everything is connected, so stop studying the parts and start studying the wiring.
means a framework for understanding how components interact as a whole, where the relationships matter more than the pieces themselves.
from biologist ludwig von bertalanffy proposed general systems theory in the 1940s, frustrated that biology, physics, and sociology kept reinventing the same patterns without noticing they were the same pattern.
gaia hypothesis — james lovelock modeled earth as one self-regulating system in 1972.
family systems therapy — murray bowen treated whole families as one emotional unit, not individual patients.
limits to growth — 1972 mit report used systems dynamics to model global collapse scenarios.
internet architecture — tcp/ip designed as a self-healing network with no single point of failure.