Systems Mimicry - Troncale
Science Basis for Systems Mimicry
Dr. Len Troncale, Curt McNamara, Randy Anway
Joint session SSWG/NSWG in Executive Suite 1635
SSWG and NSWG sponsored joint sessions at several INCOSE International Workshops because “systems science” and “natural systems” overlap and cover some of the same topical and research territory resulting in mutually useful knowledge bases. In fact, two of the first round of INCOSE Foundation research grants went jointly to the two WG’s to co-sponsor similar projects.
During discussions with Curt McNamara and Randy Anway planning for this IW’19, the above, very general title resolved into two key questions:
· Are there any natural case studies in natural systems that correspond to the Isomorphies of the general systems theory, Systems Processes Theory (SPT)? And
· Could SPT produce a new “TOOL” that could be more widely used for the practical extension of some of biomimicry to Systems Mimicry?
Both of these questions derive from the assumption and realization or recognition of “patterns” in natural systems. These patterns could then be turned into clues or stimuli for mimicry-engineering as established & already practiced for biomimicry. The conventional sciences study many of the isomorphies included in SPT, but they study them ONLY on their scalar level and using ONLY the conventional methods of their discipline. These are called scientific “phenomena” and not compared across scales or disciplines resulting in silo thinking. So use of these phenomena as expressed in isomorphies TRUE across the sciences would provide a better science foundation for engineering to use in mimicry-engineering as well as greatly extending its scope to the new Systems Mimicry.
In this two-hour session, we will present a knowledge base outline of 335 case studies (science phenomena) organized by isomorphy across seven conventional sciences. This outline was used in several courses presented in academic years 1993 to 2012 at three California State Universities, and awarded two grants for production and evaluation from the NSF as well as several other state/federal agencies. A 2nd powerpoint will introduce the idea of using the Functions of the Isomorphies of the GST-SPT modeled after the AskNature.com tool that will suggest a new tool that uses these systems-level functions in the place of the adaptations of biospecies. This would suggest new ways to achieve engineering objectives. A specific example from Materials Engineering will show how analysis of the Isomorphy Hierarchies was used in ME to suggest future ME solutions.
Another aspect of the above general title is the mutual interest of NSWG and SSWG in Systems Pathologies. The isomorphies suggested in the new Tool and the Case Study list above all have dysfunctions associated with them that we call Systems Pathologies. So study of the lists is not just a study of normal science patterns, but also leads to very specific and mechanistic descriptions of recurring dysfunctional variants of those patterns that we call Systems Pathologies for the ISSP, which is also promoted by INCOSE.