System Dynamics as a Tool for Revolutionary Thought:

A New Version of the Untold Story

By Michael McCurley

It has taken me years to get up the nerve and 30 years of personal exile to tell this story. Well,
almost…

..When I was asked at Customs whether I was ‘carrying any material likely to bring down the
government of the United States’..Forrester’s immediate response was, “You should have
said, ‘I certainly hope so’” David C. Lane The Power of the Bond Between Cause and Effect: Jay
Wright Forrester and the Field of System Dynamics

I have always quietly thought that Jay W. Forrester was a revolutionary. In your favorite
video game or flight simulator, in your portable electronic game, or the console of your car lurks
the spirit of Jay Forrester. Yet you may not know who he is or what he has actually done. He is
one of our country’s best-kept secrets, and now that the Cold War is over, the real story of what
he did can now be told. No one, in fact, will ever admit that there’s anything like a secret or
covert life for Dr. Forrester. And therein lies the beauty of it. He is recognized as a genius,
Professor Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, inventor and developer of one of
the world’s first main-frame computers, and founder of the field of system dynamics. You’ve
never heard of him? That, in itself, should be suspicious. But there is more revolutionary in this
man than meets the eye.

Too smart to be the pawn of a foreign power, Jay Forrester set about the task of
transforming this planet on his own worldwide crusade. He would tap into the power of immense
calculating machines to use as his instruments for revolution. This was a daunting task since the
technology of computer science was still in its infancy. And somehow, he had to convince the
prevailing powers at the time that his efforts were genuine and would help make the country
safer. Global war in the 1940’s was not a fear at that time—it was a reality. World War II
predominated in the minds of everyone, especially since America’s recent development and use
of the atomic bomb. Well, nearly everyone. As his ‘field work’ was done on the USS Lexington
during combat, Forrester was already thinking and planning ahead for something else.

Once the Second World War ended, Jay Forrester was one of the first to join the race to
develop immense thinking machines during the 1950’s. A mental computer himself, he wanted
to use the power of a machine to aid thinking and carry out complex calculations, which is what
computers do best. To do all of this he had to become an inventor. When troubled by memory
limitations, he helped invent a new form of magnetic memory, which today is called RAM. He
was director of the Whirlwind Project computer at the time, one of only a handful of building
sized computers in the world. The computers we now use incorporate important innovations
from this granddaddy of today’s microprocessors.

Moving on into the 1960’s, Dr. Forrester decided to leave the development of computers
to other people and proceeded to create a new field of System Dynamics, which would use
computer simulation models to examine important social problems and systems. To do this, of
course, he would need the increasingly sophisticated power of computers. He adapted a wartime
fire control program for a weapons system into a new and versatile form of computer simulation
software. And then he did something Bill Gates would never even dream of doing. He insisted
that versions of the program be made freely available for public use! This anti-capitalist form of
thinking ensured that his program would never die, but would be replicated over and over in
different insidious forms and versions, as long as personal computers continue to exist. News of
this perfidy had to be suppressed, and to a certain extent it was. It would never be advertised on
Madison Avenue. That, for some people, was the same as being dead.

In time, however, the CEO’s of many gigantic corporations, and perhaps even the
government itself, became secretly alarmed that Forrester’s ideas would raise public
consciousness to new and dangerous levels. Beyond dinnertime conversation of the world’s
events, the people in charge did not want the rank and file to question their decisions or
intellectual authority—even when it was wrong.

This is not to say that a certain number of important decisions made by the government
and the military in the 50’s and 60’s came even close to making rational sense, but nearly
everyone had to agree on policies that would only be seen today as insane. We were absolutely
convinced at the time that if it came to a showdown, the United States and the Soviet Union
would mutually destroy one another with nuclear weapons. There was nothing particularly
comforting in this thought except for the fact that if you were destroyed, you’d be sure to take
your enemy with you. Somehow, Forrester was too distracted by his own thoughts to take what
the rest of society was thinking very seriously. But his ideas would have serious consequences
for the rest of the world.

In the 1970’s, Dr. Forrester literally went global. He created a complex model of the
world and ran computer simulations that projected outcomes of population growth and
mankind’s use of resources. Then he published a book called World Dynamics. Together with
Dennis and Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers and other scientists from the Club of Rome, that
organization published another book called The Limits to Growth. This was too much! The
books forewarned that uncontrolled use of the world’s resources could have disastrous effects.
Although this might seem like common sense today, such statements at that time were
considered subversive and dangerous since they affected the interests of multinational
corporations all over the world. To many, it was tantamount to Chicken Little talking about
global warming or saying, the sky is falling! Though nothing like this was actually said, the truth
made no difference. Challenging free market concepts of unlimited growth was a form of heresy
in those days, and though people were no longer burned at the stake, there were other ways to
keep free ranging minds under control.

The best way to keep the most intelligent of your enemies under control is to hire him.
…Keep your friends close, your enemy closer.

One of the country’s best-kept secrets was maintained quietly under wraps at MIT for the
next 50 years. Yes, this is the institution that indirectly provides the most advanced weapons
innovations used by the military defense industry. If only people had known about a secret
weapon that would have led to the success of any revolution. It was already in the hands of the
United States! What we might regret is that we never used it.
 Dr. Forrester’s mind was too valuable to be sacrificed.

Business and industrial applications of system dynamics followed in the 80’s and the
90’s, and engineers snapped up applications of system dynamics as if they were their own.
Grants from MIT and other private corporations made system dynamics seem decent, respected,
and even almost accepted. But there were still critics who remembered what the younger
dynamicists had done when they had tried to topple the world order and create a new
consciousness for humanity.

Today there are educational applications of system dynamics that are as innocent as ‘the
coffee cooling model’, ‘the homework model’ (not very well liked) or ‘the snowball model’—no
kidding! These have been properly sanitized and rehabilitated for education. Dr. Forrester, now
in his nineties, is almost ten years older than Fidel Castro, but he is still the smarter of the two.
This is a far cry from the heady days of a fire control system that was once used to wage a war in
the Pacific.

And now we come to the final element of this secret. Would you like to have a
superhuman thinking ability that is better than most anyone else? Would you like to have a
competitive insight that cannot be outmatched for your business or your personal life? Would
you like to use the power of your computer to augment the power of your mind? System
dynamics and computer simulation can actually do this for you. This is not a joke. Humor was
only intended to eliminate the people who would stop reading before they reach this point. Step
aside Harry Potter! System Dynamics is real. Computer simulation software is available for free
on the Internet and works with any computer. Free courseware and tutorials are also available for
open learning without cost. Today’s personal computers are as powerful as the first gigantic
computer used to develop the field. And you can formally study system dynamics if you wish, as
well. This quiet movement has been gradually growing throughout the world. Such a revolution
follows no creed or ideology, and it transcends personal beliefs. Before and after all, it promotes
a global transformation in human thinking.
Join us. Make a real difference. Discover a new consciousness.
TODAY!
Thank you for accessing this secret page. No one in the United States would have dared to host
this, so I’ve moved to Costa Rica, which offers safer jurisdiction, just in case. I live well off the
beaten track, and I’ve been here for so long that no one bothers much with me anymore.

Further Reading
Forrester, Jay W. D-4197-3 From Ranch to System Dynamics: An Autobiography Sloan
School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1992
Forrester, Jay W. D-4895 Learning through System Dynamics as Preparation for the 21st
Century Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology Revised
January 29, 2009
Lane, David C. The Power of the Bond Between Cause and Effect: Jay Wright Forrester
and the Field of System Dynamics System Dynamics Review 23(2-3) 2007, 2008

About the author—Michael McCurley is an alumnus of the Guided Study Program in System
Dynamics that was offered by MIT. He lives in Costa Rica.