The Moëbius Strip

Someone suggested using a Moëbius strip as the IAACT logo after giving a presentation reviewing William T. Powers's Making Sense of Behavior: The Meaning of Control (Benchmark Publications, Inc., 1998). The book's cover design by John Williams features a Moëbius strip.

The Moëbius strip may symbolize the circular causality, closed negative feedback loop described in Perceptual Control Theory. It may also symbolize the continuous communication which alone allows for the continuous negotiation among people necessary to dissolve the unintentional and intentional conflicts that arise as an integral aspect of daily living in the human condition.

We can imagine it emphasizes (since there are no nodes, boxes, or breaks) the constant, integral behavior of living. No matter where you enter the strip, it's NOT a starting place, just an entry point, in medias res, as some stories go.

Despite appearances, there is only one side! -- symbolizing perhaps the illusion of regarding external action as what is "real" and leading to (after close observation, experience, testing, and reflection) the "reality" (a perception) of behavior as the control (or "heart" as in the IAACT mission statement) of perception.

If the beauty and power of the Moëbius topology interests you, you may browse this website for more information.

However, beyond metaphor and mathematics rest the beauty and power of William T. Powers's closed negative feedback loop, the beauty of its formulas, and its explanatory eloquence in modeling the behavior of living systems. Be sure to explore and enjoy it!