“The structure of a system determines its behavior.”
— Donella Meadows
Choices appear free, but most behaviors, what is believed, pursued, feared, or normalized are shaped by the systems that surround them.
Before addressing capitalism, collapse, or solutions, it is essential to understand the hidden machinery itself: systems.
What Is a System?
A system is a set of elements interconnected to produce a particular behavior or function. Donella Meadows defines it as “an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something.”
It is not merely about parts but about patterns of interaction and purpose. A football team, a digestive tract, an economic market, all are systems.
Structure is paramount. The same elements, arranged differently, yield different results. Structure drives behavior. This is the foundation of systems thinking.
What Is Systems Thinking?
Systems thinking is a perspective that focuses on wholes rather than fragments. It attends to relationships, feedback loops, delays, and emergent behavior not just isolated events.
Instead of asking “What caused this?”, the deeper question is “What structure produced this pattern?”
One popular tool is the Iceberg Model:
- Events are the tip.
- Patterns lie beneath.
- Structures beneath those.
- Mindsets form the foundation.
This deeper view clarifies why problems persist—and where effective intervention is possible.
Systems Shape Behavior
People do not act in a vacuum; they respond to incentives, constraints, and feedback in the systems they inhabit.
As W. Edwards Deming observed: “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
Three examples illustrate the principle:
🏦 Economic Systems
Markets reward profit, shaping everything from planned obsolescence to ecological degradation. Even well-intentioned actors must compete or become obsolete. The system pressures behavior.
🏛 Political Systems
Campaign finance and short-term elections lead to lobbying, corruption, and short-termism. Not because individuals are inherently corrupt, but because the system rewards these outcomes.
📺 Media Systems
Outrage and sensationalism drive engagement, which drives profit. Algorithms amplify division because that sustains attention on advertisements. The attention economy is not malfunctioning, it is operating as designed.
It’s Not Broken, It’s Built This Way
Systems are often described as “broken,” but structurally, most operate exactly as designed—to concentrate wealth, control resources, or perpetuate hierarchy.
Buckminster Fuller identified society’s false premise of unavoidable scarcity—a “you or me” mindset that has justified extraction and domination for centuries.
Peter Joseph observes that the capitalist economy is not “failing”—it is functioning. Scarcity, inequality, and ecological damage are embedded in its logic.
The Borkedsys Method: Name, Expose, Redesign
Borkedsys applies systems thinking as a method of analysis:
🧩 Name the Structures
Identify the actual components and flows of the system.
Map the incentives, feedbacks, and power dynamics.
🕵 Expose the Functions
Ignore mission statements examine outcomes.
What does the system actually do, and who benefits?
🛠 Guide the Redesign
Can the goal, feedbacks, or flows be changed?
What would a system look like if it prioritized well-being rather than profit?
RBE: A Systems-Level Alternative
A Resource-Based Economy (RBE) offers one possible systems redesign.
No money. No trade. No debt.
Instead of prices signaling scarcity, data allocates abundance.
Automation, access, and sustainability replace hoarding, ownership, and waste.
- Energy: Renewable.
- Goods: Shared and durable.
- Housing, food, water: Designed for universal accessibility.
This is not utopia. It is the outcome when systems are designed for human needs—not profit margins.
Conclusion
Systems are the hidden scaffolding of society, shaping thought, behavior, and daily life.
Visibility enables transformation.
Borkedsys exists to reveal these systems, to name what is overlooked, and to guide the transition from critique to design, from extraction to regeneration, from competition to cooperation.