Who said “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”?
The phrase “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts” is well known and important to Systems Scientists and Systems Engineers alike. It’s like a short pithy definition of Emergence. And it is almost always automatically attributed to Aristotle. But what I want to know is this - Did he say it? Why did he say it? And in what context?
Addressing the future with a better ConOp (or is it better humans we need?)
Zen and the Art of Systems Thinking
On June 21, 2017, I had the privilege of speaking to the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter on the topic of Systems Science, Systems Engineering and Systems Thinking — using the catchy title, "Zen and the Art of Systems Thinking." Here I include the slides and references for those who want to explore my talk in more detail.
Systems Science — an oxymoron?
How is Systems Science an oxymoron? It may come from the fact that studying Systems requires a holistic perspective whereas the fundamental concept of Science is looking at things in a reductionist manner. So how do you reconcile these two fundamentally different approaches into one discipline? Maybe the key is looking and seeing “systems’ everywhere.