One of the key objectives of the ISSS as stated in its bylaws is to "…promote efforts toward the service of humanity." This objective has been actively promoted by past presidents of ISSS and continues as the guiding theme for the 45th annual meeting at the Asilomar Conference Center in Monterey, California.
The challenge for systems thinkers is to act congruently with espoused systems ideas. Fundamental concepts like open systems behavior, lead to key questions of how ISSS can act so as to maintain open boundaries with the global socio-economic environment it is embedded in and how an open exchange is maintained with the diverse groups of people who do not share the systems tradition of inquiry but who can benefit from its insights. The idea of unity leads to the question of how reflection and action can be integrated through a systems approach rather than separated into different distinct, often competing domains of inquiry versus action. The systems concept of relationship also leads to fundamental questions of how systems scientists and practitioners relate to others who are not members of the systems science community but are the focus of the systems change agent's intention. Because description and explanation alone do not prescribe action and prediction and control do not alone justify action it is necessary for systems thinkers and practitioners to create systemic relationships with those who desire change in their lives but do not like having change forced on them. This relationship, in the form of service on behalf of the other, needs to be explored as a means for systems thinkers to act systemically and responsibly with full accountability for the consequences of their work whether intended or unintended.
Being in service does not mean being a servant or subservient. It does not mean acting as an expert or a mere facilitator on behalf of someone else's needs. Service is not about helping people create what they already know they want or imposing predetermined idealized solutions onto unique particular situations. The success of service can be best determined when those being served experience the surprise of self recognition in what emerges out of their interaction with systems thinkers, who have attended to broader systemic concerns while serving particular autonomous interests.
Service that is not servitude treats others as equal. This
does not mean the same as being similar, as in categories of social
science, or equivalent, as in egalitarianism, but equal in terms
of the right to have anyone's desiderata become the seed for purposeful
change.
Service is distinct from helping, which by its nature creates
a unilateral relationship where all power and resources reside
in a dominant role leaving the other in a position of being helpless
and indebted. Service is a relationship of mutuality and diversity
allowing those with excellent skills and abilities to work on
behalf of those who are pressing to express their humanity in
ways which honor their uniqueness in a world of increasing globalization.
Papers are particularly invited which focus on this theme of service or that bridge between this theme and other areas of systems scholarship and practice. Papers are also invited that focus on the conference subthemes as described below.
Integration of Theme and Subthemes
Papers which integrate the conference theme and subthemes listed below are especially invited.
Ongoing ISSS Subthemes in Systems Science
As always we are interested in any papers dealing with general systems topics as well including focus on the economy, business and industry, information systems design and information technology, medical and health systems, psychology and psychiatry, systems design in education, system studies of climate change, systems approaches to intelligence, and applied systems and development; and systems approaches of duality theory, futurism and systems change, thermodynamics and systems theory, spirituality and systems, critical systems theory and practice, evolutionary learning community, hierarchy theory, systems philosophy and systems ethics, systems modeling and simulation, meta-modeling and systems epistemology, research towards general theories of systems, living systems analysis, processes and human processes, human systems inquiry, and evolution and complexity. See the call for papers from individual SIG (Special Integration Group) chairs below.