A model / simulation to help new readers of Brain of the Firm understand what Beer is talking about in Chapter 5 - it's long on description and short on explanation.
As far as I can tell, this is reasonably faithful to the machine Beer discusses, although contact positions may have been different in the real implementations.
The latest version is live on Codepen - The Garbage Collection
For desktop use, download the zip, extract, and run the file AlgedonodeHierarchy.html in a browser; all necessary files are included.
The wooden strip positions are controlled by the sliders below the machine, and the dials can be set directly.
This implementation has a few extra features that might help in understanding the machine and the chapter's concepts.
In addition to direct dial input, Random (step) sets the dials to a random configuration, and simple controls are available for running state changes on a timer:
- Sequence runs through all the states in order at the given speed
- Random changes the dial state randomly at the given speed
- Stop stops timed state changes
- The Speed slider controls how fast these timed changes happen
The bar chart (top) displays a running count of the number of states producing a particular light colour in a particular column (1 to 8), and also a running count of the total lights of each colour (A and B).
The state plot (bottom) gives a running display of which state produced which light colour; the point x=[9 7 _ _], y=[_ _ 3 2] corresponds to the dial values, from top to bottom,
9
7
3
2
A limited data store is provided to store the data as it is generated; this has a maximum size given by the Data point store space slider, and the oldest items are removed first. This is part of the metasystem conception (see below), where a metasystem may only be able to see and remember the system's actions on a small portion of the state space.
Full simulation runs every possible dial state through the machine without showing the process, and displays all of the resulting data regardless of current data store size.
Different contact positions have different effects on how the state space is mapped to the output lights.
X-ray view allow the user to see the internal connections of the machine and perform all actions; this is the default.
Metasystem view stops the user from seeing the internals; this is a black-box view. In Beer's conception, a metasystem controls a system through the system's "language", seeing the outcomes, rather than by full view of the effects manipulations have on that system. The contact position change is disabled for the same reason. Similarly, a metasystem cannot simulate a system to see what it would do in every circumstance; it only has access to the system's outputs at the time they change, and the previous history of such changes.
Most colours are customisable.