Distinction d identity other

When does an animal become a pest? The distinction between pest and not-pest is explored in Bethany Brookshire's book, titled, Pests. Her work shows that there is a lot of effort and systems created to eradicate pests, so the distinction is not meaningless or merely semantic. It seems, that humans collectively strive to keep pests away through a variety of means from traps to poison to fences. 

That nearly everything at CNN is "breaking news" is not new, as it's not breaking, but it is news. Now, CNN is trying to fix its breaking news problem. CEO Chris Licht wants them to rethink the distinction and what it really means (See CNN tries to fix 'breaking news'.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 23, 2022 — Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera, along with Elena Cabrera, of Cabrera Research Lab and Cornell University have published a new peer-reviewed article entitled, Distinctions Organize Information in Mind and Nature: Empirical Findings of Identity–Other Distinctions (D) in Cognitive and Material Complexity in the journal Systems.

Making distinctions is like painting a room. It's the boundaries that need the most attention. My parents hired a professional to paint our garage every couple years. As a curious kid, I would pepper him with questions. "How do you get it smooth? Would it be faster with a sprayer? Who picked the color?" A few years later my mom gave me the job of painting the bathrooms. I then advanced to painting houses as a summer job in college. I’ve painted more walls, doors, and window frames than I care to remember. 

Another System Thinking trope that gets my dander up. Not because it's ill intentioned but because so many well-intentioned people do it.    In discussions on systems thinking we often hear, "well, it's all about the context." Or, "what about the environment."   Recently, our lab posted this post (and poster).  

A set of haunting images has hit the internet. Not Freddy Kruger haunting, but somehow equally disturbing for our brain.

This post was adapted from A Literature Review of the Universal and Atomic Elements of Complex Cognition.  Researching any of the four DSRP patterns requires some creativity. One way scientists have achieved this is through the creation of "Greebles." Greebles are computer generated 3D figures that are intended to be unfamiliar to participants. 

In this polarized landscape, unfortunately people focus less on what is being said than on who is saying it.

This blog has been partially adapted from A Literature Review of the Universal and Atomic Elements of Complex Cognition.

This blog has been partially adapted from A Literature Review of the Universal and Atomic Elements of Complex Cognition. When you picture things that think, a slime mold probably wouldn't be the first organism to jump to mind. However, research has shown that you don't necessarily need a brain to think; in other words, non-neural organisms can think. Previously, we discussed how chemotaxis is an inherently DSRP-based process which allows bacteria and cells to make distinctions, build systems, recognize relationships, and take perspectives. As research has shown, slime molds can do DSRP too. 

Distinctions involve several different skills blended into one simple underlying structure where two elements (identity and other) make up any distinction. These skills include:

Distinctions are universal. They are commonly thought to be uniquely human and to exist only as concepts.

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 3 A deeper understanding and greater application of systems thinking requires that we identify the patterns that connect all of the

We're committed to increasing public understanding of science about systems thinking. We strive to make the basic science of systems thinking accessible without loss of fidelity. One of the many

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under thetag "cognitive jigs."Be sure to check out the tag to read them as a group and learn how cognitive jigs are at play in our everyday lives.

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs."Be sure to check

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under the"cognitive jigs."Be sure to check

What would it mean if we could not make distinctions? What would the world look like to us? If you attempt to imagine a world like that, you would quickly

I write about the identity-other structure of distinctions quite a bit. Mostly because people underestimate (1) the complexity that underlies this seemingly simple concept; (2) how pervasive this structure is

Coronavirus and Covid-19 is an emerging phenomena and we are distinguishing exactly what it is and its effects on an evolving basis. Cutting through the noise and finding some signal

I recently received an email from the "Head of Happiness" at ghost.org and it actually made me smile. Of course, it also helped that the words she used to

When we take a different perspective (P), the distinctions (D), part-whole systems (S), and relationships (R) we see are different, too. Systems are made up of many identities and each

We make #distinctions constantly. We really cannot NOT make a distinction. Despite their constancy, like breathing, it becomes something we take for granted. Few of us, when starting the car

"The #1 place that folks mess up with systems thinking is distinction making. The repercussions can be quite serious." Our research lab has three focus areas: basic research

Distinctions are not things but negotiated boundaries between ideas/things; a boundary between the identity and other that occurs fractally (across scale in the same pattern). The key skill in

This entry is part of our everydayST series. Learn more about the everydayST tag. Dr. Seuss may represent an approachable and fun entrée to using DSRP[1], not just for

Yesterday my "word of the day" (delivered by email from Dictionary.com) was xeriscaping, which is a noun that means "environmental design of residential and park land

Today I'm writing an everydayST post on shopping.[1] I'm an avid bargain-hunter. It deeply pains me to have to buy something at full price. I derive an inordinate amount

This entry is part of our [`everydayST`](http://stdaily.ghost.io/whats-the-everyday-dsrp-tag/) series. Learn more about the [`everydayST`](http://stdaily.ghost.io/whats-the-everyday-dsrp-tag/) tag. Understanding the idea of and being

This entry is part of our [`everydayST`](http://stdaily.ghost.io/whats-the-everyday-dsrp-tag/) series. Learn more about the [`everydayST`](http://stdaily.ghost.io/whats-the-everyday-dsrp-tag/) tag. The value of systems thinking is

This entry is part of our [`everydayST`](http://stdaily.ghost.io/whats-the-everyday-dsrp-tag/) series. Learn more about the [`everydayST`](http://stdaily.ghost.io/whats-the-everyday-dsrp-tag/) tag. I went with my wife for

The Distinctions Rule may seem like the easiest part of DSRP, the four simple rules of systems thinking identified by Derek and Laura Cabrera in Systems Thinking Made Simple: New

OCTOBER 16, 2014 From a trek I did in Europe. A slow journey across a single distinction. An aerial view of the European Alps...a geological boundary. The geopolitical border

On August 12, 2006, residents of Turner, ME found a dead animal in Debi Bodwell’s backyard. The carcass was found near a road, and neighbors speculated that a car