Dirk Baecker sees the system not as a given entity, but as a conceptual tool of the second order—a method for an observer to organize knowledge by moving beyond causality and toward functionalism. Central to this theory is the "tetralemma" of systems, a five-position logic that illustrates how systems relate to their environment and the unobservable world through the mechanism of "re-entry."

Baecker further examines the shift in artificial intelligence (AI) research from rule-based logic to neuronal models oriented toward examples. This evolution highlights the emergence of systems that do not seek to simulate human consciousness but rather to imitate sociality and operational closure. The ultimate finding is that intelligence—human or artificial—is characterized by "non-knowledge," an ability to function and make selections within a matrix of complexity that the system itself cannot fully comprehend or exhaust.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Functional Definition of a System

Systems are not assumed to exist objectively; rather, they are "deliberations" used by an observer to sort knowledge and questioning. This approach employs a second-order concept to critique the premise of causality and introduce the concept of function.

• Core Characteristics: A system organizes the connection between three states for an observer:
  • Freedom: The arbitrary setting of a system's initial distinction.
  • Blindness: An inherent inability to see the consequences of that setting.
  • Dependence: A reliance on everything the system excludes for its eventual success.
• Methodological Tension: The system concept operates between metaphor (bringing in unusual perspectives) and metonymy (using tangible terms like "elements" and "operations" to speak of the intangible "whole" or "closure").
• Operational Closure: Systems are defined by their ability to generate their own continuation. They do not "solve" problems so much as they are the solution to the problem of their own reproduction.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. The Systemic Logic: The Five-Position Tetralemma

Drawing from Indian logic and George Spencer Brown’s "Laws of Form," the systemic concept can be visualized through five positions that describe the oscillation of reflection.

Position

Designation

Description

1

Distinction

The asymmetric designation of an "inside" versus an "outside."

2

Environment

The "outside" that is excluded but remains the necessary prerequisite for the system.

3

Intelligence

The coordination between the states of the system and the environment that allows for reproduction.

4

The World

The "unwritten cross" or implicit context; a field about which nothing can be said because any statement creates a new system.

5.1

Weak Re-entry

The system communicates about its environment within the medium of meaning or the body.

5.2

Strong Re-entry

The system reflects on the distinction it makes, leading back to Position 1 (Freedom/Imagination).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Social Systems and the Intelligence of Non-Knowledge

Social systems constitute themselves by solving the problem of double contingency—the stalemate where no actor starts because they are waiting for the other to act.

• The MacGuffin Principle: Communication is often initiated through an "asymmetrization" (a MacGuffin), allowing social systems to proceed by either maintaining that asymmetry or attempting to resymmetrize it.
• The Nature of Intelligence: Intelligence is defined as an "intelligence of non-knowledge." A system does not need to know what is happening in its environment to reproduce; it only needs to be "resonant" enough to translate external disturbances into its own internal code.
• Meaning as a Resource: Both social and psychic systems operate in the medium of "meaning," though they remain mutually intransparent. Communication exists precisely because systems cannot truly "know" one another or themselves.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. The Nine Properties of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Current AI research has shifted from trying to replicate human consciousness to simulating "artificial societies" and operational closure. Baecker identifies nine key properties that define the modern robot as an "unrestful intelligence."

1. Motorics: Unlike computers, robots possess motility, creating the problem of deciding when and where to move.
2. Sensorics: The ability to produce and attribute data to the environment, including the risk of "hallucinating" data.
3. Transformation Function: The mechanism that translates sensory data into motor actions by selectively ignoring the majority of available data.
4. Data Storage (Memory): Libraries of experience that facilitate orientation but also necessitate "forgetting" to solve access problems.
5. State Function: Transitioning from a "trivial machine" to a "non-trivial" one by checking internal states (e.g., "boredom") before reacting to input.
6. Source Code Access: The ability to rewrite metaprograms and "mission statements," introducing a level of flexibility associated with rationality.
7. Clocking (Taktgeber): Robots are currently moving toward an emancipation from external rhythms, seeking to synchronize themselves with their environment.
8. Self-Replication: The capacity for proliferation, which gives operative meaning to the balance of autonomy and dependence.
9. Neuronal Learning (Example-Oriented): The shift from logic-based rules to neural networks. Robots learn from examples, which are inherently selective and mark their own limitations.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. The Concept of the Matrix and Emergence

The "Matrix" (from the Latin for "womb") refers to the surrounding medium from which a system distinguishes itself but upon which it remains entirely dependent.

• Operational Closedness vs. Matrix: There is no life without a physical/chemical environment, no consciousness without neurophysiology, and no communication without the perceptions of consciousness.
• Emergence: This is the phenomenon where a system constitutes itself by excluding the very prerequisites (the Matrix) that it needs to exist.
• The "Why" of Information: Robots "want" information because they are example-based learners. Since examples never exhaust a subject, the robot is condemned to a state of perpetual unrest, constantly seeking new information to substitution old examples with new models to construct its world.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Conclusion: Rationality as Reflection

In this systemic framework, Rationality is the insight into the "distinction-character of the distinction." It is the position that has passed through all other positions of the tetralemma. It recognizes:

• The unknown environment (Position 2).
• The intelligence of coordination (Position 3).
• The unobservable world (Position 4).
• The medium of meaning/matrix (Position 5.1).
• Its own inability to find a way "out" of the system (Position 5.2).

Ultimately, systemic theory suggests a "theory of unreliable systems" where the observer is both the fraud and the facilitator, moving between a strict constructivism and a "wakeful realism" that perceives the world as its own dream.