Both Jack Burnham and Ross Ashby describe the construction of systems as being completely dependent both upon context, and upon our perception of reality. According to Jack Burnham in Systems Esthetics, art is a result of the viewer’s perspective, and the interaction between user and art can be thought of as a system. In this system, the components can be thought of as the user, the art piece, the environment, the pre-conceived mentalities of each individual, the artist, etc. All of these components put together create a system, however each of them individually have no higher meaning or significance. The overall composition of the system, and the organization of its parts, is then judged by the individuals perceiving the system. In the end, the perception of the individuals is what determines the “good” or “bad” qualities of the system.

Ashby also says that there is no such thing as a good or bad system; it is all relative to its context. Whether a system works in one scenario (good) can change in another scenario. This idea of context can be judged as another way of conceiving perspective, as the perspective of an individual is an entirely different context to that of another individual. Therefore, whether a system is good or bad, and how we choose to organize any system, is entirely dependent upon us as individuals.