Published: October 2026
Keywords:
Fulvio Carmagnola, Mauro Cerutti, Immaterial thinking matter, living matter, consciousness, non-conscious level, Kant, Humberto Maturana, Francisco Varela, von Foerster, high-level network of relationships, Gerald Edelman, expansion, integration, emergence, embodied theo-ries, theories of artificial intelligence, awareness, imperialism of human consciousness, the human “poetic species”, humanisation, language, medium of interaction, medium of reflec-tive observation, evolution of human knowledge, culture, primitive knowledge, pre-conceptions, pre-judices, narrative, Ugo Morelli, Carla Weber, conflict, relationship, knowledge, asymmetrical relationships, learning, development, competition, cooperation, in-trapsychic conflict, cultural conflict, interpersonal/group/institutional conflict, dynamic aes-thetics, collaborative processes at micro, meso and macro levels, self, individual, subject, group, collectivity, emotional experience, limits, possibilities, embodied engagement, com-munity, stranger, familiar other, hospitality, relational field of distance, conflictual action, dif-ferentiation, emancipation, social bond, ancestral roots, cultural models of learning, engage-ment in dialogue, knoweledge, ignorance, Umberta Telfener, Ludwig Wittgenstein, surround-ing world, perceptions, evaluation criteria, frames of reference, decoding, meaning-making, lived experiences, sensations, not-knowing, knowing that one knows, reflexive capacity, on-going evaluation of the unfolding process, not knowing that one knows, not knowing that one does not know, systemic therapy, emergence of solutions and hypotheses from the relation-ship, impossibility of complete knowledge, impossibility of control
Umberta Telfener
Umberta Telfener: Teacher of the Milan Approach, current President of EFTA, former adjunct Professor at the postgraduate School of Health Psychology of the University of Roma La Sapienza. She supervises Institutions and Community work and has been in private practice since 1980. utelfener@gmail.com
Luca Casadio
Luca Casadio, psychologist and psychotherapist, worked as a managing psychologist for the USL. He teaches in several graduate schools and has published some books and numerous articles. Including: "Systemics: voices and paths in complexity", with Umberta Telfener and the supervision of Heinz von Foerster, Bollati Boringhieri, 2003, "Between Bateson and Bion, at the roots of relational thinking", Antigone editions, 2010. Regarding the relationship between art and psychology has published: "The images of the mind: for a psychoanalysis of cinema, art and literature" Franco Angeli, 2004, and "The art of psychotherapy and the psychology of art", Mimesis, 2015.
Abstract
(Metalogos Editorial note: It does not have to be repeated that SISTEMICA is a treasure for trainers and trainees! In this issue, all its entries embrace and theorise all Metalogos papers and videos uniquely. We are proud to be able to present SISTEMICA to our readers and honoured that its editors entrusted it to Metalogos).
Short Introductory Summary
This text explores computation and communication as foundational processes in systemic thinking, moving beyond their conventional technical meanings. Computation is not only algorithmic calculation but a broader activity of organising, transforming, and modelling reality, deeply linked to human attempts to simplify and formalise knowledge. However, purely computational (algorithmic) approaches are shown to be limited, especially when confronted with the complexity, embodiment, and contextual nature of living systems and human cognition.
The text contrasts explicit, rational, algorithmic knowledge with implicit, embodied, and experiential knowledge, arguing that much of human intelligence - and life itself - operates through non-computable, context - dependent processes. This critique extends to artificial intelligence, highlighting the insufficiency of disembodied, purely symbolic models of mind.
In parallel, communication is redefined from a simple transmission of information to a relational, contextual, and recursive process that constructs social reality and community. Different theoretical perspectives (e.g., Shannon, Petri, Pearce, Luhmann) reveal communication as dynamic, interpretative, and self - referential, where meaning emerges through interaction rather than being merely transmitted.
Overall, the text situates both computation and communication within a systemic, epistemological shift: from reductionism and control toward complexity, embodiment, context, and the co-construction of reality.
SISTEMICA Entries
ISSUE 33
Abduction, Structural Coupling, Adaption
ISSUE 34
Art, Expectation, Autonomy
ISSUE 35
An Outline of Bateson’s Ideas (in collaboration with Giovanni Madonna), The evolution of Bateson’s ideas
ISSUE 36
Self-Organization, Autopoiesis / Allopoiesis, Self-Reference, Self-Value, Biosphere / Ecosphere / Noosphere
ISSUE 37
The Paradigm of Complexity-1st part
ISSUE 38
The Paradigm of Complexity-2nd part, Chaos
ISSUE 39
Constructivism
ISSUE 40
Observer/Subject, I/We, Self/Selves
ISSUE 41
Data/Capta, Decision/Choice, Rationality, Deconstruction/Deconstructionism, Thick Description, Description/Explanation
ISSUE 42
Narration, Story, Metaphor/Analogy
ISSUE 43
Catastrophe Theory, Cause/Effect, Causality/Circularity, Circular Questions, Uroboros, Cybernetic Brain, Brain-Mind
ISSUE 46
Change/Homeostasis, Calibration, Change/Necessity
ISSUE 47
Control, Bizarre Reflexive Circuit
ISSUE 48
Complexity, Understanding
ISSUE 49
Computation, Communication
