Levels of understanding
Since the first appearance of the division of labour in human societies, our knowledge about systems has also been divided into several levels. As we have no contemporary videos, we can only imagine this period of human history when early humans had hardly evolved from apes and lived in almost primitive conditions. Some of them were already better in tracking or killing the quarry, while others were better in organising the group using their intellectual skills and authority, considering the circumstances, the weather conditions and other hunters nearby.
Their corresponding ancestors are among us: those who specialise in a specific part of a system, and those who understand the relationship between the parts and the whole.
None of them can excel in his work without knowing at least something about the hunt as a whole and without trusting the knowledge of the others.
This is why we will discuss information about systems simultaneously in different levels. The first level is for Mr/Ms Anyone who needs reliable knowledge to have a better understanding of the world surrounding him/her. This requires the background knowledge generally expected from high school graduates, and some curiosity which we also try to arouse with clumsy figures and texts.
The second level is for readers who want to learn in more detail, and are mainly interested in the whys and hows, partly taken from their own knowledge but also used for their own purposes. Such a reader is the Student who can be a first-year student in any university, or even an older reader who just wants to learn more. They will compare the new information with their basic knowledge learnt in Chemistry, Physics or, more typically, in Mathematics, and so the concepts presented here will be familiar for them and—with some help—they will be able to use it as connecting points.
The top (or bottom) level, which is for the system science Guru, will only be touched on here, with hopefully understandable references to the relevant literature.