As I see from reading a little about the field's history and the literature, it suffered the same fate of other endeavors that are complex and still have a lot to be solved.

people become interested in it, try to find simpler 'popular' formulation and then the watered down versions become more popular than the original more complex version that need more rigor and discipline.

the watered down versions become more popular but without the rigor and discipline, you can argue and conclude everything and they opposite with these tools.

so people on the outside see the field as yet another fad and the whole field die down taking down with it the original version.

much like in AI with everyone labeling their stuff as AI which dilute the term more and more as time passes.

what Cybernetics and systems engineering needs is a rebranding and separation from the more 'soft' side that developed latter.

this is where I think some researchers on category theory like Jules Hedges might help. it would help defining dynamical and more general system in a vague but still formal way, say with a computer proof assistant sort of tool.