[From Dag Forssell (940518 1300)]
I really appreciate the recent posts on violence and today's essay
on the power curve. These posts deal squarely with what we can
learn from PCT and use in our daily lives.
Yesterday, Christine and I went to see "Like water for chocolate,"
which we had heard and seen recommended. To me, it became a sad
illustration, not of love, but of the self-destructive prison we
build in our own minds when we buy into rules that make no sense
from the individual's standpoint, like: The youngest daughter
cannot marry but must care for the mother until she dies.
The only sane person in the family was the second daughter, who ran
away into the arms of raiding soldiers and later returned a
general. She offered this advice to her youngest sister, the
heroine of the movie: There is no truth; it all depends.
Great literature and movies are great, I suppose, because they
illustrate so well the insanity of ineffective systems concepts.
But as Rick points out, we cannot learn from this. We need dull,
technically correct PCT to save us from all this madness, and as
Bill shows, it will take generations before the full effect can be
felt.
Anyhow, when you watch the systems concepts behaving through these
characters, you see again and again, that it is all perception, and
that it is perceptions that are being controlled.
Best, Dag
[From Rick Marken (2015.06.10.1150)]
RM: I’ve attached an article describing an application of PCT to the design of secure built environments, like banks. I met the author, Jim Wise, at a conference back in the late 1980s after I somehow discovered that he was also interested in what we now call PCT (and what was then just called Powers’ theory). But Jim never came to CSG meetings or got involved in CSGNet discussions. I doubt that he ever corresponded with Powers. But I think his work represents a very competent application of PCT principles. I bring this up only to note that there may be other people “out there” doing PCT-based work that we (who attend CSG meetings and converse on CSGNet) know naught of. It would be nice if we could find more of these people and get them to attend the next CSG meeting and discuss their work. I’m trying to get in touch with Jim Wise to see if he would attend. If anyone out there knows anyone else doing PCT-based work please let me know because we are planning to restart the CSG meetings in the near future (probably sometime in 2016).
Best regards
Rick
WiseHFS.pdf (509 KB)
···
Richard S. Marken
www.mindreadings.com
Author of Doing Research on Purpose.
Now available from Amazon or Barnes & Noble
[From Rick Marken (2005.08.10.1600)]
I just went by an office that had a "Do not disturb" sign hanging next to
the open door. Fortunately for the fellow inside, I am an expert in control
theory so I knew exactly what to do; I walked by without incident.
Best
Rick
···
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Richard S. Marken
MindReadings.com
Home: 310 474 0313
Cell: 310 729 1400
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[From Bruce Abbott (2005.08.11.2100 EST] --
Rick Marken (2005.08.10.1600)
I just went by an office that had a "Do not disturb" sign hanging next to
the open door. Fortunately for the fellow inside, I am an expert in control
theory so I knew exactly what to do; I walked by without incident.
Wait a minute -- I thought you were supposed to apply a Disturbance in order to Test for the Controlled Variable . . .
Bruce A.
[From Rick Marken (2005.08.12.0930)]
Bruce Abbott (2005.08.11.2100 EST] --
Rick Marken (2005.08.10.1600)
I just went by an office that had a "Do not disturb" sign hanging next to
the open door. Fortunately for the fellow inside, I am an expert in control
theory so I knew exactly what to do; I walked by without incident.
Wait a minute -- I thought you were supposed to apply a Disturbance in
order to Test for the Controlled Variable . . .
Yes. But this was an entirely different problem. Here was a fellow who did
not want to be disturbed. I'm sure that a non-PCT canny person, with no idea
of what a controlled variable is, would have been completely stumped by this
request. Fortunately, I knew exactly what was being asked: don't apply a
disturbance to any of the variables I'm controlling. Of course, you can't
really tell what variables a person is controlling without applying
disturbances (as you note) so I did have a bit of a problem, at least at
first, until my PCT knowledge led me to realize that I was actually being
asked _not_ to apply any tests. So I did just that; I didn't test for any
controlled variables and walked quietly past the office door. I'm quite sure
that it would have been impossible for me to figure out that that was the
appropriate thing to do had I not studied PCT for 30 years.
Best
Rick
···
--
Richard S. Marken
MindReadings.com
Home: 310 474 0313
Cell: 310 729 1400
--------------------
This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
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disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended
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