Cybernetics of Self-organisation (PDF)

Self-organisation is a fact in the world we live in. This is a relational world in which agents'? natural asymmetrical complexities are warped by the Law of Requisite Variety. For as long as these relations remain requisite variety will assert itself mostly through self-regulation and self-organisation. This was the intended theme of the Sixteen Congress of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC 2014). WOSC 2014's title highlighted 'Our Self-organising World: From Disruption to Reparation'. WOSC together with the Universidad de Ibague, Colombia, organised this Congress in October, 2014. This was a most successful event with more than 200 participants from all over the world. Dr Alfonso Reyes, Rector of the University, supported the event with resources, care and quality; the activities and Proceedings of the Congress are documented in the website http://wosc-congress.unibague.edu.co. With this publication WOSC is fulfilling its purpose of fostering international collaboration in Systems and Cybernetics towards a deeper appreciation of the management of complexity in today's troubled society. Contributions range from global to local issues. Their epistemologies go from the constructivist approaches of second order cybernetics to the positivistic approaches of mathematical modeling. Some of them offer scalable transdisciplinary knowledge that supports today's global concerns of mankind as well as the pressing local problems of particular communities. This issue brings together authors with experience in a wide range of global issues, from energy policy, sustainability of natural resources and cities to the governance of eco-systems and the digital regulation of societal processes. Their encounter in the conversational space provided by the Universidad de Ibague increased the opportunities for sharing methodologies and overcoming intellectual fragmentation, indeed, through this publication WOSC is contributing to the dissemination of systems thinking and cybernetics across the world.