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.

The E-zine of Applied General Systems Science

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

Vol. I, No. 4

02/20/04 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.

On Top

We have little new to report this week. It has been a busy week. Our new server system is almost set up, in spite of a few unavoidable delays in back orders and misplaced orders.  

We have added a number of new affiliate accounts, and are in a state of trying to do a lot of catch-up work.

We invite anyone who might be interested to consider obtaining a "local world" from co-opworld.com.  It is free to join, and price lists for "local worlds" can be found at: Local World List. If you desire more information about this, just drop me an e-mail by my contact e-mail (office@lewislinks.com) Why do we make this open invitation? Because it is an open framework and a trend for the near future. Please review our feature article below.

We are in the process of creating a new cooperative framework in strategic alliance with humetasys.org. This new cooperative framework will be found at symbiotic systems.

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

• 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.

by: Hugh M. Lewis

General Systems has been an eclectic field. This eclecticism has been in part due to the cross-disciplinary nature of General Systems, and can also be attributed to its inherently holistic and comprehensive orientation to knowledge and applied frameworks. There is now a confusing plethora of disciplinary names and interests that can pass somewhat synonymously for "General Systems." These include, but are not limited to, some of the following: Complexity, Chaos Theory, Cybernetics, and Control Theory. We may also refer to feedback systems, circular systems, developmental systems, etc, as examples of the same general concepts and principles. Von Bertalanffy listed several related sets of general systems concepts: compartment theory, set theory, graph theory, net theory, cybernetics, information theory, theory of automata, game theory, decision theory, and queuing theory (General Systems Theory, 1968: pg 21-2) 

I would include certain developments in number theory, statistics and probability theory, scaling and modeling theory and methods, and even in some aspects of geometry and other areas of mathematics, both theoretical and applied. I would add to this list specialist concerns in certain areas of computing and mathematics, as well as applied aspects of engineering, critical path analysis, systems management and also certain theoretical schools that have developed in various fields of study. Super computing designs have made the feasibility of General Systems modeling & representation more practical. Systems based archaeology is clearly elaborated in the New Archaeology under the leadership of Lewis Binford, primarily. I have found systems principles articulated in a lucid fashion as well in fields of biology, especially ecology, in psychology and other behavioral sciences, as well as in the larger framework of anthropology. I would also add my own ideas to the list: meta-systems, alternative systems, synergetics or the study of systems-based emergent properties, and organics, or the study of "whole systems"

A distinction is furthermore made between hard and soft Systems theory, with the implication being that hard systems theory is tied  rigidly to mathematical models and formulas, relatable as well to computing theory and logic, while "soft" systems theory is concerned principally with what is referred to as systems philosophy, systems epistemology, systems ontology and general systems models that are primarily verbal, rather than mathematical, in form and terms of elucidation. For instance, for all the efforts to the contrary, the leading theory in biology, the theory of evolution, remains still largely a purely verbal explanation of natural processes, both on a molecular level of genetic transmission, and on a species level of natural selection of whole organisms in larger population-ecological contexts. This distinction is really a hubris of a false sense of science that, on finer analysis, really gives way both in terms of consideration of the constructive dynamics of knowledge systems, as for instance in Thomas Kuhn's elucidation of scientific paradigms in his now classic work on the subject of Scientific Revolutions, and in terms of the elaboration of theoretical terms for genuinely complex real systems, even on basic physical levels, where emergent properties and their analysis defies simplistic or reductionist quantification.

I will add a short list of basic principles that are found consistently operating in systems based thinking (Lewis, Natural Systems, 2001)

These basic concepts represent important challenges to our scientific ways of thinking, bound as this has been in a classic, Aristotelian view of the natural world. A brief list of such concepts as they come to mind are as follows:

1. Comprehensiveness

2. Self-organizing Complexity & Chaos

3. Dynamic & Heterogeneous Models

4. Relativity

5. Synergism

1. Comprehensiveness

Ours has become an age of extreme specialization that has accompanied the dramatic differentiation of our scientific knowledge even down to nine or more levels of complexity. Generalism of a more comfortable academic era, that implied a kind of armchair eclecticism and the entitlement to pontificate in extended tracts and lecture series, has had to yield to the speed and emerging interests of Internet based communications. What has been lacking, and what we are in dire need of, is a new level of comprehension, and a new sense of studied, systematic comprehensiveness of approach, especially in our worldview, that affectively provides us with a working roadmap of our complex and ever emergent noetic landscape.

Comprehensiveness is what the term implies, a deliberate attempt at exhaustive holism without the appearances or consequences of dilettantism. Thus an effective comprehensive framework must embrace in full force and detail the entire range and spectrum, and coordinate this broad range of knowledge in a manner that makes some kind of grand, if not strategic, sense.

Comprehensive frameworks necessarily represent neither dilettante spuriousness nor mere generalist eclecticism. Comprehensiveness, especially within an effective systems framework, demands and provides a contextual theoretical framework driving the search for specific solutions to complex problems in a number of different areas of inquiry. These are frequently problems that demand answers that naturally do not fit the departmental delineations of different conventional areas of study and research. Comprehensiveness, to be effective, therefore does not require less expertise, but greater, as well as greater understanding of the fundamental issues involved in any natural problem set.

2. Complexity & Chaos

With the rise of chaos theory, we view the natural world in an entirely new way than we did in the age of the slide rule, Newtonian Laws and Euclidean Geometry. So much that we find in the natural phenomenal patterns of nature, whether it is in the spiral design of a sea snail shell, or in the growth and development of a deciduous tree, suggests to us at some level the working of complexity and chaos in critical systems. This chaotic complexity belies a supreme simplicity that is in control of the infinite variation of pattern.

Scientific models and worldviews must not only explain such complexity, in whatever way it might be encountered in the natural world, in the finite and elegant terms of simplicity, but it must also learn to see and construe the natural world in such terms also. I believe that no theory or model of science now can be framed without at least one hand on the issue of complexity and chaos.

Natural informational systems are largely self-organizing systems. The rule-properties they exhibit are always intrinsic and implicit to the patterning of epiphenomenal organization that is its manifestation. If they are "self-organizing" systems, they are not "self-knowing" systems in the way that we understanding this. Natural information appears to be largely nonreflexive, even at the anthropological level, and therefore we can assume that is it almost never "intentional" patterning in the way that we understand motivations from an anthropocentric worldview.

3. Dynamic Heterogeneity

With the rise to preeminence of chaos theory and new thinking about complexity, there has come as well a new understanding of the inherently dynamic structure our natural world. We find increasingly that everything changes, even things once considered immutable like atoms and protons, and we have a received picture of the universe now as something that ushered into being in less than a nanosecond, and that has been slowly, gradually unwinding ever since.

With dynamism implied in the complexity of nature, I believe heterogeneity is also an important part of the conceptual formula of the modern scientific worldview. Heterogeneity stems from the idea that reality is composed of multiple kinds of things at all levels. We have a vision of this if we explore the sub-atomic levels of particle physics to discover a range of exotic things unknown in a bygone era. Heterogeneous systems are complex informational entities, and tend to defy prime mover theories that like to invest ultimate causes in single, clear to understand mechanisms. Often, like the hen or the egg dilemma, in such systems it is difficult or impossible to isolate original causes or sources.

4. Relativity

As we push back the edge of reality, we discover on ever finer levels of analysis the place of a basic sense of relativity, even in our physical existence. In such complex systems, relative states, or rather, relatively understood states, become more important in the final accounting than abstract or static or absolutistic models that entail some "noumenal" sense of perfect order. In our accounting, we must say conditionally that "such and such is true....under certain conditions a, b, c, but not under other conditions e, f, g."

From a classical perspective this attitude and approach to a scientific worldview, one that undermines a sense of absolute certainty in either the world or our knowledge about the world, seems antithetical to a rational worldview, if not downright heresy. But it is increasingly the case that our realities have not been made more certain by scientific progress, but more uncertain. With each new fact and bit of knowledge we learn about the world, we open up an entire Pandora's box of unanswered questions and suggestion of things we have not yet figured out.

In this world, even our sense of ourselves as "for all practical purposes" certain and, at least in human proportions, absolute, becomes itself relative to that anthropomorphic level of dimensionality about reality. Shift to another level or order of magnitude, and this sense of "things are as they are" quickly goes away, if we are to explain and have a firm sense of the real patterning of the world.

Relativity has intruded irreversibly upon our collective worldview in a wide variety of ways, but especially it was Einstein who offered a model of the universe, and a new way of thinking about reality, when even time and space itself no longer had an absolute sense. This and subsequent science has fundamentally and irretrievably rendered our worldview relativistic for all time.

5. Synergism

Synergism has acquired an implicit connotation of being something "holistic" and somehow a-scientific, like flower power and herbal remedies. But synergism, as a central systemic design principle, has a legitimate and very scientific place in the conceptual design of the natural world. Basically, it states that patterns at one level inaugurate processes that are more than the mere sum of the individual component parts that make up that system. The system as a whole does something that cannot be done by the parts separately.

Synergism thus has a superorganic function of systems. We cannot fully explain the operation of the system as a whole by a mere enumeration of the functioning of the various parts. Synergism is central in gestalt theory, which underlies the understanding of human cognition and symbolism from an anthropological perspective. Patterns are the result of complex part-whole relations and are apprehended as such, and are not merely the analytical reduction to the individual parts.

This sense of synergism is especially important when we apply it to the understanding of living versus non-living systems, and even truer when applied to sentient and self-conscious systems versus those that appear to lack such deliberate volition. But the sense of synergism can be found aplenty even in the vast and empty reaches of outer space. I doubt a solar system or a galaxy is merely the complex cosmological waltz of planets and stars around a common center of gravity. As systems they create forces and patterns that cannot be understood merely by a reduction to its individual entities and would not happen if they were not locked into such a system in the first place.

Concepts like these inform our thinking about our world on very basic levels, and it is important that our understanding of the basic concepts is sound and reasonable before we begin to seek solutions and answers about that world or our place within it.

There are, I believe, a set of primary questions and answers that inform our natural systems theory at its several basic levels. We must seek to ask and understand such questions fundamentally, and to derive in a clear sense whatever implications they may have, if we are to construct for ourselves a worldview that is less prejudiced and more objective than before.

Perhaps this is the real and practical purpose of our scientific philosophy to be able to make obvious those questions and answers otherwise not so obvious. And if, as primitive philosophers, we can do this half well, then maybe we earn for ourselves the reputation for being good at what we do.

This list was taken from my text at Natural Systems: Introduction. I would add to this list the concepts of holism, analytical hierarchy, developmental ontology, stochastic process, equilibrium and equi-finality. It goes somewhat beyond the scope of this newsletter to continue elucidating in sufficient detail these principles, but their explanation will be the central topic of Part IV of this main article.

Cooperative Frameworks and the Future of the Internet

by: Hugh M. Lewis

Cooperative frameworks are the thing of the future, and they represent the convergence of Internet based business with changing patterns of social networking, interpersonal relations and interactions, and community based organization and group formation. It is my own humble opinion in short that by means of cooperative frameworks people, of all shapes and sizes, otherwise lacking large assets of surplus resources, are empowering themselves for mutual advantage and positioning, not only in the virtual world, but as a consequence in the real world as well. It provides a means of consolidating and pooling shared resources, and provisioning people with resource networks at reduce costs, than would be otherwise available to the same individuals or parties/companies vis-a'-vis the conventional world of business, government, and the structural systems in which they are usually entrapped.

The root of the word cooperative is "to cooperate" or simple to "operate together." To cooperate is defined as "to work or act together or jointly for a common purpose or benefit" (Webster's Unabridged, 2001) A cooperative is therefore defined simply as "a jointly owned enterprise engaging in the production or distribution of goods or the supplying of services, operated by its members for their mutual benefit, typically organized by consumers or farmers." Cooperatives are springing up in increasing numbers of areas that were previously dominated by conventional capitalist, corporate styled business frameworks. Indeed, the conventional, or classical corporation seems to be a relic of the past, as corporations are increasingly recognized for their corruption, unaccountability and unreliability in meeting the needs of their consumer or even their share-holder base. Home-based business development that is the springboard of the emergent Internet economy is ideally suited for cooperative style business arrangements, as such modes of business are typically represented by small entrepreneurs with very small resource allocation budgets at their disposal, but a maximum of networking potential, potentially global in scale, available at the click of a mouse-button.

The main trend of the Information revolution as contextualized by the Internet is the tendency towards business leading towards open forums defined by the least common denominator, i.e., the cheapest prices in competitive market places. In other words, people will in the long run tend to buy a product/service at the cheapest price they can find on the Internet, and this tendency will serve to counter trends towards general price increases, especially after markets become relatively saturated with certain types of products/services. Only monopolistic advantage produce by strategic interference competition leading to a bottlenecking of critical internet resources can counter this general tendency, and monopolistic advantage, even by conglomerates, cannot be held in perpetuity against the tidal currents of the worldwide web towards a common, open and completely shared resource pool on an open global network. 

Hierarchies should become "lateralized" toward more horizontal affiliations and arrangements. We should see fixed, static, and entirely top-down hierarchies shift towards more reciprocal and open-ended network structures that are based upon the dynamics and ebb and flow of available resources. Roles in such systems will also become largely modular and fluid, multi-faceted in identity. 

As a consequence of this, it is hoped that the Internet will create cumulatively greater access, both to information, and other more substantial forms of resources, for more people, as larger scale human systems come to be reorganized and redefined in terms that are more coordinate and consonant with the principles of Internet and especially web-based development.

One caveat to all of this--the web is only as open as the structural system that permits its possibility and freedom. The web is not the same in all societies, in in totalitarian regimes as in mainland China, the web is anything but free, and largely a platform for Big Brother type control. If a society permits and promotes freedom of the Internet, then real freedom will be the long-term benefit. If freedom of the Internet is arrested before it has a chance to develop, then unfreedom and growing human frustration is likely to be the major outcome.

Consolidation efforts continue on different levels. Progress is slow but steady.

We still apologize for numerous broken links, erroneous links, unfinished sites and dead-ends within the current system, and we are working to resolve this state of affairs as soon as possible.

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 February, 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

We will be launching a concerted advertising campaign in March, 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.

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.

At this time most of our services and products are web-based Networking & Telecommunication services:

Hosting: We offer free, standard, business driven (coming soon!) and premium quality hosting services.

Domain Registration: Quick-Stop, Bulk and Do-It-Yourself or Tucows Open-SRS (coming soon)

Website Design & Construction: Updateable Websites

Web-system Development & Management: Coming Soon!

Advertising Services: Coming Soon! At this time, submission of Banners & Links are free!

Submission & Consolidation Services: Coming Soon!

ISP Connection Services: Coming Soon!

Telecommunications Services: Lewis-Com: Related Communications Portal: Lewis-Com.Biz

E-Marketing Services: Coming Very Soon!

Network Development Services: Coming Soon!

Integrated Business Services: Lewis Business Net

Secure Payment Gateways: Coming Soon!

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 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

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.

Subscribe to our Newsletter below: