Lewis Works

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Lewis Works Newsletter

The E-zine of Applied General Systems Science

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

Vol. II:  No. 2

10/15/04 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

Internal reorganization of our framework is going well and in fact a bit ahead of our schedule. Many of our latest efforts are coming to focus now on our Microsoft based programming project, and in the articulation of our framework around this central project. 

We are streamlining our web-system, and moving some furniture around in this house. We have arrived at a central meta-systems prototype project, and we are simultaneously gaining ground on all fronts of our main activity. This has provided a single framework for the complete functional organization of our entire framework, which can now essentially be managed from a single location.

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Main Article

In nature, and in the larger sense of reality, everything is connected to everything else, whether directly or remotely and indirectly. One might be inclined to see reality as a vast "scale-free" network system. But everything is not connected to everything else in exactly the same way--in fact, the bulk of empirical evidence suggests that everything connects to everything else not just differently, but uniquely in an exact and discrete sense to each instance and circumstance of a thing in question. 

Systems relativity is a basic condition of all human knowledge of reality that comes from several different sources at once, but meets in an somewhat inherently ambiguous middle ground. We may refer to forms of design relativity, structural relativity and relational relativity as alternative facets of expression of systems relativity, albeit from varying points of view.

No real system may occur in a total vacuum or complete isolation, and so all systems are interconnected to other systems. In fact, as we observe nature carefully, we come to realize increasingly that systems interconnect upon many different levels simultaneously.

Of course this is a rather simplistic "theory of everything" model, a bit of over-generalization about the structure of reality, but it provides a direct and dramatic entry into understanding the general problem of Systems Relativity--which can be described as a fundamental constraint upon our knowledge of reality in terms of our capacity, both inherent and external, to know or perceive the relations of things in a complete or even sufficient manner.

It will be demonstrated furthermore that science, in whatever form or methodology this takes, moves forward in a systematic manner by means of coming to terms with the general problems of systems relativity, in relation to a specific domain or area of knowledge, in the accounting for the determinancy of relationships between event structures. It does not do this necessarily in a deliberate way, but such underpinnings are implicit and inherent to all general or specific scientific methodologies.

The entire basis of a general systems framework, and of a scientific worldview and methodology based upon a general systems approach, is that of dealing centrally with the problem of systems relativity as this is found to occur phenomenally in natural event structures. Defining a general systems framework depends upon excoriating the relational patternings shared by most if not all systems, regardless of the differences occurring between systems. This cannot be done scientifically in either an empirical or a rational sense if a careful accounting of the differences that occur between systems cannot be made.

The challenge of science becomes describing how things are interconnected, with the understanding that though not everything is interconnected in the same way, some things are connected in similar ways to other things. Traditional science has come from a framework of magic that held to loose analogical relationships, a natural consequence of the dialectical and duality structure of human symbolic logic, and came in time to impose on explanation and its own rites of performance the more restrictive criteria of the demonstration of homological relationships between event structures. Homological relationships stipulate a condition of historical precedence and consequence, and of genetic relation and therefore some sense of causal dependency. This has been the emphasis of conventional science. Systems-based frameworks extend the framework upon a structural level to embrace the informational patterns of systems of all kinds, regardless of their level of articulation or form--thus otherwise unrelated kinds of systems from different levels of pattern organization, say a molecule and a cell and an organism,  may be comparable mechanically or informationally on the basis of their patterning of organization of relations or the dynamic development of relational structures that occur in such different systems.

It has been a common observation and generalization that reality and nature has organized itself in certain ways, and the pattern of organization between many different systems tends to follow very similar principles of relation and organization, at least upon some level of analysis and generalization. Science depends for instance on the possibility of the precise measurement of the physical patterning of event structures.

The basis for all or any kind of information is fundamentally pattern organization that is non-random. It is observable that all real systems that occur are essentially working systems in the sense that their pattern organization is non-random (contains information) and operate against an overarching tendency towards randomization or disorder. Relational structures of whatever kind (and all things in reality are somehow interrelated) contain information if they are non-random in occurrence. Understanding significant information (i.e. non-random pattern) contained in event structures of reality is the basis for both a systems framework and doing so in a systematic, measurable manner is the basis of a scientific model of such event structures.

In our four-dimensional view of the universe, the physical manifestation of all event structures occur in both time and space, and it has been demonstrated that we ultimately cannot separate spatial from temporal modalities of organization. Non-random pattern occurs therefore both temporally and in spatial expression. We may say that all things real have some form of physical manifestation, and therefore all real systems are necessarily, first and foremost, physical systems the behavior of which can at least be described in physical terms.

From a physical standpoint, therefore, any real system may be described as an event structure that occurs in time and space and that exhibits some degree of non-random pattern in its occurrence, and especially if this non-random pattern endures over time and across space in a manner that makes its chance or stochastic probability extremely unlikely under conditions of spatial-temporal symmetry permanence.

The following points, forming a basic systems relativity paradigm, must be observed:

1. that no such system can occur in a sense of absolute physical isolation. 

2. that non-random pattern or "organization" can endure in an improbable manner only if "work" is done.

3. from at least a thermo-dynamic perspective, mechanics of real systems determine that energy must be transported effectively with a minimal degree of efficiency from the environment into the system on a continuous basis.

4. no real system can be permanently or absolutely self-organizing, and therefore completely self-contained in an informational sense.

5. all real systems must be partially open to a larger environment of relationships that in part deterministically organize systems in a meta-systems context.

Furthermore, I would be inclined to put forward the proposition that, at least in the observable universe of physical reality, all energy transactions are in the final analysis absolutely equal--for any discrete amount of energy input into a system delimited in time-space, an exactly equal net amount of energy will be output from the same system, including the energy required for the pattern of organization (information) contained in the system. The fundamental equality of all energy exchange relationships in physical reality appears to be a universal property of all real systems and can be presumed to be a basic presupposition of the cosmological principle. In other words, physical reality in a total or universal sense may have no "leaks", even if limited "self-organized" physical systems are observed always to leak.

This sets up certain consequences for all systems, and we may identify laws of informational dynamics that reflect precisely the principles of thermodynamics:

1.  It is impossible for instance, to squeeze more in total from a self-contained system than was originally put into a system, whether this is in terms of energy or information. 

2. It is impossible to convert all energy in a self-contained system into informational organization.

3. There is no such thing as a permanently self-contained system. The long term trend of any self-contained system is towards increasing disorganization and loss of information.

4. There can be no totally random system that is self-contained.

Only ideal systems, those that exist only as abstractions, may be considered to be completely or totally self-organized and self-contained in an informational sense. All real systems are in fact at best only semi-self-contained. Science has its basis in the analysis and measurement of energy transactions in physical event structures that result in information and that can be considered in some sense to be minimally self-organizing as "systems." We have just pointed out, in a rather abtruse manner, scientific justification for why all systems are relative, in a physical sense at least.

There is more to the story than this, and this other side of the story has to do with the inherent informational ambiguity of real systems that affect our capacity to known in an absolutely certain sense a "system." All real systems may be said to be informationally dynamic, even only upon a structural level of description. They are subject to continuous fluctuation and alteration, and hence any attempt to impose a fixed or "absolute" frame of reference to such patterning must be construed as inherently arbitrary. The true difference between a scientific theory regarded as correct and true even if in a limited manner and a symbolic ideology or mythology is not the inherent structure of the reasoning processes or knowledge encompassed by either system of symbolic generalization, but the conditions and constraints imposed on the foundations of information systematically used to verify and validate such conceptual constructions. Ultimately, physical measurement of the patterning of real systems forms the basis for the former kind of construction, however indirectly derived, while no such system of constraints operates in the case of non-scientific ideologies or other symbolic systems. Of course this is not the whole story of what makes a body of knowledge and a methodology a science, or of what makes a science a systems-based framework of comprehension of reality, but it is only a beginning.

Announcements & Updates

Announcements of recent updates in our framework

* We have recently added two new Pay Per Click Engines to our framework--found primarily at www.fleeps.com and www.woozie.net

*Our E-bay account was recently hacked and fraudulently used for making bogus transactions by an unknown third party. We have sought assistance through E-bay security department to address this situation and to take measures to prevent this kind of thing from occurring again.

*We have successfully achieved full functional integration of our meta-systems framework, and we are in the process of articulating some of the main knowledge-systems connected with this framework which will in part be flown upon the web.

*Traffic numbers through our web-system have been up for the month of October, steadily rising since September, and this reflects mainly that schools are back in session and that our pages are well visited by students and faculty seeking answers to many different kinds of questions.

Mission Statement

Lewis Works is dedicated to realizing new human adaptive possibilities in order to create alternative long-term frameworks for human & biological systems development 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.

Products/Services

Lewis Works strives to offer a genuinely comprehensive range of services and products for the global e-consumer in an informed, non-aggressive manner. It has taken us time to develop our resources into an integrated framework that will provide largely automated self-service to our members and other customers, bolstered by one-on-one account management and attention to personal details. But persistence & a great deal of patience is finally beginning to pay-off in terms of the emergence of a real web-system with an active presence on the Internet.

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 seek to be as honest and transparent in our dealings and relations with the world as possible, putting as a premium in our transactions building the values of trust and reliability.

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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