Stafford Beer (1926–2002)

A fascinating book on the study of interactive feedback systems. Scaling up from relatively “simple” human + machine feedback systems to social systems stretches the imagination. Definitely worth the effort to chug through.

Stafford Beer still is a great name in the systems thinking-world. Beer had the merit of introducing this approach in the world of management, for example through his “viable systems model”, which apparently still inspires people. But perhaps this book is not the ideal introduction to his thinking. It bundles 6 radio lectures he gave for Canadian Radio, in 1973: as such the texts are very volatile, and painfully reveal how dated his thinking is (but that is hardly a reproach, we are now show more 40 years on).
I don’t doubt that Beer meant well: human freedom is his absolute goal, time after time he repeats this. And the analysis instrument that he uses for this is certainly inspiring: namely a more systemic approach to reality, which takes account of constant changeability (he uses the word "variety" consistently). His plea to rid the institutions of their rigidity (a consequence of too much bureaucracy and a too static view on reality), and to democratize them, is quite worthwhile, always in the service of human freedom.
But at the same time, a number of very peculiar elements stand out, when reading this booklet. Stafford Beer, for example, has a very voluntarist belief in the malleability of the society: with good insights, good will and a lot of commitment, ordinary people can put our society back on the right track. That sounds good, but in 2018 we know that it is not all that simple.
Another one: Beer swears by an absolute belief in science, it is to be said, the right kind of science (systemic and cybernetic); that smells like scientism, although he absolutely denies this, but what to think about his digression into his own experiment in Chile, commissioned by President Allende: to gather the very latest information about the state of the economy through the ingenious use of computers, to make a better policy possible (in this passage he is actually raved about the men in white coats in the central computer center who were laying the foundation of a new society); in his last lecture he puts that scientism into perspective, but at the same time he calls out Allende's scientific experiment as a model to follow (it looks like Beer was abused by Allende, although the discussion about this is still going on).
And finally there is his constantly recurring mantra to put "efficiency" in the management of institutions absolutely central; Beer translates that even in the radical reduction of bureaucracies and government intervention (in contradiction of course with his own experiment in Chile), a plea with which he unconsciously spread the bed for the then rising neoliberalism.
Once again, I do not want to haggle on Beer's good intentions. But his messages are at least ambiguous, and let's be honest, pretty naive. Perhaps we should appreciate this little book as an historical document rather than as an inspiring model for today. show less