Senses of systems
Systems react to input all the time. It’s what makes them systems. A pendulum swings under the input of pressure. A seed germinates when the moisture level and temperature are just right. A developer screams when they discover the delivery date has been brought forward by a few weeks.
Systems react because they have senses. Not always literal senses in the form of sight or hearing with eyes or ears but senses nonetheless. When systems react, we must assume they are responding to something that they became conscious of. Reactions are proof that a system has sensed an event. A pendulum does not have a sense of pain, but if we hit it, it does react. This is what we mean by senses. They aren’t senses in a literal interpretation but the ability to respond to a stimulus.
A counterexample might help. A pendulum does not have a sense of temperature. It is not affected by it. The seed senses temperature and reacts. A pendulum does not work well when inverted, so in effect, it perceives the inversion as its behaviour changes. However, the orientation of a seed has minimal impact on it. And, whether you raise their temperature or invert them, a software developer will react to the event and can even tell the difference between the two.
This is what we are talking about here. Senses of systems: not so much a conscious awareness of the outside world, but the ability to be affected by the environment and phenomena. We also want to examine our awareness of these senses and how we can influence them to improve our situation. But first, we need to think a bit deeper about what a phenomenon is.