Book Review:
Systems Ultra: Making Sense of Technology in a Complex World
Systems Ultra: Making Sense of Technology in a Complex World
Written with compassion and earnestness, Systems Ultra: Making Sense of Technology in a Complex World is a book concerned not only with the ways that systems are made understandable but also with the ways we experience how systems behave. “At their core,” Georgina Voss writes, “systems are about the relationships between things, and then the relationships between those relationships” (p. 7). It is this complex entanglement of connections that Voss gives plain-spoken narrative to in Systems Ultra.
The book encourages a different way of knowing about and articulating the things that make up our complex world. Voss admits, these things are “difficult to approach, hard to conceptualise, emerging and submerging through our limited human consciousness” (p. 6). As such, one of the aims of Systems Ultra, which is made explicit from the start, is to make sense of “what is meant by ‘systems’” (p. 7). The challenge however, is that general “systems literacy” is poor and the innately complex nature of systems themselves means, as Voss confesses, that “it is extremely difficult to write about systems given that they cannot adequately be described using words” (p. 7). Voss’ attempt is far from half-hearted, though, and is certainly a meaningful contribution to ongoing research on systems and to broader, related fields.
The way Voss writes about systems is in an almost New Journalistic tone that is informal whilst informed. She emphasises her viscerally embodied, phenomenological experiences and in doing this convincingly manages to attribute tangible, matter-like qualities — weight, mass, heft, density — which are usually “relegated to the background” of ideas about systems when they are treated, most commonly, as concepts (p. 93). The result of this style of writing is that the reader is left with the author’s own deeply personal and constructively limited take on the subject, as Voss suggests: “To deal with something may also mean giving oneself up to it” (p. 114). The idea, it seems, is not to have the reader come in line with Voss’ own point of view, instead, Systems Ultra fosters an undervalued attitude towards systems by enlivening the potential to take the essential differences of experience seriously. As Voss observes, “There is something rather wonderful about simply feeling our way through these enormous structures” (p. 24).
This approach means that Systems Ultra is not a straight-forward exposition or even a comprehensive navigational guide to systems or technology, instead it feels more like a collection of thoughtful, reflective meanderings. Because of that personal tone, the book reads warmly, as if spoken from a bar stool away, or across the length of a coffee table. The candid empathy, humour, confusion, frustration, and passion makes Systems Ultra invitingly accessible. More to the point, these are not contrived devices for broadening readership, they are part of the makeup of Voss’ critical position in (literal) action. As such, the intimacy Voss brings to the day-to-day affective experiences of diverse systems moves her — and by extension the reader — away from the position of academic voyeur and works to make the mundane presence of systems more intuitable, if no less confusing.
The implicit argument is that the expression of what can be known about systems does not need to be limited to abstract theory or rational logic but can also be expressed through careful descriptions of experience — be it walking without shade in the summer (p. 50), eating lunch looking at “Big Boys” (p. 40), the fear of flying over large bodies of water (p. 64), and so on. As such, the research that informs Systems Ultra is vulnerably fleshy in the way that it responds to a life lived attentively with systems and technologies more than it is a taught warp and weft of academic texts and criticism. It seems the argument that runs through each chapter is the importance of being sensitive and alert to systems and that the manner in which we are able to articulate those non-delegable experiences matters. As such, by queering the phenomenological normalcy of systems (p. 183), Voss makes their radical complexity starkly apparent.
Structurally, the book is made up of six episodic-like chapters and an afterword: Systems, Scale, Legacy, Matter, Deviance, and Breakage. Only the first chapter addresses systems in a direct and more traditionally academic way offering a swift genealogical pass through the histories of systems leading to the present. The rest of the chapters, less predictably, give oblique takes on systems and technologies. Arguably, in these chapters, systems are used more like an atmosphere of “interlinked complexities” (p. 8) offering a tint to the miscellaneous topics being written about, such as the tacky “grand theatre of hype” (p. 11) that is CES (formerly Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, the Ever Given ship that blocked the Suez Canal in 2021 (p. 28), and the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal (p. 152). This approach amplifies Voss’ argument that we should treat systems as “something which is really there” rather than exclusively as something “conceptual – a way of knowing the world” (p. 8). However, at times the lack of metanarrative to shape the things being written about and orientate the reader means that systems — as the core theme of the book — can feel as if it is being circumvented.
It is not clear who the imagined audience is for Systems Ultra but that may be symptomatic of the quasi-chaotic, multilayered way of engaging with the world that Voss encourages. With the more traditionally academic references tucked away in endnotes and the subject-specific jargon kept to a minimum, it would be fair to assume that the intention is to reach an audience beyond specific disciplines in academia — after all, the topic of the book concerns everyone and everything. There are aspects that designers — from educators to practitioners — would sympathise with, such as the frustration of learning new software (p. 101) and the challenges of making comprehensive visual languages (p. 67), and new media historians would certainly find the history of technologies and payment infrastructures of the adult film industry engaging (pp. 121-150). Although, if the reader is unfamiliar with systems (as a concept) Systems Ultra is an unconventional, and likely unhelpful introduction.
Systems Ultra is not presented as a handbook but it leaves the reader in need of one; to maintain the unquestionable momentum it has built, a short further reading list beyond the references cited would have been a useful tool for readers coming to systems for the first time or looking to challenge their assumptions about systems. In the final lines of the conclusion, the driving motivations of the book are presented clearly. Voss argues that knowing about the system is necessary “to mend and repair and maintain if we need to; but also to hack it and tear it down; to refuse its power, if we want to” (p. 178). As such, for the Design History readership specifically, Systems Ultra is undoubtedly a valuable companion for critical thinking about design’s histories and futures and would likely be most appealing to those interested in the methods and modes of “deep hanging out,” participant observation, situated knowledge, and queer phenomenology.
The book encourages a different way of knowing about and articulating the things that make up our complex world. Voss admits, these things are “difficult to approach, hard to conceptualise, emerging and submerging through our limited human consciousness” (p. 6). As such, one of the aims of Systems Ultra, which is made explicit from the start, is to make sense of “what is meant by ‘systems’” (p. 7). The challenge however, is that general “systems literacy” is poor and the innately complex nature of systems themselves means, as Voss confesses, that “it is extremely difficult to write about systems given that they cannot adequately be described using words” (p. 7). Voss’ attempt is far from half-hearted, though, and is certainly a meaningful contribution to ongoing research on systems and to broader, related fields.
The way Voss writes about systems is in an almost New Journalistic tone that is informal whilst informed. She emphasises her viscerally embodied, phenomenological experiences and in doing this convincingly manages to attribute tangible, matter-like qualities — weight, mass, heft, density — which are usually “relegated to the background” of ideas about systems when they are treated, most commonly, as concepts (p. 93). The result of this style of writing is that the reader is left with the author’s own deeply personal and constructively limited take on the subject, as Voss suggests: “To deal with something may also mean giving oneself up to it” (p. 114). The idea, it seems, is not to have the reader come in line with Voss’ own point of view, instead, Systems Ultra fosters an undervalued attitude towards systems by enlivening the potential to take the essential differences of experience seriously. As Voss observes, “There is something rather wonderful about simply feeling our way through these enormous structures” (p. 24).
This approach means that Systems Ultra is not a straight-forward exposition or even a comprehensive navigational guide to systems or technology, instead it feels more like a collection of thoughtful, reflective meanderings. Because of that personal tone, the book reads warmly, as if spoken from a bar stool away, or across the length of a coffee table. The candid empathy, humour, confusion, frustration, and passion makes Systems Ultra invitingly accessible. More to the point, these are not contrived devices for broadening readership, they are part of the makeup of Voss’ critical position in (literal) action. As such, the intimacy Voss brings to the day-to-day affective experiences of diverse systems moves her — and by extension the reader — away from the position of academic voyeur and works to make the mundane presence of systems more intuitable, if no less confusing.
The implicit argument is that the expression of what can be known about systems does not need to be limited to abstract theory or rational logic but can also be expressed through careful descriptions of experience — be it walking without shade in the summer (p. 50), eating lunch looking at “Big Boys” (p. 40), the fear of flying over large bodies of water (p. 64), and so on. As such, the research that informs Systems Ultra is vulnerably fleshy in the way that it responds to a life lived attentively with systems and technologies more than it is a taught warp and weft of academic texts and criticism. It seems the argument that runs through each chapter is the importance of being sensitive and alert to systems and that the manner in which we are able to articulate those non-delegable experiences matters. As such, by queering the phenomenological normalcy of systems (p. 183), Voss makes their radical complexity starkly apparent.
Structurally, the book is made up of six episodic-like chapters and an afterword: Systems, Scale, Legacy, Matter, Deviance, and Breakage. Only the first chapter addresses systems in a direct and more traditionally academic way offering a swift genealogical pass through the histories of systems leading to the present. The rest of the chapters, less predictably, give oblique takes on systems and technologies. Arguably, in these chapters, systems are used more like an atmosphere of “interlinked complexities” (p. 8) offering a tint to the miscellaneous topics being written about, such as the tacky “grand theatre of hype” (p. 11) that is CES (formerly Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, the Ever Given ship that blocked the Suez Canal in 2021 (p. 28), and the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal (p. 152). This approach amplifies Voss’ argument that we should treat systems as “something which is really there” rather than exclusively as something “conceptual – a way of knowing the world” (p. 8). However, at times the lack of metanarrative to shape the things being written about and orientate the reader means that systems — as the core theme of the book — can feel as if it is being circumvented.
It is not clear who the imagined audience is for Systems Ultra but that may be symptomatic of the quasi-chaotic, multilayered way of engaging with the world that Voss encourages. With the more traditionally academic references tucked away in endnotes and the subject-specific jargon kept to a minimum, it would be fair to assume that the intention is to reach an audience beyond specific disciplines in academia — after all, the topic of the book concerns everyone and everything. There are aspects that designers — from educators to practitioners — would sympathise with, such as the frustration of learning new software (p. 101) and the challenges of making comprehensive visual languages (p. 67), and new media historians would certainly find the history of technologies and payment infrastructures of the adult film industry engaging (pp. 121-150). Although, if the reader is unfamiliar with systems (as a concept) Systems Ultra is an unconventional, and likely unhelpful introduction.
Systems Ultra is not presented as a handbook but it leaves the reader in need of one; to maintain the unquestionable momentum it has built, a short further reading list beyond the references cited would have been a useful tool for readers coming to systems for the first time or looking to challenge their assumptions about systems. In the final lines of the conclusion, the driving motivations of the book are presented clearly. Voss argues that knowing about the system is necessary “to mend and repair and maintain if we need to; but also to hack it and tear it down; to refuse its power, if we want to” (p. 178). As such, for the Design History readership specifically, Systems Ultra is undoubtedly a valuable companion for critical thinking about design’s histories and futures and would likely be most appealing to those interested in the methods and modes of “deep hanging out,” participant observation, situated knowledge, and queer phenomenology.
Image courtesy of Verso.
