Cybernetics and suprahuman autopoietic systems

Several streams of cybernetic thinking lead to the notion that there may exist systems of a higher logical order than that of manmade organisation. Such systems would be autopoietic and, in principle, beyond human control. Man and his institutions would be but components of such systems. The accelerated growth of institutions and the connections between them facilitated by the IT revolution makes the realization of such systems more probable at this time. The implications for systems practice are discussed.