International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

R. ACKOFF emits the following opinions about development in human systems:

"By development I mean an increase in the desire and ability of the organization to satisfy its own needs and legitimate desires, and those of others… By legitimate desire I mean one which, when satisfied, does not impede anyone else 's development.

"As 1) development requires motivation and learning, and 2) nobody can learn for another, one person r social system cannot develop others. The only kind of development that is possible is self-development" (1988, p.241).

This viewpoint is consonant with B. BANATHY's and the FUSCHL Group's concept of coparticipative social design.

ACKOFF states moreover: "Growth is not necessary for development, however much it may facilitate development in some cases… In some cases, growth is a means to development but it should never be an end-in-itself" (p.245).

These views are in near complete opposition to the dominant socio-economic theories of the 20th. Century.

Another necessity for non-destructive development in human systems is that it be balanced. According to M.M. DODDS and G. JAROS, such a balance must comprise four fields:

1) Collective consciousness

2) Environment

3) Collective abilities

4) Organizational configuration

These authors write: "Incongruences amongst the four fields outlined above can be seen to create a variety of development problems on a global scale. These include, inter alia, imbalances between population size and the carrying capacity of the natural environment; between the aspirations of societies and their competence to achieve them; incongruence between the managerial capacity/organizational ability and the socio-economic and political environment in which the system has to function. These activity fields need to be brought into balance" (1994, p.1422).

However, and very unfortunately: "The irony is that it is every person's reponsability, yet no one has the authority to do anything about it, therefore no one is accountable" (Ibid.).

The only ways out of this dead end is probably systemic education for everybody (centered on realist ethics)…, which could require centuries, and some types of globally evolved constraints on human systems, as they will possibly result from natural limits.