--- title: "Punch and Judy — Contents" description: "Punch and Judy — the second imported source set: a stress test for the Viable System Model (v0.5.0), part by part, with its thirty chapter pages and the coda…" url: "https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/contents" modified: "2026-11-12T15:26:25.869Z" language: "en" site: "Cybernetic Futures" --- # Punch and Judy — the stress test, part by part The second of the wiki's two imported source sets: *Punch and Judy: A Stress Test for the Viable System Model* by Krishan Mathis and Margeret Heath (v0.5.0 draft, 2026-08-16) — **not project canon**. [Overview](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/overview) carries the synthesis; this page carries the structure: five parts holding thirty chapters, and the coda. Each part page says what the part does and lists its chapters; each chapter page states that chapter's charge, what would settle it, and how far the authors claim it. - **[Part I — Inside: the model we did not read](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model)** — the part page, with its chapters listed - [Ch 1 — The Mapping We Teach Is Not the Mapping He Wrote](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch01-the-mapping-we-teach) - [Ch 2 — System Four Is Not a Pair of Eyes](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch02-system-four-not-eyes) - [Ch 3 — The Law We Quote Is Not the Law Ashby Wrote](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch03-the-law-we-quote) - [Ch 4 — Channels Without Owners](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch04-channels-nobody-specified) - [Ch 5 — The Ladder Without a Ruler](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch05-ladder-without-ruler) - [Ch 6 — The Brain in the Vat](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch06-brain-in-the-vat) - [Ch 7 — A Machine That Never Became One](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch07-machine-never-became-one) - [Ch 8 — The Loop That Stayed an Intention](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch08-loop-never-documented) - [Ch 9 — Why None of This Ever Cost Us Anything](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-01-inside-the-model/ch09-why-none-cost-us) - **[Part II — Outside: the people who found it without us](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model)** — the part page, with its chapters listed - [Ch 10 — Six Components, Six Literatures, No Beer](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model/ch10-six-components) - [Ch 11 — The Nesting: Simon, Koestler, Jaques](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model/ch11-nesting-simon-koestler-jaques) - [Ch 12 — The Variety Logic: Galbraith, Boisot, Aulin, Friston](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model/ch12-variety-logic-galbraith) - [Ch 13 — The Autonomy Design: Trist, Herbst, Cherns, Boeke, Endenburg](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model/ch13-autonomy-design) - [Ch 14 — The Evidence: Ostrom](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model/ch14-evidence-ostrom) - [Ch 15 — The Thirty-Year Experiment We Never Looked At](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model/ch15-thirty-year-experiment) - [Ch 16 — The Objections That Land, and What They Cost](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-02-outside-the-model/ch16-objections-that-land) - **[Part III — False friends and enemies](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-03-false-friends-and-enemies)** — the part page, with its chapters listed - [Ch 17 — The Market Test](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-03-false-friends-and-enemies/ch17-the-market-test) - [Ch 18 — The Test That Could Not Lose](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-03-false-friends-and-enemies/ch18-the-test-that-could-not-lose) - [Ch 19 — A Way of Thinking Has No Failure Condition](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-03-false-friends-and-enemies/ch19-no-failure-condition) - [Ch 20 — Usefulness Instead of Truth](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-03-false-friends-and-enemies/ch20-usefulness-instead-of-truth) - [Ch 21 — The Category Error as Shelter](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-03-false-friends-and-enemies/ch21-the-category-error-as-shelter) - [Ch 22 — The Enemies We Actually Have](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-03-false-friends-and-enemies/ch22-the-enemies-we-actually-have) - **[Part IV — What we lose](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-04-what-we-lose)** — the part page, with its chapters listed - [Ch 23 — The Narrow Claim](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-04-what-we-lose/ch23-the-narrow-claim) - [Ch 24 — Six Things Nothing Else Does — and What Each Costs](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-04-what-we-lose/ch24-six-things-nothing-else-does) - [Ch 25 — The Transducer](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-04-what-we-lose/ch25-the-transducer) - [Ch 26 — Freedom as a Quantity — The Book He Wrote and We Shelved](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-04-what-we-lose/ch26-freedom-as-quantity) - [Ch 27 — What Might Replace the VSM](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-04-what-we-lose/ch27-what-actually-replaces-us) - **[Part V — What's at Risk in the VSM](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-05-put-model-at-risk)** — the part page, with its chapters listed - [Ch 28 — What Would Count Against It?](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-05-put-model-at-risk/ch28-what-would-count-against) - [Ch 29 — The Two Cheapest Decisive Experiments](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-05-put-model-at-risk/ch29-two-cheapest-experiments) - [Ch 30 — The Bill: A Book Plus a Live Register](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/part-05-put-model-at-risk/ch30-the-bill) - **[Coda: Judy](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/coda-judy)** — the coda ## Related - [Overview](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/punch-and-judy/overview) — the synthesis of this source set - [Bibliography — sources used by the Pure VSM project](https://wiki.cybernetic-futures.org/pure-vsm/bibliography) — the Beer texts the locators point into