Synthesis: Systems Theory & Cybernetics
The Evolution of Value – Part 9
I. Thinkers
Wiener, Bateson, Luhmann, Skinner, Nash
Signal
Feedback, adaptation, and strategic interaction regulate dynamic systems.
Interpretation
This era illuminated how systems learn, adapt, and self-correct - whether they’re organisms, ecosystems, economies, or societies. Feedback loops, cybernetic control, and optimisation strategies helped explain how order arises and how behaviour is shaped.
But something was missing: Why does any of this matter?
What are we optimising for?
Limitation
These systems were often treated as value-neutral. Behaviour was explained, but not justified. Equilibrium was modelled, but not evaluated. Without grounding, cybernetics becomes machinery with no compass.
Key Ideas
Wiener’s feedback loops enable homeostasis and control.
Bateson’s ecology of mind links information, adaptation, and balance.
Luhmann’s systems self-organise through communication.
Skinner’s behaviourism shows environmental conditioning.
Nash’s equilibria optimise strategies across networks of agents.
Key Texts
Cybernetics, Steps to an Ecology of Mind, Social Systems, Science and Human Behavior, A Beautiful Mind
Synthesis Link
Synthesis integrates these dynamic insights into a living framework:
“Life = Good”
(Synthesis, Axiom 5: Truth and systems serve life.)
Adaptation, learning, equilibrium - these aren’t ends in themselves.
They are tools life uses to persist. Cybernetic principles aren’t just clever - they’re evolution’s method for sustaining value.
Without a foundation in life, systems spiral into efficiency without meaning.
With Synthesis, feedback serves flourishing.
II. Thinkers
Lorenz, Mandelbrot, Prigogine
Signal
Order emerges through chaos, turbulence, and nonlinear dynamics.
Interpretation
These thinkers unveiled the hidden structure of chaos. What looked like randomness became intricate pattern. Life, they revealed, is not opposed to chaos - it’s born through it.
They offered insight into the how of emergence. But again, missed the why.
Limitation
Chaos theory and complex systems remained mechanistic - beautifully descriptive but axiologically hollow.
Key Ideas
Lorenz’s butterfly effect shows the vast impact of small actions.
Mandelbrot’s fractals expose repeating patterns across scales.
Prigogine’s dissipative structures explain how complexity arises in far-from-equilibrium systems.
Key Texts
The Essence of Chaos, The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Order Out of Chaos
Synthesis Link
Synthesis reclaims chaos for value:
“Life = Good”
(Synthesis, Axiom 2: Life builds order.)
Complexity isn’t accidental.
Emergence isn’t meaningless.
From a Synthesis view, life rides chaos - building, adapting, unfolding.
Pattern matters because life persists through it.
Entropy resists. Life answers.
III. Thinkers
Latour, Callon, Law
Signal
Networks of humans and nonhumans co-create dynamic social orders.
Interpretation
Actor-Network Theory (ANT) exploded old binaries: subject/object, nature/culture, individual/system. These thinkers showed how reality is co-produced through entangled relationships.
But with all agents flattened, where does responsibility lie?
Where does value emerge?
Limitation
By equalising all entities, ANT risks diluting human agency and losing a compass. If everything is an actor… who protects the living?
Key Ideas
Latour reassembles society through hybrid actor-networks.
Callon reveals how interests are translated and stabilized.
Law’s material-semiotics maps how meaning flows through interactions.
Key Texts
Reassembling the Social, Science in Action, Organizing Modernity
Synthesis Link
Synthesis provides a grounding ontology:
“Life = Good”
(Synthesis, Axiom 4: Humanity is life’s agent.)
Humans are not superior - but we are responsible.
Networks are not flat. They are hierarchies of impact on life.
ANT shows how the world links.
Synthesis shows what the links serve - the continuity and flourishing of life.
- James Dean Conroy