Wednesday Discussion Post Script So, we can see that Einstein’s desire to be a true scientist was influenced by his over active imagination. Some individuals proclaim that this was a gift that permitted him to see into the future, which is also suspected with other great scientists like Arthur Young for instance. Regardless, Einstein possessed the ability to use his “mind’s eye” to witness unobservable patterns of relationships, which are systems. During an era of ignorance relative to today’s science, Einstein was able to establish a theory of systems on a universal level. He used the language of mathematics to describe his theories, then challenged others to prove him wrong. This is interesting, as he didn’t “prove” his own theories, he simply explained them mathematically.

As it turns out, his theories have not been unproven to this day. So, what is the lesson for us here? Please keep these thoughts in your mind as you read the first chapter of the text. Theories last forever. Practices come from theories. Empirical science has its limitations. For instance, the patterns of relationships that comprise systems are not empirically visible to us, but they are there (remember our talk about the ether?) What we call the “Big Picture” in business, is really the ability to see the invisible patterns of relationships among all parts of a business enterprise. A change to the smallest part of the system will have a ripple effect to the entire system (Butterfly and 100 monkeys effects).

On Wednesday September 3, we will complete our discussion of chapter 1, we will take the quiz, then we may or may not start talking about chapter 2. See you then.