Lewis Works

This open, on-line Newsletter is published weekly, every Friday Afternoon at 4:30 PM PST. It is updated with new announcements and articles each week.

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Lewis Works Newsletter* 

*Special Edition--Applied Meta-systems

The E-zine of Applied General Systems Science

By Hugh M. Lewis, PhD, MA, general editor

Vol. I, No. 9

4/02/04 Copyright 2004 ©, Hugh M. Lewis.  Facsimiles of this page or parts of this page may be printed and distributed for non-profit research, consulting and educational purposes only, as governed by fair use policy.

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Our Junior Partner Framework is Opened for Recruitment

Criticisms/Comments, then Provide Feedback

Feature IV

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We continue our shift in focus away from general and theoretical perspectives toward applied systems, projects and programs that are current or soon to be adopted within our framework. This shift reflects our general developmental trend toward greater involvement with working systems. The challenge in implementation of any systems approach has always been the resolution of the information explosion and bottleneck that is attendant upon the elaboration of complex systems. Consistently working within general frames of reference provide a part-whole solution to this problem, though we must face the relativity of complementary frames of reference, and hence the multiplication of alternative approaches to the same general problem set.

Our recruitment continues for JP's.

Benefits for joining us are considerable, and will increase as we grow ourselves. This is a true ground floor opportunity, and you will have the chance to directly influence the direction and outcomes of our new company. Inquire with Hugh about becoming a senior founding partner and its benefits.

If are interested even slightly, or you know of anyone who may have such an interest, or who might even remotely benefit from such partnership, you are strongly encouraged to inquire with Hugh

We invite you to submit any kind of information you would like to see published on these pages.

Suggestions, Criticisms, Comments, Advertisements & Feature Article Submissions are most welcome.

All submissions or other materials must be received by me by e-mail attachment no later than Thursday Evening, the day before publication, otherwise they will be posted the following week.

If you would like to submit your own feature article, please inquire.

Mission Statement

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Lewis Works is dedicated to realizing new human adaptive possibilities as the result of the global systems knowledge revolution in order to create alternative long-term frameworks for human & biological systems development, both on earth and beyond.

The primary mission of Lewis Works is to fundamentally empower all human beings, without regard or reference to their individual or cultural differences, so that they may function in a more constructive and non-violent manner by means of their integration within an applied systems framework that enables them to contextualize and focus their independent developmental efforts toward comprehensive solutions to common problems in resource distribution, environmental adaptation, and social-structural interaction.

• 1. Lewis Works seeks alternative meta-systems based development through applied general systems with the main goals of:

• a. Achieving a mutually stable and harmonic balance between future human systems and earthbound biological systems.

• b. Providing all human beings in unbiased structural or cultural contexts the alternative systems-based frameworks for their individual & social development by means of increased opportunities, productivity, security and resource availability that they would not otherwise have in conventional frameworks.

• c. Developing the infra-structural context and means for the regular extension of human and biological systems beyond the boundaries of the earth.

• 2. Lewis Works is dedicated to achieving a better world for all people and for all life-forms through the implementation and articulation of an applied general systems framework to general and specific problem sets that occur in the adaptive organization of human behavior in a shared natural environment.

• 3. Lewis Works is non-exclusive, open, non-authoritarian, philanthropic and pacifist in orientation.

• 4. Lewis Works pursues a combination of both profit and non-profit programs and projects to the achievement of its main goals.

• 5. Lewis Works protects and promotes universal human rights and human responsibilities throughout its various programs and projects by the systematic pursuit of human development strategies.

• 6. Lewis Works is law abiding and honest in all its dealings and transactions in all contexts, and respects and honors the customs and manners of all peoples and all ethnocultural groupings.

• 7. Lewis Works protects and promotes the confidentiality and legitimate interests of its clients and customers under all circumstances and in all cases.

• 8. Lewis Works seeks to efficiently provide a comprehensive range of profit-based services and related product lines within an open, web-based forum of exchange that is global in scope, regional in character, and local in focus, and that serves as the basis for the development of a structurally open meta-systems based context in the world transcending local, regional and national identities and affiliations.

• 9. Lewis Works seeks to promote non-profit programs in alternative human development for the sake of alleviating human suffering, educating people openly and in an unbiased manner, and promoting pro-social human development.

• 10. Lewis Works seeks to create trans-national meta-cultural orientations in the world through various organizational frameworks that promote open, democratic principles of government, fair-play and the rule of just law, and through the development of anti-structural multi-media based systems that provide humanity a common symbolic context for their meta-cultural integration.

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The real challenge in the implementation of Lewis Works has been so far in developing working systems and platforms/frameworks for working systems on the ground in a consistent and organized manner. These working systems are grouped as articulatory frameworks into several main areas represented as 'departments' of the Lewis Works framework, and include: consulting/troubleshooting, scientific laboratory & field research, writing & publication, art and aesthetic media productions, business development services, organizational systems, non-profit programs/projects, construction and educational systems. The lack of resources has exacerbated this problem of building working systems on the ground floor and slowed the development process overall. So also has been the general closure and recalcitrance of American society in particular, and the resistance and prejudice demonstrated by most Americans toward alternative developmental frameworks. In spite of these challenges, we have managed over time to aggregate capital resources and to slowly push forward our front-line application frameworks across the board.

Applied systems generally concern engineering types of problems, but within a meta-systems framework we need to define engineering in a broader sense than is conventionally used for this term, to encompass a more general range of human constructive capacities and possibilities that are created by knowledge and human intentionality. We can consider art and media production as an extension of these interests, as well as education, organization, and even commerce. Almost any area of human productive activity can be functionally classified and analyzed in this way. It is common in sports for instance to do a fine analysis of motor-skeletal patterns of movement to determine how to refine the performance of an athlete.

It is also important to answer in a clear way the unasked question of why applied systems, and why systems frameworks in the first place? The answer to this question is manifold: 1. the way things are now, and continue to be, are simply not good enough, and upon certain levels and in certain areas, are simply not doing the job that needs to get done if we seek a successful adaptive solution for the long run. 2. most importantly, I think it is important to emphasize the increasing role that systems will play in our collective life, and they are by design open and available to all people, hence they tend to empower all people in an equal way, even if they are not deliberately deployed for that purpose. 3. systems are not only humanly good to think, but they are in the long run good to do. They provide the contexts which will facilitate the acquisition  of knowledge and build capacities in people that they did not previously have. Before the invention of the airplane, flight was just a fantasy for all people, and unrealistic for many. Now, because of well developed aeronautical systems, flight is facilitated for many people in the world, more so now than ever before, but even the aeronautical systems now are far from perfect in many different ways.  Systems facilitate and make possible what was previously impossible without them. When they are constructive they enhance and enlarge our shared reality. We therefore need systems, perhaps more than ever now that we are reaching our global carrying capacity.

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Alternative Systems are really all about human creativity and human constructive capacity rooted in innate human intelligence that has long been environmentally conditioned and constrained in ways that render this capacity productive and adaptive in terms of developing working systems. They perhaps started with the first stone tools, or fire, and all the other accoutrements that we associate now paleo-anthropologically with Stone-Age culture. All human inventions and technological refinements are examples of alternative systems that have been produced and utilized by people, but that have no independent occurrence or existence before or beyond the fact of their human construction and utilization.

But there is a definite logic and sense of order to working systems of whatever kind we may consider, a sense of order which is really apart from their functional purposes or the reasons of their construction and development in the first place. Conceptually speaking, systems embody certain principles and ideas that are essentially independent of their actual behavior and functioning, except in the sense that such concepts and principles tend to define the parameters and limits of such behavior--what a system can and cannot do, and how well or efficiently it can do it.

An alternative system may be defined therefore as a system that had no independent order or sense of existence apart from their being constructed as the result of human behavior or the behavior of some other living system. They do not occur naturally in a self-organizational manner apart from the behavior that produced them, whether this behavior was intentional or unintentional.

It is the potential of human creative capacity to invent entirely new systems that never before existed, and hence to add to reality and the knowledge fund about reality in significant ways. This is the basic process underlying human civilization, and it continues to grow and develop in a relatively unhindered manner.

Any applied system may be thought of as a working system, and any working system that performs work, in a technical, thermodynamic sense, and that is not completely self-organizational, may be considered an applied system. An applied system is a machine in a word that has a certain paradigm of possible behavior under an operational range of conditions. Any organism may be thought of as a biological machine. Any machine's design serves some functional purpose or intent that is implicit to its design, and which constrains the possible parameters of its behavior. A biological machine, an organism has a function to survive and to reproduce. A car has the function of transporting its passengers over a roadway, etc. The design of the car, and the design of the organism, is implicitly or explicitly intended to serve these purposes.

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I propose the development of alternative models of intelligent systems that do not strive to meet the rigorous hard AI standards of the Turing Test, and that serve other functions than the mere anthropomorphization of machine behavior and the projective mimicry of our own behavior in the input-output feedback loop that defines a machine as a form of automaton. If we cast about the natural world for examples of such alternative intelligence, they are not very difficult to discover--we find them in ant-colonies, that can forge a trail in the most efficient manner between food sources and other resources and their underground chambers, even if no single ant by itself, or even a small group of ants, is capable of achieving such a solution by itself. I would recommend that any living system, or species, that has successfully worked out for itself an evolutionary solution in a given ecological niche represents from a form of alternative intelligence in its design and behavioral patterns. I would suggest furthermore that if we look at intelligence primarily as the complex manipulation of information, then even genetic transmission and recombination systems that result in adaptive evolution represent an alternative form of natural intelligence.

Given these considerations, I would proffer a definition of alternative intelligence as any system involving the manipulation, storage, change and updating of information in a semi-autonomous manner that serves to solve particular functional problem sets that are the intention of their designs, including but not limited to the performance of some kind of work, as a machine, or the acquisition and mediation of information for its own sake.

I therefore propose alternative standards and measures of machine or systems based intelligence that might include any subset of the following kinds of criteria:

1. non-anthropomorphic designs in form or function.

2. capacity for consistently solving certain complex problem sets in a reliable manner.

3. performance complex operations in an automatic and routine operational manner with minimal human control inputs, manipulation or mediation.

4. is capable of being integrated into larger systems frameworks that are themselves intelligently integrated upon another level of functioning.

5. is capable of some degree of generalization and modularization of form and function of information.

We should be willing to accept more relative standards of what constitutes an "intelligent system" or machine, and to understand that by this term we do not mean the same thing as a "thinking" machine or a machine that can actually think for itself in an independent manner. Perhaps eventually such a sophisticated device can be somehow engineered, but in the meantime we might content ourselves with more reasonable and realistic sets of standards and definitions regarding machine intelligence.

An intelligent system is, therefore, any complex design of information representation, that is capable of functioning in relatively sophisticated ways in the manipulation and handling of information, given the caveat that what might seem sophisticated from the point of view of an ant or a dog might not seem so from the standpoint of a dolphin or a human. Not being constrained by anthropomorphic or anthropocentric conventions, the stereotype of Robby the bipedal, walking/talking robot is perhaps something best kept in the 1950's. Intelligent systems can take virtually any form and design required of their function, without regard to such standards. Of greater interest are the integration of intelligent systems and subsystems into larger meta-systems framework, with the idea of the distribution of automated control functions and tasking to various components of a larger framework, and the capacity for multi-tasking across a range of problem solving areas.

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Automata & Automation

The problem of automata and the problem of automation are not the same, though they are generally confused on an implicit level and often the two terms are used interchangeably. In a sense, automata refer to the theory of automatons, or theoretical machines that are capable of producing a certain kind of modulated output, arbitrarily determined, depending or independent of the nature of the input into the system. Usually the output is determined by a set of rules, or a "discrimination" structure that somehow logically determines the final choices among a range of alternates. 

Automation refers to a machine that is capable of independently performing complex functions, and demonstrating some measure of self control, without direct manipulation or involvement by a human agent or human mediation. In general, automation tends to simplify and remove human involvement from the direct action or consequences of the behavior of the system or machine. With increasing automation, we expect that human involvement in a system becomes less and less directive, and possibly minimized to a point of merely turning such a system on or off or providing basic starting/stopping operations, etc. Of course, an automated system is not merely a "remote-controlled system" though in general it entails some degree of remote control. An engineer on earth piloting a vehicle on Mars surface is primarily an example of a process of extremely "remote" control. Systems automation entails that the system becomes increasingly self-controlling, and the control function of the human input is simplified to the minimal number of choices necessary to make the system fully operational.

The purpose of automation is not to displace workers from the labor force, but to free human activity and interest from the drudgery of performing routine-operational tasks, in order that they may spend their time doing more meaningful work and cultivating more productive life-styles.

Automation has in general proceeded slowly and incrementally one small bit and piece at a time--it is usually articulated in very narrow and tightly delimited contexts. Machines are best at performing one set of functions, over and over again, at very rapid rates. They are not at their best when they are multi-function by design. Conventional CPU's are single processing devices that perform one stream of continuous information processing in a linear but very rapid manner. Creating multi-or parallel processing devices, like the connection machine, associated primarily with supercomputing and the handling of very large informational demands at very high rates of speed, are a kind of solution to this problem, but perhaps we can consider as well non-linear processing functions that work in fundamentally different ways than straight forward parsing of strings of information. Analog and hybrid computing models have been developed that to some extent address these issues, but the problem still remains open, especially if we consider it in light of the challenge of creating human-like intelligence, or machines that can be automated across a fairly broad range of different tasks.

Of course, the two concepts, automata and automation, converge when we think of an automated system that is intelligent, like a fully functioning robot that is self-directive and independent in its behavior. Given time, we may perhaps achieve such models in a manner that would measure up to what we would expect of our current stereotypes of them. The general trend of the future is of course one toward greater convergence, but this convergence is very broad based and comprehensive in form, and proceeds in a relatively self-organized and piece-meal way. It will not come overnight, or even in a year. It will be measured by relative degrees of integrated distribution and achieved progress compared to measures of the past.

It would be expected to see increasingly intelligent automation in areas that involve the greatest and most intensive inputs of human labor, and this is in areas of greater and more reliable complex pattern recognition, manual manipulation of tools to make fine products of varying design, and in possibly genuine "auto-mobiles" that are self-guided and self-steering. Achievement of semi-intelligent automation in any one of these areas, much less all of them, would represent significant advancements in the development of humankind.

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by: Hugh M. Lewis

Applied systems are human systems, and in answer to the why of applied systems we may state unequivocally that they are about, first and foremost, human empowerment. I define human empowerment as ultimately an individual condition of gaining the power to control and modulate changes in one's own life, if not in a complete sense, at least in a significant and focal manner in areas that are considered important to one's identity and adjustment in life. Telephones empower people with the ability to communicate with other people remote from their own location, beyond the range of natural hearing and broadcast vocalizations. Similarly, the Internet has empowered people with nearly instantaneous, affordable, temporally unconstrained communications worldwide. 

Human empowerment is ultimately and primarily about self-empowerment by the individual in relation to the social group of which that individual is a member. It is only after the fact of individual empowerment indirectly involved in empowerment of the group. But if empowerment of the group is achieved at the expense of the individual, as it so often has been in the past, then placing emphasis upon group empower mitigates in the long run against constructive structures of human development. This is why open, democratic social organization tends to be much more productive and economically vigorous than closed, authoritarian structures. This is why capitalist-based, open market economies generally out-perform closed, redistribution-style economic systems. Ideology in fact has little to do with this kind of difference, and therefore modes of production and the dialectics of materialism mean nothing if they are not truly representative of the patterning and tendencies of human systems. There has been no greater repression of the individual, and the individual sense of empowerment for the sake of the group, than in communist societies.

Human empowerment comes through providing opportunity structures for people to achieve, through education and employment, and to gain access to greater social control over resources, along with increased responsibility in the utilization of those resources. It is primarily a matter of providing people the means to empower themselves, or to realize a form of self-empowerment that is largely independent of any external structures that are coercive or obligatory in some manner that enforces conformity. Such empowerment is not achieved either by undue restriction of opportunities or resources, nor by the undue provisioning of resources in excess of what may really be need to achieve fulfillment. In this regard we should not confuse self-empowerment with social aggrandizement and status mongering.

Issues of human empowerment underlie and underscore and provide motivation and momentum to human development processes. This is as true on an individual level, as it is true on a collective or even a global level of articulation. It makes sense therefore than any program promoting human empowerment that is consonant with larger meta-systemic frameworks, will work positively toward the promotion of human and systems development in the larger meaning of the term, and that human empowerment therefore is one of the principle objectives of any proposed human development program.

Capacity building and resource development aside, human empowerment, psychologically speaking, is about self-determination and ultimately about self-motivation and independent achievement. Of course, circumstances in the environment can frustrate or facilitate individual achievement, but without the personal drive and initiative to achieve, no amount of external facilitation or cultivation of context will conduce to satisfactory returns. In general, young children, if provided the right feedback and facilitating, nurturing effective environment, will naturally strive to achieve--this is not because they are independent, but because they are dependent in their development upon the models and response patterns of their significant care-takers.

Anything that encourages dependency without self-determination debilitates against empowerment. Children learn to walk on their own, independent of the arms of their parent or caretaker who protect them from a fall. Anything that encourages independence through self-determination promotes human empowerment and in turn promotes human development. The problem of chronic, embedded poverty in the world, for instance, and the so-called "culture of poverty" and the paternalistic implications of the poor being like dependent children, are only encouraged into a form of debilitating secondary gain by the provisioning of money or resources. Provisioning jobs that are non-exploitative, that encourage learning, capacity building, development of skills and self-confidence, is a way of empowering the poor. Of course, poverty is its own vicious cycle that begets more poverty, and in time poor people can become habitually ingrained to the condition of being poor--they adapt even under extremely difficult circumstances, and though they are deemed failures by others, they must be deemed successful as people who manage to survive extremely harsh and chronic circumstances.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

I want to make a case for the incorporation of randomizing functions in software systems that purport to be "intelligent" by design. I find far too little randomization of such systems whenever I encounter them, and I for one have always made an effort to incorporate such randomization into the very design of the kinds of "intelligent systems" is seek to construct. I would say that randomization depends upon certain degrees of freedom being available in the possible patterning of a system, and leads to flexibility in the patterning of systems that can exponentially increase to infinite proportions. I would suggest that in the naturally intelligent systems we are most familiar with, namely ourselves, our language, and our behavior. 

If we define randomization of information as the substitutability of one bit of information for an equivalent, alternative bit of information, from a range of such alternative bits of information, then at each step in a sequence of possible substitutions we dramatically increase the possible number of patterned outcome of such a sequence. We can apply this to the theory of automata, as this is represented by the Turing Machine, and say that for each unit of input in an automata machine, there is in principle an infinite range of possible outputs produced. The theory of automata ties directly to logical relations, the manipulation of sets and matrices, and set theory.

Of course, for natural systems, we cannot have completely random systems. Random systems in nature are completely chaotic, and hence, any totally randomized system would have no logical sense of order--it could not be a system as such, if a system is defined as some set of relationships between parts that have a sense of overall order. We say such systems are partly determined or constrained, rendering them to some extent non-random and therefore sensible and available to our descriptive and predictive analysis, even if only in a statistical sense for fairly complex systems. And all natural systems are in the final analysis complex.

But randomization, if controlled, can enhance and create the complexity of an artificial system resembling natural intelligence, and hence more closely approximating conditions of the Turing Test for artificial intelligence, namely the Chinese room experiment.

If we can redefine randomization from the standpoint of information theory as the equal probability or likelihood of occurrence at any give point of a set or paradigm of alternates, however large, then we can in our groupings and relational sets insert a sense of non-random order to our framework. If we can further restrict the alternates by certain principles, for instance as in linguistic coding, the choice between alternates is no longer completely random, but biased upon some principle of selection or prioritization. 

We must be careful here when referring to artificial or machine intelligence to distinguish between genuine intelligence as a form of intuitive feeling, understanding and self-awareness, and the mere reflective mimicry of such understanding that we ultimately project from ourselves into the behavior of such machines when the trick us into believing that they are naturally responsive to our behavior in an intelligent manner. Building such randomization of such systems into a basic level of their design and articulation may be a way of achieving a sense of mimicry of intelligence, and helping us to develop a working, functional model of such intelligence, but it does not substitute for what we could call deliberate, willful, intentional thought and sensibility.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

Knowledge systems refer to a broad class of alternative systems, and may be defined as those working frameworks that depend upon and are founded upon the maintenance, articulation and development of a body of knowledge that is delimited in scope and in terms of main subject matter, etc. If we wish to differentiate the human knowledge landscape, we can distinguish between different kinds of knowledge based upon the purposes they serve and the form that they may take. Religious knowledge certainly tends to differ from scientific knowledge, and scientific knowledge can be considered different from artistic or aesthetic knowledge.

A quick functional characterization of knowledge systems might be best gained in terms of the kinds of functions they serve--basic knowledge systems are "common sense" and everyday kinds of knowledge that people utilize to get around and perform largely habitual and routine operational functions. 

Specialized knowledge systems usually require a fairly lengthy amount of learning and training, and refinement with experiential learning that is associated with hands-on involvement, especially associated with fine motor skills, good hand-eye coordination, the ability to perform complex tasks and sets of tasks, critical and analytical decision making and problem solving, and detailed knowledge related to taxonomy and classification of a subject and understanding of the complex relational and behavioral aspects of a subject.

General knowledge systems refer to a level of taxonomic categorization and classification of things into groups, and identification and reference to the group and to the behaviors characteristic of the group or to members of the group. General knowledge refers to knowledge that is attributed to sets, and to the organization of the knowledge landscape and the organization of worldview upon a symbolic and abstracted level of understanding. General knowledge can and usually is associated with what is known as "folk knowledge" or received understanding that is culturally biased within a particular collective worldview.

I refer to advanced knowledge as a relatively sophisticated form of systems based understanding that comprehends both specialized technical forms of knowledge within larger general frameworks, and that also entails the articulation of basic knowledge on a regular, everyday basis. Advanced knowledge is something that is emerging with the information-knowledge revolution. I would claim that it is systems-based knowledge, but in both an analytical and synthetic sense.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

Design modularization is intrinsic to the development of complex systems, and it concerns not only the prefabrication of replacement parts, but the possible substitution of parts with alternative components that may serve either a similar function, or a different set of functions in an manner integral to the framework of the system it is a part of as a whole. Design modularization may be thought of as the other side of the coin of the streamlining and convergence of systems upon an optimal solution set, and it concerns that natural divergence of elaborated and highly developed systems to a broad range of alternative conditions and circumstances, in a manner that is fitting and adjustable.

I would consider in general a highly modularized system to be one in which its components are highly interchangeable and in which its componential elaboration is relatively fine analytical scale. In developmental parlance we may call such a system as highly differentiated, hyper-compartmentalized and elaborated. There is a sense of association between componential elaboration of parts and the functional specialization of the part, which specialization may serve as a trade-off to the modularity of the component. A modular component should be definition be one that is replaceable not by an identical one, but by a different one of similar design configurations.

Standardization of certain design configurations is a way of overcoming this issue--if we know the make, model and year of a car, we can order different sets of tires by manufacturer and tread and construction, all fitting the same wheel drum in the same way. Rubber tires may be considered to be generally modularized even if the individual tires are somewhat specialized by tread, design, etc. The sizes of the tires are standardized across a range in order to fit a range of different vehicles and to allow for interchangeability of one brand of tire by another. If no interchangeability of tires were possible, there would be no market and no competition between tire manufacturers. Modularization might be correlated with certain kinds of network systems and certain patterns of market development in business systems. We would expect where design modularization is basic and of a high level, then there will emerge a broad range of companies that are competitive in meeting the demands afforded by a modularized market, however limited in scope this may be in the larger picture. Where high degrees of modularization are not permitted or achieved, we would expect there to be a tendency towards monopolization of a market by a single company.

A similar example of modularization are televisions, that all vary somewhat in design configuration, but which are capable achieving the same reception and display functions of the television signals it receives, covering the same sets of channels as any other television. The capacity to substitute one kind of television for another, and achieve more or less similar results, permits many companies to compete for the same market.

Design modularization is associated most definitely with processes of distributive integration and concomitant elaboration of meta-systems. It is a necessary feature in the development of large scale meta-systems permitting the heterogeneous incorporation of diverse component subsystems into a larger framework.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

A very important form of alternative, applied system from a human systems standpoint are a class of such systems that we can refer to as "anti-structural" as they have social and behavioral performance value that is symbolically structured in a manner to mark transitions, maintain normal boundaries, and to successfully mediate change and manage what can be referred to as "marginalizing" experiences that tend to otherwise destabilize and undercut the normal sense of order of human systems. The neat thing about human anti-structural system are that humans were in fact doing these systems quite naturally and universally, even long before the elaboration of very sophisticated working systems of production.

Anti-structure and the need for periodic anti-structure are human universals, and are tied to the symbolic organization of the human brain and behavior. Alternative systems themselves are extensions of the same capacities towards fantasy, mythologization, and creative play. The nature of play changes as we grow--very young infants have no boundary between fantasy and reality, and can easily slip back and forth. As we mature, our play takes on more sophisticated and convoluted forms, becoming loaded with symbolic baggage and constrained by certain needs for a minimal sense of realism to keep the play interesting. When a child outgrows a fantasy or a game, that child no longer has the same interests and the child's needs for anti-structure are no longer being met in a simplistic manner as before.

The capacity and need for human play is a demonstration of the innate human need and interest for anti-structural systems or mechanisms in the course of every-day life. We are psychological dependent upon these anti-structurally systems, and without them we would all soon slip into a form of mass mania and atomistic neurosis/psychosis. The fact that psychosis and neurosis are such common features of human society, especially modernized, post-industrialized societies, is not only a measure of the alienation achieved by such systems, but a function of the failure of anti-structural systems to effectively mediate and modulate life experiences for the individuals entrapped in such societies.

It does not serve our educational systems with their overemphasis upon structured conformity to external standards that in the process play activity and its constructive, creative benefits become systematically de-emphasized in the development of curriculum. Play that keeps and holds a child attention can induce learning much more rapidly than adult-like confinement to chairs and adult-like worksheet activities that are ultimately boring to the child and stultifying of their curiosity and creativity.

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by: Hugh M. Lewis

Distributed integration and integrated distribution I propose are two sides of one coin in the elaboration and development of large scale meta-system frameworks on earth, especially when these systems are multi-leveled, stratified, and multi-faceted in their articulatory structures. If we consider the problem of constructing distributed super-computers, or alternative super-computing models, we come up with a clear case of the issues involved in this two-sided coin. If we are to build a single super-computing unit, housed within one compartment, we rapidly face issues of heat-conduction and dissipation and size reduction of such a unit. Alternatively, we can connect many smaller units together in an integrated, distributed network, as is increasingly common, such that they can operate on the same program and perform functions comparable to our single supercomputer. We largely avoid the issues of overheating associated with a large supercomputer, and we effectively eliminate as well storage and size problems by spreading the supercomputing system thinly over a broad network of computers. But the greater and more distributed our network, the greater our problem of communication and our computers capable of efficiently talking to one another becomes, and the greater as well the problem of the coordination of functions between multiple distributed units. In the current state of the art of our communications & digital technologies, there are definite trade-offs in whether we choose to build a single, centralized super-computer, or a distributed super-computing network system. 

A similar kind of structural trade-off may be found for any complex working system we refer to when we seek to elaborate such a system by its size, complexity and functionality, whether as a single, centralized, integrated system, or one that is distributed and networked as a coordinate collection of interacting nodes or hubs. The general trend has been towards the development of distributed systems.

Overall, we clearly recognize trends towards greater distributive integration and integrated distribution of information, energy, material, natural and human resources in alternative human systems in the future. This process has been a gradual but steady one, and has led to an overall situation whereby many new systems and subsystems are created, on one hand, and different systems are being increasingly tied together at a higher levels of integration. It is related to increasing differentiation of form and function of subsystems, and the resulting process of complex stratification of such systems at multiple levels.

We really have only begun to explore the possibilities of distributive-integration in relation to emerging technologies. Genetic engineering is only just beginning to come into its own. The pace of technological development is quickening with each passing year. Many pre-established structures of course have their own inertia and therefore may impede the rate of progress. We cannot simply replace the old with the new at every new day. The new and the old will continue to function, and increasingly inter-function, side by side, and the old will eventually be squeezed out and reprocessed in new forms and designs.

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We have added several new affiliate accounts.

Our Consolidation efforts continue on different levels. We remain a month behind schedule, but since we have no real deadlines we can continue postponing development due to unexpected delays and eat the operating costs along the way. 

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We went E-commerce on November 1st, 2003.

On February 1st, 2004, we are entering a second period of consolidation. This period should be marked by considerable structural and content development of our web-system, by network development and by further script-based integration of the system. 

During the month of April, we expect to go on-line with several store fronts.

During this same month we hope to go on-line with the following networking frameworks:

• An affiliate program 

• An open membership program

• A home-based business partnership program

• A strategic e-business partnership program

Pending further development and restructuring of the central web-system, we have postponed our advertising campaign by at least one month, and intend to launch this in May rather than April, and this campaign should run until the end of the consolidation period on the first of June, 2004.

We expect to become officially incorporated in June of 2004.

Products/Services

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We act both as a reseller for other providers, and we also are increasing the product range that we actually own or buy ourselves wholesale and then resell. We also provide a range of peripheral options through associate/affiliate accounts.

We will soon be adding a comprehensive product service catalog link here.

We will be offering an increasing array of type of service and product we can make available to our clientele within the consolidation period. This services will include:

• Systems-based Consulting & Troubleshooting
• Systems-based Computing and Web-Design Development
• Systems-based Meta-scientific research & development services
• Systems-based Digital Publication and Production Services
• Systems-based Development Services in a range of areas, including Non-profit, Consolidated Business Services, Education & Human Development, Organization, Production & Engineering

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We have several non-profit domains organized:

Human Coop: promoting development of non-exploitative, grass-roots based, cooperative development & resource exchange network frameworks.

Aid Systems: organizing and deploying critical resource management & rehabilitation teams

Human Development Systems: promoting programs for alternative human development.

Lewis Library: promoting conventional & electronic literacy worldwide, developing an open, distributed-integrated common reference resource & comprehensive knowledge compendium resources.

Human Synergetics: promoting health in holistic, alternative lifestyles

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We also recommend our current Link Palette for related links & portals, though most of these are as yet unfinished.

For external topic-organized links, we recommend Hugh's Hot Links

For popular, top-search links, we recommend Haut Lynx

Query us for advertising on our Advertising Pages that are shown throughout our web-system on more than a eleven hundred distinct URLs.

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