by Hugh M. Lewis

The real challenge in the implementation of Lewis Works has been so far in developing working systems and platforms/frameworks for working systems on the ground in a consistent and organized manner. These working systems are grouped as articulatory frameworks into several main areas represented as 'departments' of the Lewis Works framework, and include: consulting/troubleshooting, scientific laboratory & field research, writing & publication, art and aesthetic media productions, business development services, organizational systems, non-profit programs/projects, construction and educational systems. The lack of resources has exacerbated this problem of building working systems on the ground floor and slowed the development process overall. So also has been the general closure and recalcitrance of American society in particular, and the resistance and prejudice demonstrated by most Americans toward alternative developmental frameworks. In spite of these challenges, we have managed over time to aggregate capital resources and to slowly push forward our front-line application frameworks across the board.

Applied systems generally concern engineering types of problems, but within a meta-systems framework we need to define engineering in a broader sense than is conventionally used for this term, to encompass a more general range of human constructive capacities and possibilities that are created by knowledge and human intentionality. We can consider art and media production as an extension of these interests, as well as education, organization, and even commerce. Almost any area of human productive activity can be functionally classified and analyzed in this way. It is common in sports for instance to do a fine analysis of motor-skeletal patterns of movement to determine how to refine the performance of an athlete.

It is also important to answer in a clear way the unasked question of why applied systems, and why systems frameworks in the first place? The answer to this question is manifold: 1. the way things are now, and continue to be, are simply not good enough, and upon certain levels and in certain areas, are simply not doing the job that needs to get done if we seek a successful adaptive solution for the long run. 2. most importantly, I think it is important to emphasize the increasing role that systems will play in our collective life, and they are by design open and available to all people, hence they tend to empower all people in an equal way, even if they are not deliberately deployed for that purpose. 3. systems are not only humanly good to think, but they are in the long run good to do. They provide the contexts which will facilitate the acquisition  of knowledge and build capacities in people that they did not previously have. Before the invention of the airplane, flight was just a fantasy for all people, and unrealistic for many. Now, because of well developed aeronautical systems, flight is facilitated for many people in the world, more so now than ever before, but even the aeronautical systems now are far from perfect in many different ways.  Systems facilitate and make possible what was previously impossible without them. When they are constructive they enhance and enlarge our shared reality. We therefore need systems, perhaps more than ever now that we are reaching our global carrying capacity.

General Systems Essays, Vol. I