The Multi-screen Vision of System Evolution

In this chapter, we will explore the multi-screen vision of system evolution. Genrich Altshuller (Altshuller 1984, 1996) used different perspectives to approach a project, reflecting different depths to which individuals might engage their imagination for problem-solving. Altshuller described these various perspectives as screens on which the human imagination could describe the project and then project alternatives. The distribution of these screens through a hierarchy of systems and over time reflects different ways of thinking about a project, from ordinary to genuinely inventive. Altshuller also used this approach to illustrate what is needed for successful project creation and comprehensive forecasting of a system’s evolution. Requirements of present and future super-systems and output functions of the present system are compared to find differences between those systems and the project system and define the project's specific requirements. These four flashing lights (screens) firing in our imagination create the project's correct specification requirements. Creative thinking has six flashing lights (screens): two at the subsystem level (one in the present and one in the future), two at the system level (one in the present and one in the future), and two at the super-system level (one in the present and one in the future). These different perspectives offer enough opportunity for successful project creation. If we add three more screens (past super-system, past system, and past subsystems) to the existing six, we have nine screens. This nine-screen vision fully engages the imagination and supplies a clear vision of any system’s evolution.