p.144 I have previously suggested that normative statements [JLJ - from p.143, guidelines for making
decisions] follow from basic system needs... The present report will be mainly concerned with these basic needs,
with how they shape the behaviour of the system, and how processes of normative change come about.
p.144 The concepts reported here are based on the work of many authors from different disciplines,
most notably Simon, Festinger, Maslow and Kirsch.
p.145 The "normal" functioning of a given system requires the satisfaction of certain basic needs
characteristic of the system and of its function. When deprived of satisfaction of any one of the basic needs, the system
will cease to function in the "normal" mode and possibly cease to function altogether. Basic needs are irreducible
and one basic need cannot substitute for another
p.150 Following other authors, notably Maslow, we assign the crucial role in the normative system to basic
needs whose satisfaction to a greater or lesser degree, is required for proper system operation.
p.154 Basic Needs Dimensions for Individual and Societal Systems... Future viability:
Security, Freedom of action, Preparedness, Robustness, Predictability, Success, Ability to influence
environment
p.156-158 Security: All aspects of short-, medium-, and long-term security of adequate
needs satisfaction to ensure future viability under changing external constraints...
Freedom of action: All aspects enhancing freedom of action and motion of the system...
Preparedness: All aspects enhancing the ability to cope adaptively with a new situation...
Robustness: All aspects lessening the chances of dynamic system failure.
Predictability: All aspects which lessen uncertainty (increase understanding) about relevant
possible future states of system and environment...
Success: All aspects leading to more successful and efficient systems operation...
Ability to influence environment: All aspects which allow manipulation of the environment
to the benefit of the system.
p.167 A crucial driving force is the degree of attainability which a projected system state and
hence needs satisfaction state is known or presumed to have. A desirable state perceived as unattainable will generate
little or no motivation directed towards its attainment, while the motivation towards a desirable and attainable goal will
usually be overwhelming.
p.168 in order to assess current as well as projected system and environmental states, they must be mapped
onto the basic needs space of the system to determine the needs satisfaction state... complete denial of needs satisfaction
with regard to any and all of the behavioural needs would have serious and probably fatal... consequences
p.169 Needs satisfaction states of the other basic needs dimensions must be determined
by references to indexes capturing the system state with reference to a given basic need... the state of
all individual components of the survival needs vector must first be assessed to find out whether any of them falls below
the survival threshold. If this is the case, all further assessment of non-survival needs components is irrelevant and unnecessary:
the system will focus all of its attention on the satisfaction of the endangered survival needs. Priority attention
will be given to those needs having the most immediate urgency
p.178 Simulation models of societal systems are of little value for long-term studies unless they
can describe the (adaptive) evolution and (purposeful) self-modification of such systems with some accuracy. We assert
that both of these processes are the result of mutual interaction of system and environmental state and needs satisfaction
state: Newly recognized needs require new state variables or causal structures for their satisfaction... The key to
understanding of the mutual influences and to system modification in general is again the basic needs vector.
p.178-179 On the basis of new information, a given needs satisfaction becomes more attainable... The
cognitive dissonance thus generated produces pressures for its reduction and sets into motion search processes aiming at filling
the... perceived needs satisfaction gap... the system is confronted with adjusting its cognitive and normative
structures to changed conditions... The needs satisfaction state is affected (positively or negatively) by the introduction
of the innovation... The changes occurring... cause pressures for rejection, adoption, or modification of the innovation...
If adopted or modified, the innovation penetrates the system to a point where the system realizes that its needs satisfaction
state would be negatively affected by further penetration... The introduction of the innovation may make other needs
satisfactions more desirable and/or attainable. The process thus recycles (go to step [1]). [JLJ - this step-by-step
approach is a useful method for constructing a principal variation and considering the possible innovations which are
urgent or promising]
p.181 Our models of behaviour and normative processes assign a central role to the reduction of
cognitive dissonance (or dissatisfaction), or equivalently, to the maximization of satisfaction.
