What is it about?
Heinz von Foerster introduced a distinction between the trivial and non-trivial machine. An extension of the idea of the non-trivial machine offers a way of thinking about how social transformation happens or might happen. Propositions are presented in the form of false statements, statements currently false but which, if true, would be desirable.
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Why is it important?
Questions of science are typically decidable questions, questions that can be answered through research. However, many of the questions concerning the human predicament are undecidable--i.e., questions of desire. Research into the desirability of propositions might draw from the logic of the non-trivial machine.
Perspectives
The challenge of research into social transformation (a change in the way of thinking and acting) is that it happens with minimal discontinuity. While a proposed transformation appears daunting, we know they have happened; however, we cannot draw on current history to inform revolutionary action, as history does not record the transformation as a discontinuity.
Laurence D Richards
Indiana University East
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This page is a summary of: Propositions on Cybernetics and Social Transformation: Implications of von Foerster's Non‐trivial Machine for Knowledge Processes, Systems Research, September 1996, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1735(199609)13:33.3.co;2-v.
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