translated by Xela H.

Although the world is huge, from the universe and nature to the human life system, to the modern political frameworks that influence human relations, from the complex to the simple, from the small to the large…they all can be measured and analyzed with the most basic systemic structure and lead to the most basic methods of observing the truth of this world and cognitive common sense. Together with the human knowledge in the Bible and the U.S. Constitution, it underpins the main civilization of the modern world; they’re human experience, the truth, and science.

One of the most familiar examples is the flush toilet system that is used in every household. In modern toilets, it is all about one press. After the water is released, the inlet valve opens and water started to be fed, and once the water has risen to a certain level, this valve driven by the float ball automatically closes. This is a closed-loop system with negative feedback in its most classic form. The input is the water inlet, the output is the flush, and the float ball is a very simple water-level monitoring device; when a certain level is reached, the water inlet valve is controlled to no longer feed water, so as to ensure balance.

Assuming that there isn’t such a float ball, we can also realize the basic toilet functions by manually closing the inlet valve after observing a certain water level with the naked eye.

The latter is a typical open-loop (toilet flushing) system, and it leads to several foundational problems that make the system very cumbersome and uncomfortable. For example, people are moody and sometimes they can’t wait to close the valve early, resulting in a low water-level, which may affect the flushing effect; or a slight daze can result in the water overflowing the tank and gets everywhere.

When interests arise in the situation, one can close the valve earlier or later for various excuses.

This is a typical trouble that can arise from human-controlled systems; that is to say, it is inherently a flawed system.

Considering a modern state political system according to the above example, no negative feedback (that is, the voice of the opposition) means the government replies hugely on human and material resources to maintain the basic stability of the system. Any problem can happen and constantly breach the perceived bottom line, and the root of the problems cannot be resolved. In other words, the system has no self-correcting function, and healthy development is impossible.

And supervision outside the system (such as the superiors), which is not part of the system itself, cannot solve the problem of the basic stability of the system. Such supervisory constraints, on the contrary, accelerate the destructiveness of open-loop (human-controlled) systems.

This open-loop human-controlled system is, of course, the thieves’ favorite.

About the Translator

Xela H. (西楠), also known as Xi Nan, writes and translates, indie publisher of Xi Nan and Fish Lu STUDIO, London. She was born in China and now lives in Europe.