An algedonic Signal sends a preemptive message about pleasure or pain. ⇒ Cry of Pain
If we should touch a hot stove, the sensory input from our fingers causes us to **react instantly** and we pull back without stopping to weigh the alternatives. **This is not the kind of information that goes through normal channels and receives due consideration**.
In biological systems, algedonic signals are **tied to the system's Essential Variables**. The arousal mechanisms that send algedonic signals to living organisms are an important **survival mechanism**, and we see the consequences immediately if a threat does not set off an arousal mechanism or if the organism misperceives a signal. Moths, for example, are attracted to light but do not recognize the threat of fire in a candle flame. Complex organizations also need to be aroused when a threat to their survival appears and to recognize quickly when a desired state has been reached. Too often, however, the non-routine channels for such information in a large organization are inadequate or non-existent and indications of danger are filtered out rather than amplified. Management must **design non-routine channels so that it may act on non-routine information in time** to avert disaster or seize opportunity.
# SOURCE Stafford Beer, Brain of the Firm. The word algedonode is coined from Greek words pointing to pleasure and pain.
# EXAMPLES • a fire alarm • the first notice of a lethal design flaw in a piece of equipment • a sudden change in an operation or its environment • the death of the canary in a mine • innovation or a substantial improvement in a product • the opening up of a new market
# NON-EXAMPLES • the weekly report • any after the fact analysis • the normal top down chain of command
# PROBABLE ERROR • Designing algedonic signals with too narrow an awareness range, • believing signals to be in place when they aren’t
# SEE Filter; Variety; Catastrophe; Distinction