Platform for Change

484 Pages·1994·30.069 MB·English

by  Stafford Beer

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Professor at University College of Swansea, UK,
and an Adjunct Professor at the University of
Toronto, Canada. Liverpool dJohn Moores
University, UK, has nominated him Honorary
Professor of Organizational Transformation.
Currently President of the World Organization of
Systems and Cybernetics, Professor Beer holds its
Norbert Wiener Gold Medal, and is a Governor of
the International Council for Computer
Communication. He is a Past President of the
Operational Research Society, and holds the
Lanchester Prize of the American Operations
Research Society. He is also a Past President of
the International Society for Social Systems
Sciences, and has the McCulloch Award of the
American Society for Cybernetics, of which he is
now a Trustee. Other awards include the Silver
Medal of the Royal Swedish Academy for
Engineering Sciences, an Honorary Doctorate from
Concordia University in Montreal, and the Freedom
of the City of London.
Author of over two hundred publications, including
eleven books variously translated into thirteen
languages, Stafford Beer is a published poet, and
has held several exhibitions of paintings. He
?ealcr.\es meditative yoga, learned in India, to
Individual pupils.
PLATFORM
for
CHANGE
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
WA
32100004583
PLATFORM
for
CHANGE
a message from
STAFFORD BEER
JOHN WILEY & SONS
Chichester - New York - Brisbane - Toronto
First published 1975, correct reprint 1978
Reprinted in Stafford Beer Classic Library 1994
Copyright © 1975, 1994 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd,
Baffins Lane. Chichester.
West Sussex PO19 |UD, England
National 01243 779777
International (+44) 1243 779777
All nights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced by any means,
or transmitted. or translated into a machine language
without the written permission of the publisher.
Other Wiley Editorial Offices
John Wiley & Sons. Inc.. 605 Third Avenue,
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John Wiley & Sons (SEA) Pte Ltd, 37 Jalan Pemimpin #05-04,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beer, Stafford.
Platform for change
1. System thcory. 2. Operations
rescarch. 1. Title
Q.295.B28 003°.08 73-10741
ISBN 0-471-94840-3
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-471-94840-3
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd. Guildford and King's Lynn
a new sort of book
for a new sort of world
dedicated to my children
Vanilla (nee Jane)
Simon
Mark
Stephen
Kate
Matthew
Polly
Harry
and their children’s children
a new sort of book
for a new sort of world
What's going on?
Is there anything
to be done about it?
Stafford Beer says yes
even though he thinks that we
society
may well go over the cliff.
Many people
especially that mere half of the world
that is less than 25 years old
see the edge of that cliff
all too clearly.
But by using the legacy
of mankind’s ordered knowledge
called science
something may yet be done.
Let us not be turned off science
for the wrong reasons.
Modern science talks
about systems
and proposes a new outlook
on the world.
It is all here.
The book itself is a system.
It interlocks a narrative — yellow
with arguments of change — white
and comments in a META language — gold
to generate a thesis — blue.
These chunks interact
at every level
and are enlivened
by DIAGRAMS of system
so that the eye
the pattern-recognizer
can piece the new outlook together.
Half the book
Is written
in this styie.
Maybe
you already see why.
don’t bite my finger—
look where it’s pointing
WARREN S. McCuULLOCH