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

3/26/04 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

Our Junior Partner Framework is Opened for Recruitment

Criticisms/Comments, then Provide Feedback

Feature IV

Introducing Alycita & Robito

New Store Front

&

Bare-Bones

On Top

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We are publishing this "special edition" of Lewis Works to move our readership away from theoretical issues and to bring greater focus upon systems-based methodological applications, highlighting our future programs/projects of involvement. This reflects a gradual shift in our own focus away from issues of principle toward greater interest and involvement with issues of practical consequences for real people in the world.

We are openly recruiting new members to our framework. We work strictly on a first come, first serve basis, and at this stage we are not being too picky. There are no costs or fees, nor any initial obligations for any working contributions beyond learning more about our framework and systems based approach, and regularly attending the conference call meetings that will be arranged in the forthcoming weeks, in order to assist us in the further planning of the framework that will proceed through until the end of May.

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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I have taken a step away from conceptual issues relating to systems-based thinking, philosophy and general/natural systems theory, to focus on applied aspects of the concept I have called "meta-systems" with the idea of highlighting concerns that may seem more concrete, immediate in relevance and therefore available to the average readership.

I have defined a "meta-system" in several different ways, and have used it in even more ways. In general a "meta-system" is a system of systems, but it is also the theoretical system found within all "systems" or the abstract general system we purport to exist within and underlie the operation of complex phenomena. Meta-systems may also be those mixed, heterogeneous systems that tend to occur in the real world, in which the boundaries of one system, at one level, tend to overlap with and play a part within other systems, often at multiple levels. 

I have also defined as "meta-systems" an operational methodological approach to experimental, empirical and functional systems theory dealing primarily with engineering applications, but also with other forms of application that are not as analytically defined as in engineering, as in human construction processes, human production processes, human communications, human relations, human behavioral and social organizational systems. I would include in this a scientific methodological approach to the study of both natural and artificial systems, or real systems, as well as ideal systems, that is describable in terms of a form of applied mathematics.

I hope to be able to present below, in this special presentation of applied meta-systems, key points and areas of interest that I have identified as being important to the comprehension of this paradigm. I have sought of focus on those projects that we have been planning, or upon those key concerns that relate somehow to the application of meta-systems in real working contexts. In this edition, I have sought primarily to introduce main points and projects to the reader, with the idea of following up in greater detail to these introductions in later, more detailed project summaries.

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by: Hugh M. Lewis

One of our main aims is the implementation of an alternative energy infrastructure based upon a broad spectrum of widely deployed solar and hydrogen based systems. All other developmental issues, aside from human and socio-centric factors, are derived ultimately from providing this alternative infra-structural framework. The reasons for doing so, and for doing so as soon as possible, are obvious to everyone by now, whether we want to admit it or not. Global warming, induced by over-dependency of fossil-fuels and carbon energy infrastructures, is basically upsetting the balance of nature on a global scale, and with what can be seen in terms of geological or even biological time, as having sudden, catastrophic consequences for all life on earth, including, and especially the human species. It is something to think about next time you get in your car.

Solar based systems include, but are not limited to, solar heating and electrical power generation, either from the use of coordinate, concentrated heliostats on a central target for steam power generation, or through the extensive use of photo-voltaic batteries charged by the use of solar panels. We may include in this basic indirect forms of solar power including wind-turbines, tidal power generators, wave-generator designs, systems exploiting thermal differentials in large bodies of water, and hydroelectric designs, the latter being one of the most extensively deployed form of non-fossil fuel power generation currently deployed by humankind. I would add as well the use of solar ponds in closed Rankin cycle systems, as well as other possible novel applications of solar-based power generating systems.

Hydrogen based systems include a cycle of energy production in the form of hydrogen gas, or some related form of hydrogen based fuel (Borax for one, alternatively, hydrogen peroxide) and its storage and controlled utilization in power generation, including in vehicles of all kinds, sizes and shapes, and in home and industrial applications. We may consider the use of hydrogen in cost-effective fuel cells, the direct application of hydrogen gas to turbine or rocket engines, the use of hydrogen to generate steam used to power turbines for power generation, or the use of ionized hydrogen plasma in upscale, advanced space-craft configurations. The cycle becomes completed with the combustion of hydrogen with oxygen and the creation of water which, when condensed, can be collected and returned to the system at multiple points, either for renewed hydrogen production, for cooling or heat transfer purposes, or for steam regeneration.

In the development of an integrated solar-hydrogen platform, I do not see exclusive reliance on any single type or modality of energy production, but I can envision mixed and variously integrated hybrid systems, that are fully deployed and distributed in a local, non-centralized manner, all systems feeding a common, scale-free energy grid that is global in size.

It is of course far easier to talk about these configurations, and to draw them on paper, than it is to actually create such an integrated system in the real world, on a human-sized and earth-sized scale. The scalability of such platforms from local to regional to global configurations remains an unaddressed and unasked question. There remain unresolved issues of hydrogen production, storage, and controlled combustion in various engine designs, as well as the cost-effectiveness and relative efficiency/productivity of many related technologies. 

We are starting with a very simple set of designs and experiments, designs utilizing photo-voltaic cells, wind turbines, and hydrogen production facilities, and extending the meta-systems design framework from there in multiple directions. We do so at this stage as much for providing an educational demonstration model of an alternative energy meta-systems framework, as for design and research development purposes. Our aim is to create a fairly unique and consolidated domestic-based platform, sufficient for home-energy needs, and to replicate and diversify this model to fit a variety of alternative domestic configurations. We will then diversify this model to larger scale production networks, and to the development of hydrogen-fuel based propulsion and drive systems that would be compatible with such energy production networks.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

The term "gravitational engineering" calls to my mind at least large earth moving equipment, hauling tons of rock and soil in a load, excavating the entire side of a mountain. It evokes images of heavy duty machines, carrying very heavy loads, large scale construction projects, and the shaping and reshaping of the features of the earth on a fairly large scale.

Human beings so far have paid little direct attention to the notion of gravitational engineering, which can be defined in terms of the development of working systems based upon differentials of gravity and gravitational energy, though we have long deployed forms of gravitational energy in our energy production processes. Dams and water-mills that are powered by the downward flow of a stream of water are examples of common gravitational engineering applications--indeed the use of dams for power utilizes gravity both in the production of water in a long water column to drive generators, and in the filling of the reservoir from watershed produced by rain-fall. We can look to simple inclined planes, levers, pulleys and gears as working systems based indirectly upon differential distribution of weight produced by gravity. Less obvious are systems that depend upon water pressure and or geothermal energy produced by the pressures generated by the earth's crust to produce steam or other forms of heat energy. Alternatively are the use of tidal differentials of the oceans and large bodies of water created by the moon's gravitational pull. Even less obvious are applications like the use of "lighter than air" gases as a form of buoyancy to create aerodynamic lift, or similarly, in the water, the use of gas to create similar buoyancy to lift otherwise heavy objects from the bottom of the sea floor. Rockets that travel to space beyond the grab of the earth's gravity, and airplanes that use aerodynamic lift to suspend them in the air in motion, provide alternative examples of mechanisms that are used to counter the force and pull of gravity that is, on earth, forever earthward.

I would assert the claim that we have otherwise paid very little attention to the possibilities of alternative energy systems created by the continual presence of gravity upon earth. It is possible for instance to systematically exploit the differential in lifting a mass along a low inclined plane, especially under conditions involving minimal friction, to a level that we can exploit the differential energy created from a free fall or accelerated descent downward. We can alternatively exploit the possibilities of hydraulics to lift large masses by means of very small but steady inputs of energy, and realize gain created by the potential energy created by a large, elevated mass. We cannot create perpetual cyclical systems that defy the laws of thermodynamics, but we can take into account the principles of gravitational dynamics to balance the books of the energy budge of nature in our favor. Heaving a well aimed rock at a distant window in an effort to shatter it attempts to convert the mechanical energy transmitted from the arm to the stone, into a form of gravitational energy that combines the momentum of the velocity and weight of the rock that is created by its descent to earth. Those who know how to ring the bell at a carnival game by swinging a large hammer or mallet, know that the use of gravity in the fall of the mallet-head creates the necessary energy to ring the bell, when muscle power alone cannot reach half the height. Similarly, before the advent of Trebuchet's in classical siege-castle warfare, reliance was not upon the use of gravity to fling a stone, but upon the use of energy transmitted directly from some device, like a bow, or an crank or spring, to the projectile. The advent of the Trebuchet transformed such warfare in the couple of centuries before the arrival of gun-powder. With gun powder large siege mortars that fired projectiles in a high arc of trajectory made up in destructive power what they lacked in range and accuracy, and larger long range cannons that could hurl larger projectiles further, tended to increase the destructive capabilities of the projectiles not just from their explosive content, but from their acquired gravitational energy.

We can stretch our definitions a bit and add to this growing list the use of pendulums and fly-wheels for the inertia they maintain and their gyroscopic stability that seems to defy the laws of gravity at every point except at the center of the system where its axis touches or connects with a support.

In none of the cases above, except perhaps in the use of dams to create extremely high water columns, has the use of gravity been deliberately exploited, in and of itself, as a means to create an overall gain of additional energy in a working system. Therefore, it stands to reason that there is yet room for considerable development in this direction, if we pursue it innovatively and inventively. I have myself devised on paper several different possible mechanisms in this regard, and I think the object and lessons of a course in gravitational engineering can be extended and elaborated to include such principles in the design of new vehicles, power generation systems, power-train and transfer systems, and even in the potential for the directional measurement and detection of gravitational energy on a fine scale.

I will make a simple set of propositions that makes the concept of gravitational engineering possible, if not completely efficacious--

1. a total gain in energy can be created from the free-fall or accelerated descent of a heavy mass, representing the potential energy of that mass at a given elevation, over the total amount of energy that was mechanically expended, in efficient systems, to achieve the elevation of the object in the first place.

2. the gain in energy that is created by such a gravitational descent of an object may be efficiently transferred into a form of mechanical or other energy that can be utilized or reutilized for purposes of production.

3. potential gravitational energy achieved by the effective elevation of an object may be indefinitely stored and accumulated until needed.

4. gravitational energy is continuous and always available--it is essentially boundless. It occurs in unlimited supply, if we can capture it, and it occurs in a manner that can be considered to be anti-entropic. 

I would assert that under the right conditions, we can create a continuous gain of net energy output compared to the working energy input, less the friction and energy loss involved in the operation of the system, in such a way that we can make such systems highly productive in the long run. In gross terms, such a system might have to be very large, to produce quantities of usable energy that would make such production worthwhile a scale, but it is possible to build a mechanism as fine as a watch that can produce gains in gravitational energy in small and measured doses.

The possibilities of gravitational engineering beyond earthbound conditions takes on new meaning, and in deep space where gravitational force in any one direction tends to be weak or muted out, the problem of such engineering in relatively gravity-free environments, without gravitational mass, becomes a central issue. If we are to extend the idea of gravitational engineering to other planets, for instance, such as the moon, or Mars, where gravity is about half of what it is on earth, or on a planet like Saturn or Jupiter, where gravity would be much greater, new sets of problems would arise.

But for the time being, the problem of gravitational engineering remains mostly an earthbound one. It involves, among the variables listed above, the problems of countering the effects of gravity, especially in terms of being able to escape the hold of gravity beyond the earth's gravitational boundaries, especially in a manner that is cost effective and efficient. This problem has received considerable attention, especially in the last decade, and warrants further research and involvement.

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Meta-Biotronic Systems

by: Hugh M. Lewis

I term Meta-Biotronic Systems as a palindrome of Meta-biotic and Biotronic, with reference to an approach to basic theoretical issues in biological systems in relation to a basic methodological context for implementation of applied biological systems. A biotron is an enclosed space that is fully and carefully controlled for environmental variables, harboring various forms of life. This determines a largely experimental context for living systems management and adaptation, and makes possible fine manipulation of the framework on a number of levels and in a number of different ways.

Meta-biosis or the process of the formation of Meta-biotic systems refers to the extrinsic environmental context in which all living systems reproduce, grow, and adapt. The three functions, reproduction, growth and adaptation, defines the main three sets of processes all living systems go through and much successfully achieve in their evolutionary survival and development as a species. This is as true at the cellular level, whether we are talking about prokarya, extremophils, or eukaryotic bacteria, or derivative multi-cellular organisms. These processes may be said to be "context-dependent" in that occur within a broader meta-biotic framework  of an environmental system, either naturally self-organizing, or in the experimental case environment. Context-dependency refers to an important set of ecological variables that control population growth and distribution patterns, and which are amenable to statistical measurement and mathematical manipulation.

Furthermore, the context of the meta-biotic environment always includes, directly or indirectly, the effects of other organisms upon the environment or upon the basic processes of an organism in its environmental context. The effects of different organisms organizing themselves in a common environment may be said to become on some level interactive over time, with certain kinds of outcomes that can be projected from the systematic nature of these interactions. These effects are largely interdependent, and we can refer to counter-adaptive strategies adopted by different species for the sake of survival in various forms of ecological relationships.

The Winogradsky Column is a a good example of a contained meta-biotronic system that can be maintained in equilibrium with little or no input for many years at  a time. Similarly are some bottle terrariums that require very little input of water, but rely upon the condensation of moisture on the glass interior of the bottle for its mini-hydrologic cycle. On a large scale are green-house systems, and to a lesser extent, somewhat self contained arboretums and gardens that are carefully maintained by people, and that may even contain, on purpose or not, a range of small fauna adapted to the local environment of the garden. From these few examples we can easily see the potential range of the design possibilities for elaborating more complex and sophisticated systems, and the diverse purposes to which they may be put, for aesthetic design & enjoyment, food production, water and air filtration, and even for the development of zoos, zoo-ecological habitation & reproduction systems, and for containment and zoning of endangered species or even dangerous species, like human beings.

We are talking about fairly large undertakings in construction and architectural design, but more modest designs can be readily configured to fit the framework of any sized household, from small to the very largest.

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by: Hugh M. Lewis

Ecology is defined as the "management of the household" and refers to the relationships that occur in the context of the home, the home being generally applied to the natural contexts of "living systems."

Humans occupy very generalized ecological niches in a global context, and their adaptations have far-reaching consequences for the entire biosphere, both short term and in the structure of the long run. The human species, like all other species, inhabit what can be called specific sets of meta-biotic contexts, and they maintain relationships with a broad range of other organisms on one level or another, in one way or another, probably more so than any other species on earth. Humans have taken on a general role as ecological managers and manipulators of the global environment, and this has led to a reshaping of living systems in their counter-adaptations to the growing human situation.

Human habitation as a system can no longer be looked at in terms of merely being a cave in a forested mountain-side or a home in a suburb. Such a dwelling place is part of a larger range of functional and productive adaptations that the human species has devised for itself, albeit often the central context of such adaptations, and they are therefore the representations of a suite of functional interconnections with a larger environment that are part of a larger system of adaptation involving many different members of the human species, and affecting the lives of many organisms other than human beings.

As the new information economy is leading people to re-domestication of the central workplace, and redistribution of resources, goods, services and means of production over a broader modular landscape, the ecological redefinition of the home comes to a critical strategic focus. As the human population increases rapidly to its purported carrying capacity on a global scale, increased conditions of crowding, over-development and ecological destruction are going to become more critical variables in both the relative quality and quantity of living. With increased congestion, crowding and socio-environmental circumscription, we should expect to see the increasing relevance of the role and importance played by the home and household in the articulation of the everyday life of most human beings.

We have examples of eco-habitational dwellings in structures made from alternative materials, incorporating alternative design and functional systems that are environmentally safe and sane, as for instance solar heating, the use of wind turbines for power production, the use of natural building and insulation materials, etc. Earth houses, subterranean dwelling, and even paper-houses have been utilized in the name of ecological design principles.

The issue becomes to adopt designs of structures, and materials, that can find its way to market in a manner that can compete openly with alternative building products like cement, wood, plastic and metal. The object of course is not necessarily to achieve complete replacement of these conventional building materials, or even necessarily to focus on the challenges of building itself, but to provide suitably "mixed" economies of scale that would make the use of ecologically safe and sane materials more sensible in both an economic and an ecological way.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

Symbolic Framing is a body of methods I developed preparatory, during and after my doctoral fieldwork in Malaysia in 1993-4. This body of methods has been based upon the application of gestalt theory to understanding patterns of behavioral and cognitive response to stimuli, based upon pattern recognition and pattern projection, and the organization of experience that is measured and correlated between different tasks, between different individuals and between different groupings of individuals, especially across cultural boundaries.  Result of some of the doctoral research has been published on-line at several places: http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Publications/TyingItUp/ and http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Publications/Cognition/ and http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Publications/Cybernetics/  

What was revealed repeatedly and consistently from this research was strongly patterns of clear cut cross-cultural differentials in behavioral response patterning across a broad range of tasks, that were in general analyzed and recorded for their physical patterns without an effort to interpret or score these patterns within some interpretive framework of purported symbolic significations. Though we used instruments like Thematic Apperception Tasks and Inkblot Tasks (Harrower and Rorscharch) we only scored them in terms of the whole-part whole, type of response elicitation, location and frequency and so forth, and we may no effort to interpret this data in a psycho-diagnostic or psychoanalytic manner.

The consequence of this research was the conclusion that human behavioral response varied considerably within group and across group patterns, and there was significant patterns of response grouped and differentiated according to gross cross-cultural differences. Follow-up analysis and subsequent post-doctoral work in China tended to validate and reconfirm these finds on a significant level, leading to the conclusion that humans are in terms of worldview and behavioral response patterning culturally relative in basic ways, even though reasons for these patterns cannot be clearly explained in an organic way.

I reached the conclusion that these methods can be extended in a number of areas, for facilitation of learning in language acquisition, cognitive development, of knowledge, for rehabilitation from psychological disorder or distress, for purposes of behavior modification and reform. I determined as well that it was probably possible to conduct a number of controlled experiments in natural and culturally defined human behavioral settings, in order to discover complex patterns of response that are typically elicited in comparable settings. The value of this would be to show the direct connection and linkage between more formal studies to more natural settings, showing the relevance of the same general conclusions across a broad range of possible contexts.

I also reached a conclusion that symbolic framing methods were not only of virtually unlimited productivity, but they had already been largely relied upon in everyday settings, even if we did not obviously see them or interpret their patterns in the manner of "symbolic framing." Facets of these methods are deployed regularly, daily in fact, by many people in fields as diverse as education, criminology and psychology, without a label or coherent methodology being attached to the methods and techniques deployed. Symbolic framing becomes then and therefore a frame of reference, and a methodological framework, which describes a wide range of possible methodological applications to the general issue of understanding in depth and breadth the nature of human behavior.

I managed in the course of work in China to apply this body of methods systematically to the problems of advanced English instruction and to the challenges of adult second language acquisition in a foreign language, which, by the fourth month, brought credible and significant results in terms of rapid improvement in the auditory and speaking capability of my students, on average. The significant break through came in focusing not only and exclusive upon non-visual modalities of learning a foreign language (namely enforced speaking and hearing) but in providing multiple structured behavioral settings in which students were forced to become productive in English in a variety of ways that were not only interesting but mostly fun for them to do.

Though it has been ten years since the first fieldwork was initiated, I have not changed my mind or altered my professional opinion about the significance of this body of methods, and the general methodological framework that defines them in a larger context as being generally, theoretically significant.

Symbolic framing, not as methodology, but as a natural human pattern of behavioral response, underlies the creative and constructive capacities of all human endeavor, and provides the symbolic foundations for cognition, and the cognitive foundations for cultural and behavioral organization. It comes to play a vital role in the symbolic mediation of conflict, or potential conflict, in the behavioral adaptation to changing circumstances, and in the counter-structural processes that punctuate and intermittently reinforce everyday life in its normal operational flow.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

I have encountered the specific application of general systems principles in the theoretical development of different fields of study, in a specific rather than in a non-specific manner. I am not referring to the use of non-specific descriptions or reference to general systems terminology used to describe specific phenomena, such as "complexity" or "chaos" or dynamic.

I will briefly outline the specific use and deliberate engagement of systems based principles in four areas of knowledge that I am most familiar, and in which fields the use of systems concepts might not otherwise be expected. These areas include: 1, cultural anthropology, 2. archaeology, 3. developmental & cognitive psychology and 4. biological ecology. The last set of applications of systems principle is probably the best and most widely known, but it would pay to consider all the areas.

1. In cultural anthropology, systems based principles were first framed in a coherent fashion by Gregory Bateson, and later reinforced by Frederick Barthe. Bateson explicated the notion of ethno-schizmogenesis and introduced the concepts of feedback mechanisms to describe the processes involved. He later adopted a general systems principles in his famous work "Steps to an Ecology of Mind."  Frederick Barthe also independently applied the same principles of feedback to his insightful ethnographic work.

2. In archaeology, Louis Binford launched a revolution in archaeological theory and methodology, breaking with the static straight-jacket of the Culture History approach that relied primarily on taxonomy, stratigraphy and seriation techniques in the classification of artifacts and sites by the cultural groupings that occupied these sites and produced the artifacts. by adopting direct systems principle in the interpretation of sites and evidence in situ of sites they are found in. His reasoned argument was that the pattern presented by a site in context represented a structural pattern that was an accurate visage of the civilization that produced that site, and that sites done in context to other sites, achieved significance thereby in the larger framework of knowledge.

3. Heinz Werner in Developmental Psychology adopted an organic approach to the cross-cultural comparison of child cognitive development, an approach which specifically sought to interpret the behavior of the child in the context of the overall system of the child's life-world, defining what he called the "differentiation" process of the child in the elaboration of the child's life-world. He went on to apply this framework to the understanding of human symbolism and human symbolic behavior.

4. Systems based applications in Biology is almost consonant with the name Ecology in the first place, whether this is in terms of the ground-breaking study of eco-systems and energy pyramids and the transfer of energy between trophic levels, (Forbes, 1887; Transeau, 1926; Juday, 1940, etc.) These in general adopt a holistic approach to ecosystems as integrated superorganic constituencies, but also involve a very careful analysis of variables that are input and output from such systems. This kind of study has strongly influenced our understanding of systems in general. In fact, Ludwig Von Bertallanfy, the founder of general systems theory, was originally interested in the systems biology of cellular metabolism and reproduction, and this stimulated his quest for general systems principles.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

There is not sufficient space within this newsletter to do justice to a full exposition of the problems of artificial intelligence design or what I refer to as alternative intelligence. I merely want to suggest here and now that the future of automation and artificial intelligence are tied to distributed super-computing systems on the Internet, with a web-based interface. I believe we need to move away from anthropomorphized models and preconceptions of what constitutes an "intelligent system" toward a more generalized model of applied automation that serves to extend and elaborate the input-output feedback loop between the "machine" or intelligent system on the one hand, and the human programmer/inter-actor on the other hand. We need to further explore and experiment with the possibilities of systems of alternative intelligence, however delimited in scope and function, and look, for instance at processes like eco-location by dolphins and whales, or the navigational programs of migratory fowl, and the non-verbal communications of various primates in the wild.

I proposed the development of Alycita and Robito projects, basically since 1993, and continue to use these names to refer to a centralized distributed computing system that can be referred to as a system of alternative intelligence and automation. I do not consider the problem of alternative intelligence and automation to be completely isomorphic, even upon a theoretical level when were refer to Turing standards, etc. Intelligence refers to me to mean a sensitive awareness of one's environment, and the objects in it, an intuitive "feeling" for the critical, fleeting moment, a sense "self-awareness" and a sense of adaptive, rational and deliberate response to the changing demands of the environment. These are human standards mostly, but I believe they are not completely inappropriate to other animals especially. Automation, in a practical sense, rather than in the formal theoretical sense that drives Computer Theory, refers to the process that displaces human attention and labor from the direct act of work to produce something, and creates a longer change of control over a number of points of articulation, such that the human factor of control becomes minimized to a simple dichotomous kind of pattern (i.e., yes/no, on/off, etc.) Machine intelligence leads to and begets automated systems, and automated systems must be seen as the natural and logical consequence of machine intelligence, but the two working principles, in applied contexts, are not exactly the same thing.

The Alycita project has come to embody what I consider to be the working problem of alternative intelligence, and the Robito project is considered to be complementary to Alycita in its engagement of automated systems. In both sets of project applications, we have adopted what we would consider to be a functional AI model of intelligence, one that is soft-boiled compared to conventional models based on the Turing Test. The primary interest in Alycita is in programming integration, creation of a natural, seamless interface, and distribution to a wide range of possible applied systems. 

These projects have recently been given a new lease on life as part of the Microsoft Empower Partner program, and we hope to see some significant results forthcoming  in the next few months.

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By: Hugh M. Lewis

All the world around, the main obstacle to problems of modern development, and the persistence of the structural diseases of chronic underdevelopment, remains the inveterate and embedded authoritarianism of local social institutions that tend to reinforce with the coercive threat of violence and consistent violation of human rights, the unequal distribution of natural and cultural resources and the continuing exploitation of human productive and reproductive resources. It does not matter what the cultural form or national label we stamp on it--it is consistently the same pattern of social anthropological authoritarianism the world over. In general a standing army or military/paramilitary force serves to protect and promote the interests of an established elite, institutionalized through bureaucratic mechanisms that control and govern the flow of resources and serve to manage people in pre-structured and mandated ways. Any development effort aiming at targeting development of the very poorest runs up against these institutionalized structures, such that they become systematically stymied and frustrated, with the resources available through such programs generally being siphoned off and ending up in the pockets of the elite who manage and control the underdevelopment of the poor in the first place.

The critical and straight forward question becomes therefore, given this general situation worldwide, how to effectively circumnavigate these kinds of structural obstacles and boundaries to human development. We must understand that a direct confrontation approach would result in most instances in considerable violence and relatively small gain for the cost in terms of human life and destruction. We must see this dilemma as part of a complementary problem of how we go about promoting human development in the world, and what we even mean by human development. 

It is especially in the creation of alternative systems within a meta-systems structure that falls outside the normal operating system, and serves to positively reinforce the positive attributes of the host system, while as much as possible abnegating or effective counteracting the negative attributes of the host system that lead to violation and violence. We would expect gradually a revolution of equality coupled with a revolution of rising expectations that coincides with alternative human and meta-cultural development. This kind of revolution is basically a pacifist groundswell movement that tends to obviate the need for deployment of armed forces, and tends to cooptate the role that the bureaucracy normally plays in the restriction and channeling of resources.

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by: Hugh M. Lewis

Human meta-culture is what I refer to as the instantiation of a global human trans-cultural system, or global civilization, that can be defined as well as a human meta-system that is fully integrated and fully distributed on earth. Such a system should by definition transcend pragmatic and functional boundaries of nation, and in time ethnocultural boundaries that serve to divide and organize people into chauvinistic groupings in competition with one another.

The definition of human meta-culture is not unlike the definition of human meta-systems. It is multifaceted and serves to generally integrate a number of different areas of possible application of the concept, whether this is in terms of meta-cultural applications of food production, wildlife management, production of material meta-cultural, or the cultivation of behavioral and non-material assets of meta-cultural value orientation and worldview.

The concept embraces, more than anything else, central aesthetic and ethical components on the level of implicit behavioral standards the people should maintain in relation especially to their human and natural environments. These are mostly standards of peace, respect, non-violence, empathy, and active involvement in the life that continuously whirls around us like a whirly-gig in the breeze. They are standards of a sublime beauty that can be found in the smallest organism, and in the fundamental complexities of the organization of reality.

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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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