Visual Control, UK Government and Large Hadron Collider!
06/08/2019
![Screenshot 2019-08-06 at 09.58.30](https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screenshot-2019-08-06-at-09.58.30-1.png)
Which is the simpler system? Running a country as “sophisticated” as the UK or running an experiment in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN, Switzerland?
The answer is straightforward if you have read the series of blogs on the CYNEFIN Framework (the first of 4 is here: https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/leadership-management/cbp/computer-says-so-innovation-and-cynefin-first-of-four-on-this-subject-2).
It would enable you to position UK Government in the Complex Domain and Large Hadron Collider in the simpler, Complicated Domain.
So when the Cabinet meets to decide on issues that potentially affect millions of lives, you’d think they might want to keep in touch with reality via a Visual Control System – with all critical information at their fingertips, all sharing the same data and information, with the capability to access the same simulations where they could run simple “what-if” questions – like “What will be the impact to the economy if the country votes for BREXIT?” So you might expect to see a room like the one below, where every key player can see every other key player, and they are all accessing the same sources of data / information / simulations, perhaps with each ministry’s perspective on that?
![](https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screenshot-2019-08-06-at-09.58.30.png)
Er, no! That’s the room running the LHC!
Here’s the room from where they run the UK! There are only two pieces of equipment in the room providing Visual Control for keeping in touch with reality – two clocks! And they’re both presenting two versions of the truth – if you look carefully, they’re both showing different times!
![](https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screenshot-2019-08-06-at-09.58.37.png)
Could be a relativistic effect I guess, but, somehow, I think the only people who’d understand that would be in the top room above!e
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Keren Tuv: My Cranfield experience studying Renewable Energy
Hello, my name is Keren, I am from London, UK, and I am studying Renewable Energy MSc. My journey to discovering Cranfield University began when I first decided to return to academia to pursue ...
3D Metal Manufacturing in space: A look into the future
David Rico Sierra, Research Fellow in Additive Manufacturing, was recently involved in an exciting project to manufacture parts using 3D printers in space. Here he reflects on his time working with Airbus in Toulouse… ...
A Legacy of Courage: From India to Britain, Three Generations Find Their Home
My story begins with my grandfather, who plucked up the courage to travel aboard at the age of 22 and start a new life in the UK. I don’t think he would have thought that ...
Cranfield to JLR: mastering mechatronics for a dream career
My name is Jerin Tom, and in 2023 I graduated from Cranfield with an MSc in Automotive Mechatronics. Originally from India, I've always been fascinated by the world of automobiles. Why Cranfield and the ...
Bringing the vision of advanced air mobility closer to reality
Experts at Cranfield University led by Professor Antonios Tsourdos, Head of the Autonomous and Cyber-Physical Systems Centre, are part of the Air Mobility Ecosystem Consortium (AMEC), which aims to demonstrate the commercial and operational ...
Using grey literature in your research: A short guide
As you research and write your thesis, you might come across, or be looking for, ‘grey literature’. This is quite simply material that is either unpublished, or published but not in a commercial form. Types ...