As it stands there are over 50 different ‘authors’ added to the system (the full list is available at Voices ).
The choice of authors is mine alone. Whilst the academics may, and do, argue about the qualification of different thinkers as ‘Systems Thinkers’ my stance is to include anyone who has an interesting and different ‘Point of View’. This is not a limitation of the system design just one of curiosity.
The thing about the system is that it ‘mixes and matches’ the intellectual contribution of different authors by levelling their ideas to a consistent and accessible format. Old works, such as those by John-Warfield can be used alongside more contemporary writing (for example John-Flach ) without hinderance or barrier. Methodology ‘heavy’ sources such as Triz sits alongside the more philosophical writing of say James-Ladyman . Even the formatting or volume of the output is no barrier here Nicholas-Taleb has 4 books and Derek-Cabrera numerous books and papers (up to the limit of a NotebookLM). Ideas captured in a structured instructional format Peter-Senge sit alongside almost random notes Roger-James or a discussion forum MOM.
The design principle is that all and any of this source information is both isolated and subject to a common Semantic Normalisation and LevellingTM candidate process . Writers who employ a blizzard of jargon or the latest buzzwords are treated equally to those with a more considered style. Even authors who exclusively used words and I quote Geoffrey-Vickers can be expressed as diagrams and formulated as models and authors with little direct work in Alan-Kay Systems Thinking can have their ideas projected onto the concepts of behind Systems Thinking.
Vickers never expressed the ideas pictorially, in the form of a model, although this seems a desirable form in which to express a system. (His explanation for this lack was disarming: "You must remember," he said, "that I am the product of an English classical education" (G. Vickers, personal communication, 1979)).
With their baseline bibliography normalised as QSets we have a workable representation of their ideas which, in the form on a NotebookLM, is the basis for this system - providing inspiration and analysis.
Note: In line with the conversational paradigm of the technology I have ‘personalised’ the presentation through one key individuals Colin-Eden rather than SODA to fit in with the conversational style used in LLMs. It is valid to think of it (STPrism) working as a question that we ask of an individual rather than a prompt (LLM jargon) against a collection of primary literature. Unfortunately this may have the effect of minimising the contribution of a any co-author (Fran Ackerman in the case of SODA). Similarly the source set Theory-of-Constraints is primarily the writing of William Dettmer.
There is some sensitivity to the choice of documents used as the source for the QSet is subject to the dangers of Pollution especially with jargon heavy sources but if the key ideas are not presented in the selection then as they say “Houston we have a Problem”. Of course a ‘grown up’ system would allow the primary authors to select and tune their own collections of material.
Observations on Wordcount
A 250 page book contains 60000 to 80000 words and a 250 page academic book 70000 to 100000 and a thesis up to 100000. The average QSet contains around 1000 (the ‘depth’ of the QSet should be a Research-Project for a grown up system) . At the time of writing the entire STPrism website is 3,500,000 words with the core element - the Systems Thinking QSets - with the wordcounts:
| Composite QSets | Wordcount |
|---|---|
| 💬Distinctions | 38505 |
| 💬Environment | 48913 |
| 💬Gists | 52375 |
| 💬How To Guides | 64731 |
| 💬Keywords + Jargon | 61006 |
| 💬Nutshell (Process) | 51002 |
| 💬People Dynamics | 9657 |
| 💬Perspectives | 50613 |
| 💬Questions | 52713 |
| 💬What is Complexity | 42769 |
| Neil Postman | Wordcount |
|---|---|
| Distinctions | 368 |
| Environment | 733 |
| Gists | 874 |
| How To Guides | 829 |
| Keywords + Jargon | 1,153 |
| Nutshell (Process) | 866 |
| Perspectives | 757 |
| Questions | 945 |
| Representations | 944 |
| Uncertainty | 706 |
| What is Complexity | 792 |
These figures can be compared with the size of the source material
| Author | Wordcount |
|---|---|
| Ackoff | 4,482,754 |
| Alan Kay | 4,317,268 |
| Alexander | 3,254,816 |
| Tim Allen | 40,119,885 |
| Ashby | 4,557,621 |
| Bateson | 5,825,342 |
| Boothroyd | 1,487,393 |
| Cabrera | 4,684,832 |
| Churchman | 4,033,177 |
| Cilliers | 127,206 |
| Emery | 1,159,590 |
| Entropy | 11,241,975 |
| Flach | 3,519,813 |
| Flood | 2,950,010 |
| Hock | 1,249,813 |
| Ladyman | 940,170 |
| Mainelli | 2,059,446 |
| Maturana | 1,205,691 |
| McMaster | 1,863,675 |
| Meadows | 716,587 |
| Nelson | 4,767,042 |
| Pearl | 3,599,575 |
| Postman | 114,382 |
| Revans | 852,249 |
| Richmond | 907,879 |
| Senge | 697,372 |
| Shannon | 2,248,219 |
| Snowden | 3,880,769 |
| Taleb | 1,247,747 |
| Vickers | 4,518,960 |
| Weaver | 2,591,841 |
| Williams | 1,392,109 |
| Wolff | 1,735,189 |
.