List of MicroSims for Systems Thinking in the Age of AI

Interactive Micro Simulations (MicroSims) that let you explore feedback loops, stocks and flows, emergence, and knowledge graphs hands-on. Click any card to open the MicroSim.

• Bathtub Stock and Flow Simulator

  

  Set inflow and outflow rates independently and predict whether the stock rises, falls, or holds steady.

• Breadth-First Search Step-by-Step

  

  Advance breadth-first search one ring at a time and predict which vertices it must visit next.

• Capability Maturity Model for Systems Thinking

  

  An interactive infographic microsim that shows the five-level of a capability-maturity model for enterprise systems thinking.

• Causal Loop Diagram Viewer

  

  A reusable viewer that renders causal loop diagrams from JSON files, with optional menus for loading example CLDs such as the bank balance loop.

• Cause-and-Effect Chain

  

  Trace a printer that jams every afternoon back through four intermediate causes to its root cause.

• CLD Editor

  

  An interactive editor for building causal loop diagrams: add and edit variables, polarized links, delays, and reinforcing or balancing loops, then save the diagram as JSON.

• Conceptual, Logical, and Physical Data Models

  

  Trace one retailer relationship through conceptual, logical and physical models and see what each layer adds.

• Data Ingestion Pipeline -- From Lake to Warehouse to Mart

  

  Sequence a data lake, ETL, warehouse and marts, and look inside the warehouse's star schema.

• Data Lineage and Stewardship Along a Pipeline

  

  Trace a field from CRM to executive report and see which two stages a named data steward is accountable for.

• Emergence From Local Rules

  

  Weight three local steering rules and predict the flock-level pattern that no individual agent computes.

• Emergence Simulator (Flocking)

  

  Watch coordinated flock-level movement appear from agents that each follow only local rules, with no central controller.

• Entity-Attribute-Relationship Explorer

  

  Classify every piece of a small knowledge representation as an entity, an attribute, or a relationship - including the attribute that belongs to the edge.

• Filter Bubble Formation Simulator

  

  Click the content you would actually open and watch topic diversity collapse over a handful of rounds.

• Fishbone Diagram — Cart Abandonment

  

  Drag ten candidate causes of cart abandonment onto the People, Process, Technology or Cost bone they belong to.

• From Intervention Point to Implementation

  

  Sequence five design steps from choosing an intervention point to closing the feedback loop, with a hospital-scheduling example at each step.

• Graph Algorithms Explorer

  

  Run community detection and link prediction on an 18-node network and interpret both results.

• Growth Rate Comparison

  

  Zoom the x-axis out and watch logarithmic, linear and exponential curves that looked similar separate dramatically.

• How Embodied Knowledge Moves, Fades, and Leaks

  

  Classify four ways knowledge moves, fades or leaks, and separate intentional transfer from unintentional spillover.

• Infographic Workflow for Creating a Causal Loop Diagram

  

  An interactive infographic-style workflow for the 12 steps in creating a causal loop diagram

• Inside a Neural Network Layer

  

  Move seven sliders and watch a neural network layer's weighted sum and sigmoid activation recompute live.

• Intelligent Agent Causal Loop Diagrams

  

  Several versions of a vis.js causal loop diagram showing how AI, software developers, software agents, agentic IDEs, and MCP reinforce each other to accelerate AI capabilities.

• Interconnection Network Explorer

  

  Click any node in a six-stage supply chain to trace which parts a disruption there would reach, directly and indirectly.

• Learning Curve vs. Experience Curve

  

  Compare the learning curve against the experience curve on a log-scaled production axis and see why one falls faster.

• Learning Graph Viewer

  

  Explore this book's learning graph of concepts and prerequisites with search, category filters, zoom, and live node and edge counts.

• Leverage Points Iceberg

  

  An interactive visualization of Donella Meadows' 12 Leverage Points using the iceberg metaphor, showing that deep interventions are hidden but transformative.

• Logistic Growth S-Curve Explorer

  

  Add response delay to logistic growth and watch a smooth S-curve turn into overshoot, then into collapse.

• Logistic Map Bifurcation Explorer

  

  Drag one parameter through the logistic map's route to chaos and watch two near-identical trajectories separate.

• Loop Polarity Counter

  

  Click each link of a four-node causal loop to reveal its polarity, then let the running tally decide whether the loop is reinforcing or balancing.

• Mapping Two Schemas to a Canonical Schema

  

  Match differently-named fields from two source systems to a canonical schema and read each transformation rule.

• Metadata Registry vs. Catalog

  

  Compare a governed metadata registry against a discovery catalog, and follow the dashed link that keeps a found field traceable to its definition.

• MicroSim Growth Network Effect

  

  A reinforcing feedback system showing how MicroSims, Intelligent Textbooks, and Teacher Awareness create a virtuous cycle of growth through network effects.

• Moore's Law Timeline

  

  An infographic with hovers showing the progress of Moore's Law in both linear and log scales.

• Multi-Hop Query Performance, RDBMS vs Graph Database

  

  Compare RDBMS join time against graph traversal time from one to five hops, on a log or a linear axis.

• Node Simulator Test

  

  A test of the Insight Maker simulation library: a single population stock with a 10% growth flow, simulated over 20 years and plotted with Chart.js.

• Point-to-Point vs. Hub Integration Cost

  

  Move one slider and watch point-to-point connections grow as N(N-1)/2 while hub connections grow as N.

• Population Simulator with Causal Loop Diagram

  

  A graphic novel about Tragedy of the Commons.

• Predator-Prey Population Dynamics

  

  Watch predator and prey populations oscillate out of phase in an animated Lotka-Volterra meadow.

• Product Space Explorer

  

  Pick a starting export basket and see how many products relatedness puts within one step's reach.

• Reinforcing vs. Balancing Loop Simulator

  

  Compare a reinforcing loop's runaway growth curve against a balancing loop's goal-seeking convergence, side by side.

• Stakeholder Power-Interest Grid

  

  Place stakeholders on a power-interest grid and justify a different engagement strategy for each quadrant.

• Stock and Flow Notation Explorer

  

  Click parts of a bathtub-style stock-and-flow diagram to see how each maps onto the causal loop diagram from Chapter 3.

• Subsystem Nesting Explorer

  

  Open each of a car's four subsystems to see that every subsystem is a complete system in its own right.

• System Boundary Explorer

  

  Drag a boundary around a household heating system and watch what counts as input, output, or environment change.

• Systems Map Example — Coffee Shop

  

  Explore a coffee shop as a systems map, with money, goods and information flows drawn in three distinct line styles.

• The Book's Concept Clusters, Connected

  

  Walk the book's ten concept clusters around a circle and see how each one builds on the last.

• The Generic Software Capability Maturity Model

  

  Hover the five ascending maturity levels to place an organizational behavior at the right step.

• The Organizational Silo Reinforcing Loop

  

  Trace the five-stage loop that keeps an organizational silo intact, and find the one link an intervention can actually cut.

• The Seven Bridges of Konigsberg

  

  Compute each landmass's degree and apply Euler's odd-degree rule to see why the famous walk is impossible.

• The Technical Debt Feedback Loop

  

  Explore the technical debt doom loop and three leverage-point interventions that break it.

• Three Feedback Loops Behind Algorithmic Disparate Impact

  

  Trace three high-stakes algorithmic systems and discover all three are the same reinforcing loop.

• Three Reinforcing Loops Behind Knowledge Graph Adoption

  

  Trace three reinforcing loops behind knowledge graph adoption and see that all three share one structure.

• Tragedy of the Commons Agent-Based Simulation

  

  Add cows to a shared pasture and find the herd size at which the grass stops recovering between grazing cycles.

• Training vs. Validation Error -- Spotting the Overfitting Point

  

  Slide through 50 training epochs and find the exact point where validation error turns upward.

• Vertical vs Scale-Out Graph Architecture

  

  Toggle between one large graph server and a three-shard cluster, and see why a cross-shard edge costs so much more.