabalistic mathmatics.
goals...
What abour hidden states in the feedback loop? For instance, I would considere own agenda as a hidden state in the system
Amazzing. Do u know whether there's any trnscription of it?
Only a few humans on the planet can think using systems. I would love to meet Donella.
I can think using systems!
Insight Maker is the closest software to Dynamo. It is completely free online. Very vital for any systems dynamicist or cybernetician
UA-cam is the Nearest thing we have to attaining Time travel.
It would be nice to have a new field that extends beyond system dynamics
Great video - where can I find the mathematical/computer material on this topic please ? (0:17)
donellameadows.org/donella-meadows-legacy/envisioning-a-sustainable-world/
Here are more lectures from her time at Dartmouth
Insight maker is the closest thing we have to DINAMO that's free and available online. It is very useful as a system dynamicist or cybernetician.
Conjecture: in any correlation exists a causal link at least with a third party.
RIP you amazing lady
Question: Given the Three Body Problem and Dynamical Systems Theory-- hasn't, "Limits of Growth" been effectively disproven at this point? It feels a lot like Malthusianism recapitulated. Not to dismiss Dr. Meadows insights here.
What background do I need to study/work with system dynamics?
Statistics to Validate the Models.
Generally, an engineering background can make it easier. But, that doesn't guarantee that you can do high quality work.
You don't need a background in quantitative analysis. You will not find very many uses for statistics. The math you use would be "friendly algebra", and the software (e.g., Vensim PLE is free for beginners) has great tutorials that show how models are built.
Feedback thinking is what is important, and there aren't classes taught on that in any profession or discipline. Most professors know some feedback loops from theories they had to learn in grad school, but most have no experience building feedback models, let alone simulating. Some disciplines do teach SD as part of the curriculum, like industrial engineering, but, it is in the context of ... industrial engineering which sees SD as a competing paradigm and industrial engineering isn't taught very widely either.
SD experts are usually self-taught consultants who want to use it on the job, or PhDs trained under an SD expert. Probably a few masters students of those experts too. In Europe there are is an SD masters program.
@@Sam5LC thanks, I already found a masters in systems dynamics that I'll most likely study after I've done with my bachelor in IT systems design
are there more of these?
what year was this ?
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Spring of 1977
October 2022
I wonder how Luhmann and Meadows fit in together?
Very well, it seems. Ended up here while looking into Luhmann's 'Ecological Communication' and thinking about effective visual presentation and communication about complex systems in general.
one of the most influential and best practical thinkers ever
Believing in and eating agricultural food = a dynamic screaming death without morphine. Morphine and such are what the doctors are for in this particular investor driven whole system design.
Minute 25:30: F@CK! This is so brilliant.(lots of F@CKs followed) I just figured out that Bioware video games (among others) use systems theory in their game plots. Am I dumb or what.
Dynamic System how systems change over time.
Static Models try to explain some aspect of a system in one point frozen in time.
INTJ at her finest
The thing that irks me is that in 2023 we are trashing our planet because we are ignorant to positive feedback loops. I'd suggest they don't make profit.
A Mathematician doesn't question 2+2= 4 , I doubt he exists 😑