2024-2025 Mini Symposia Schedule

This paper proposes a somewhat different approach to the notion of there being a general theory of systems (GST) as originally proposed by von Bertalanffy (1969). The difference hinges on the use of the neologism ‘systemness’  as opposed to the generally used term ‘system.’ In this approach I will assert that there exists a primary set of conjoined and interrelated general attributes (and properties?) that constitute a holistic and, it is hoped, complete description of what it means to be a system, hence “systemness.” The attempt will be made to argue that this set of attributes constitutes a necessary and (potentially) sufficient means to describe or construct a ‘thing’ that every observer would agree is and a system. Thus, using this set of attributes analysts can decompose, without losing information, an existing system of any arbitrary complexity to grasp a deep understanding of something previously not understood (i.e., have predictable behavior) or engineers/practitioners can design functional/sustainable systems.

 

The theoretical framework advanced here can be applied to anything that one might regard a system, it provides an explanation for the ontogenesis of systems, in general, and it provides an explanation for how being a system is what leads to the next iteration of system construction, higher levels of organization, and greater complexity. The growth of organization and complexity, in direct contradiction to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is a natural consequence of being a “successful” system, i.e., having its existence for some duration.

 

The paper is a precis of my book, “Systems Science: Theory, Analysis, Modeling, and Design.”

 

 

 

Meet Your VP for Education

 

 This paper uses a quantum theory-based approach to explain a theoretical model for cultural transformation. Braiding concepts from cognitive science, quantum theory, and Indigenous ways of knowing, the model includes key cybernetic elements such as framing and Maturana’s languaging. The model becomes a complex adaptive system where each system is entangled with the others.

Quantum theory provides many concepts that allow us to move past binary or Cartesian thought. The theoretical model in this paper focuses primarily on entanglement, which is when two or more objects are connected in space-time over a distance. Entanglement can be applied as a metaphor to create transdisciplinary bridges between normally siloed systems in theoretical models. This paper will not include quantum quantitative modeling and will focus on a strictly theoretical model, braiding concepts and systems together to focus on a potential path to cultural transformation.

      As technology exponentially increases, most cultures rely more on technology than the natural world around them. Reclaiming Indigenous ways of knowing brings important concepts such as relationships and value for the natural world into the larger system. Many Indigenous cultures already see much of the world through a quantum lens. Language then serves as the entanglement to cultural change, much as Maturana describes.

      Cognitive science describes the critical period, or crucial learning time, when humans create frameworks to experience the world. These times entangle with brain changes. These changes may be developmental, as a child matures to human, or environmental, including trauma or dietary changes. Machine learning also has a critical period, as do animals, such as the imprinting of birds on parental figures. Understanding the commonalities will help us to transcend into a time/ space of a more-than-human world.  

Stories / narratives appear in most media, including within the domains of literature, film, theater/theatre, television, music, religion, the visual arts, video games, and other media. The question (the scientific problem) of the universal unit of story, also known as the unit of narrative, also known as the narreme, within all domains of culture was a long-unsolved problem, dating at least to the 1960s. A 2016 PhD study of creativity in cinema presented a solution to this problem; that solution is summarized in this paper. As stories / narratives are also units of culture, the same scientific discovery that revealed the unit of story (the narreme) also applies generally to units in all domains in culture, and has resulted in a meta-meta-science known as Evolutionary Culturology, also briefly summarized herein, and which provides a solution to consilience, the unity of knowledge (E O Wilson 1998), enabling both the Social Sciences and Arts/Humanities to fall under the purview of Science. `Culture’ is defined in Evolutionary Culturology as all: ideas, processes, and products. Scientific tools of Evolutionary Culturology are useful for all analytical and synthetic studies of culture.

 
This 40-minute invited PowerPoint talk (& 20-minute Q&A) for the ISSS is a précis of the paper `A scientific solution to the narreme, the unit of story’ (Velikovsky of Newcastle & The EthiSizer AI, 02023).
 
Please find a link to the (2023) preprint version of the paper, here:

& a link to the Ev Cult weblog, here: