About Beyond the Pond
Beyond the Pond is a collection of essays about systems, engineering, science and society.
The name is inspired by a simple systems-theory metaphor.
A fish understands its pond through everything it can observe from within. Yet the pond itself is shaped by boundaries, influences and events that often originate outside the water. Looking beyond the pond therefore means looking beyond the immediate system in order to better understand the system itself. The essays published here follow exactly that idea.
Some explore industrial automation, manufacturing and artificial intelligence. Others discuss physics, systems theory or broader societal questions. Different topics, but usually connected by the same underlying principle:
Complex systems are often best understood by studying the boundaries that define them.
These essays do not claim to provide final answers. They are an invitation to think about familiar questions from a different perspective.
About the Author
Wilhelm Schellenberger is an Automation Architect with more than forty years of experience in industrial automation, software engineering and manufacturing systems.
After working as an automation engineer in Germany, he founded and managed several international technology companies and has spent much of his professional life developing and implementing industrial automation and manufacturing integration concepts across different environments.
His work focuses on manufacturing integration, industrial software architectures, data platforms and the practical application of artificial intelligence in manufacturing.
Outside engineering, he is a rock musician and a lifelong observer of complex systems.
He lives in Penang, Malaysia.