In this penultimate chapter, I am primarily concerned with the issue of a certain kind of applied meta-system that I believe to be important. There are other possible applied systems that may have equal importance, but from the standpoint, I am most interested now in the concept of the applied meta-system, which I feel to be an important demonstration of the heuristic power of a meta-systems approach to the intelligent application of natural systems theory and alternative systems design to the strategic challenges of humankind in the confrontation of its own biological imperative.

The point of departure of an applied meta--system is the concept that alternative systems, as human engineered systems, will exhibit increasing degrees of integration in future development, such that in time there will emerge a single integrated meta-system that constitutes the basis for human technological civilization.

It is a central point of meta-systems science that, if its theory of natural and alternative systems is comprehensive, and its operational methodologies are sound, then it should lead logically and eventually to the elaboration of alternative applied meta-systems that reflect the comprehensiveness and degree of integration that is hypothetically achievable. Theory is useless if it doesn't somehow lead to application, both in terms of the elaboration of new research methodologies and technologies, new experiments and new data, as well as to the development of new systems and new applications for such systems in the real world. As with all alternative systems that are nontrivial, such systems should augment our reality in basic and positive ways.

Applied meta-systems concerns primarily the problem of integration of alternative systems to create new systems that encompass and incorporate a wide range of systems theory and application into a single unified operational methodology. The basis of the applied meta-system that I propose in this paper is the possibility of creating a single comprehensive design for an alternative applied system that serves to solve many fundamental problems related to the human situation on earth, in a manner that is coordinate with the long term interests of both biological and human survival and with the advancement of scientific knowledge in the world.

Though I propose in a skeletal outline form a design for a single comprehensive meta-system, I do not want to mislead any readership with the notion that only one system that I propose is possible within the framework of applied meta-systems operations. I believe that the concept of meta-systems application to be useful in an almost endless variety of ways, at many different levels. For the sake of achieving a sense of practical comprehensiveness, even if this may at time seem force-fit rather than streamlined, I set forth a single system that I take to be multifaceted and comprehensive in function. I would suggest as well that applied meta-systems must in time be designed in a manner that attends to a certain level of modularity of design on basic levels--a paradigm of alternative systems applications will emerge only when there exists a plethora of true alternatives to choose from and apply in a variable manner, depending upon the requirements of any particular problem.

Furthermore, part and parcel to the concept of alternative meta-systems design is the notion of developing a system of modeling and design development application that is experimental in allowing the production and field testing of alternative designs, and their subsequent streamlining. I do not want to preclude the possibility of the revolutionary invention of entirely new technologies or technological platforms for future development. We have not exhausted all possibilities of primary discover and invention--I dare say that we have only just opened the Pandora's box of scientific technological possibilities, for better or worse.

Many of the designs proposed herein are only very rudimentary or else are entirely revolutionary in the sense that the fundamental obstacles precluding their actual realization have not yet been realized. This is particularly true when it comes to the possibilities of gravitational engineering for instance. It is not clear just how much we will ever be able to manipulate and control gravitational energy, or to channel it to our own designs. Thus the possibility of endless gravitational energy generators, gravitational doomsday bombs, anti-gravitational transport, gravitational telescopes that extend our observational sphere of the universe by orders of magnitude, and faster-than-light travel suggested by gravitational engineering remain a thing of science fiction rather than science fact. Similarly, just how intelligent we will be able to make machines, and their applications, remains unanswered. I am betting on alternative forms of intelligence that can compete with human intelligence in many ways, but I am not beholden to such a set of standards in the evaluation of alternative intelligence.

A subclass of alternative meta-systems are what I would call auxiliary systems that are in essence hybrid systems, a mix of what is known and unknown, of what we envision for tomorrow and know for today. Hybrid meta-systems are a form of application that I take to be intermediate in articulation between the development and design of full blown "true meta-systems" and the kinds of technologies that are extant today. In their possible realism and efficacy as achievable systems, I take the development of hybrid alternatives to be important precursors of things to come, if things go that way.

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The point of departure for understanding the basis for applied meta-systems is to ask ourselves what our world will be like in fifty or one hundred years from now, and what will be the consequences if we project our current trend-lines indefinitely into the future. The challenge of the applied meta-system is the challenge of resolving humanity's basic global dilemmas upon earth. In this problem set we can see clear the interaction of various kinds of variables--human overpopulation, resource depletion, global warming, militarization and increasing structural inequalities and the rise of widespread absolute poverty. To put the issue another way, we must ask ourselves what kinds of changes we can put forward and apply in the short term, that will lead to positive long term results that resolve these basic kinds of dilemmas. If the projection of the current trend-lines take us further away from where we need to be, then we need to ask what trend-lines can be developed in the near term that would yield better expected results in the long term.

In this kind of challenge I see two sets of main sets of obstacles that humankind must learn to deal with through applied meta-systems:

1. The challenge of long-term sustainability of the earth's natural biosphere and its basic resources necessary for a continuation of life on earth, including human civilization.

2. The challenge of projecting life and human civilization beyond the earthbound sphere into outer space in a manner that colonies of life can exist independently of earth.

Each of the main areas dealt with in this chapter will consider both earthbound meta-systems as well as space-based meta-system in coordination.

It is something of a grand paradox that the means for solving one set of problems provides as well the basis for the resolution of the other set of problems at the same time.

An important concept in the articulation and realization of applied meta-systems engineering is that space-based systems must serve as design templates for earthbound systems, and the two kinds of systems are interconnected to one another such that each is an extension of the other. The rationale for the development of independent space-based systems is the construction of totally artificial systems that can sustain both human and non-human life forms in perpetuity free of the restrictions of the earth. By this means, life can be extended within an interplanetary and inter-gallactic sense, assuring that it can be sustained beyond the bounds of a fragile earth.

The applied meta-system that I have proposed within takes as its point of departure the necessary basic prerequisites at multiple levels of natural systems integration that would be necessary to the resolution of basic dilemmas that are confronting human civilization in the modern era. The solutions appear to me to be relatively finite and straightforward in terms of their implementation, and it leads to a single composite design at multiple levels that should in time, if carried into realization and reproduction, become streamlined and increasingly integrated in the future. There is a sense of imperative about these designs, that we in essence have choices, but no choice, if we want to achieve the long lasting results in terms of human and biological survival, that seem to be the most scientifically desirable outcomes we can imagine or wish for. These designs therefore provide what I take to be a basic blueprint of meta-systems design application for future development of human civilization. They can be thought of as the cybernetic application of an alternative form of intelligent information systems to the challenges posed by the creation and development of such systems in the first place.

The basis of applied meta-systems is to take a basic set of rather practical problems that are critical in the world, upon each of the basic levels of meta-systems organization--the physical, biological and human levels. I also propose a level of alternative intelligent applied meta-systems that is forthcoming from consideration of the progressive development of alternative systems. I do not go into any great detail of any of these designs, but merely offer a panoptic overview of how such systems might be structured in a complementary manner.

On the basic level of physical systems, we have the essential question of the replacement of a carbon based energy platform by some alternative kind of energy engineering that will be non-destructive of the natural environment and that would permit the realization of even greater energy potentials than that achievable within the current system. Several sources of alternative energy come into play--solar energy, hydrogen energy derived from water, gravitational energy, and alternative light energy.

The basic system is the production of electrical energy from a variety of solar-power sources--solar heating offers the most efficient and cheapest means of producing electrical energy, though such solar energy farms can utilize a variety of different means for such energy production. The basic electrical energy produced would provide a basic power grid. At the same time, a proportion of this energy would be utilized in the production of hydrogen and oxygen gas as a form of energy storage and accumulation system. Excess electrical energy not directly utilized can be shunted into battery, mechanical and gravitational energy storage systems that are interconnected to the grid and power devices in a feedback control loop that provides greater efficiency to the overall systems.

Earth-based Solar-Hydrogen Energy Platform

The potential of this type of system is the stratification of energy grids from very local scale up to regional and even continental or intercontinental systems, and in which the basic set of functions can be replicated at each level ascending. Small home-based micro-systems can augment the power grid of larger macro-systems, while larger macro-systems can provide the backup power necessary for the peak operation of micro-systems during periods of potential shortage.

Hydrogen and Oxygen gas would be collected in large storage containers, and redistributed as fuel cells for automobiles and other forms of transportation as well as for other industrial functions requiring large amounts of energy. Various combinations of turbine engines burning hydrogen and oxygen can be designed--some involving steam power generation as an intermediate step, and electrical power generation as a feedback control mechanism in the overall process.

The basis for such space-based systems would be the design of closed hydrogen/oxygen and water-steam systems that would be driven directly by solar radiation. Essentially, the same molecules of water would be reconverted back into hydrogen and oxygen on a regular basis, and this high power energy used to fuel the entire system. The exhaust of this system would be recaptured as steam, and condensed back to the water reservoir. In such a manner, engines with inexhaustible supplies of basic fuel could be designed for long term and deep-space travel.

In order to achieve greater power and velocity, it is possible to inter-digitate an intermediate step in the process involving hydrogen-ionic propulsion systems. The challenge in these systems would be the recapture of the hydrogen ions in a closed context that would still permit forward thrust of the overall vehicle, as well recovery and management of the tremendous levels of heat energy that would be involved in such ionization processes.

Space-based Solar-Hydrogen Energy System

Two related components of these systems that I believe are important to their development are the design of light-based engineering systems and gravitational engineering systems that would permit gravitational energy to be exploited as a source of power in both space and on earth. Gravitational energy is utilized in the form of hydraulic systems, but this is really a part of the natural solar cycle of the earth. Other kinds of gravitational energy systems are possible to imagine and develop. One sort of such system is what can be referred to as a kind of gravitational-balance system that relies on the counterbalancing of the pull of gravity to produce energy. Gravitational energy offers the possibility of realization of tremendous amounts of energy at very little cost, but their engineering remains as yet an unrealized possibility.

On the level of biological meta-systems, the important question is the protection, preservation and promotion of ecological biodiversity and evolutionary development of all life, and the control and management of human cultural selection forces that come to play such a critical and destructive role on biological systems. Several points emerge from this--the creation of biotronic systems of artificial evolution, the zoning and restriction of human systems from interference in natural biological reserve systems that are interconnected by broad corridors of green belts.

The construction of massive scale green house systems on earth, especially in areas that are otherwise inarable and uncultivatable, would permit people to extend the agricultural basis of civilization considerably, without the deteriorating effects of soil loss and mechanical destruction of lands.

A continent-island model of interconnected biotronic systems is proposed as a basic template for artificial evolutionary systems. Essentially, passage between the main area and the peripheral areas is selectively regulated in order to control conditions in each area. Different kinds of barriers or obstacles might permit the passage of some life-forms and restrict the movement of other forms. This entire system can be elaborated, especially along a central cylindrical axis, to create a more sophisticated system that would rotate about its central axis.

In space, the design and construction of complex biotronic systems that would be potentially self-sufficient and that would potentially become evolutionary as independent systems living in space, would be a critical hurdle to overcome in the realization of an alternative meta-system. Different designs can be imagined for such systems, but in general it seems as if the replication of gravitation by means of axial rotation results in such systems being inverted from how they are found on earth, and therefore solar energy would have to be channeled to the center of the rotating sphere or cylinder, to be reflected back away from the center.

On the level of human meta-systems, the important question is the symbolic management of stress and the potential for conflict arising from conditions of saturated and crowded habitation, and the creation of habitation systems that are relatively closed and self-contained and non-polluting of the earth's natural system. These would include systems of organization for production, for work, education and entertainment. In this we can refer to the invention of a meta-cultural system for humankind that transcends and serves to systematically subsume the wide range of different cultural systems, such that different cultural systems become innocuous subsystems of the overarching meta-cultural system.

The challenges of producing a meta-cultural system is the creation of an entirely new and comprehensive system of symbolization that serves to inter-digitate with the plethora of alternative cultural systems that are extant in the world and that provides a basis for pan-human integration between different systems. Such a system would have to be construed as complementary and transcendent of existing systems in order that it would be construed as non-threatening to preexisting cultural realities.

In order for such a system to work, there is an essential requirement of structural integration of all existing systems that must be met. In other words, all existing human social systems must be brought under a common structural umbrella that would serve to regulate and distribute resources of the earth more evenly between different groupings and sub-groupings. This is of course easier said than done, as there can be no exact agreement between very different cultural systems as to what the common symbolic basis should be for such integration to occur in the first place.

It seems to me that experiments involving long term habitation in space of different people of different cultural backgrounds is a prerequisite to learning how to engineer such systems on earth. Preliminary experiments with earth-based enclosed colonies could allow us to better understand the human dynamics of long-term space occupation.

The successful development of a global and space-based meta-system would provide defacto the framework for the further integration of human cultural systems on earth. It strikes me that the appropriate foundation for such integration is scientific and technological, though this alone does not obviate people's needs for religion and ideology. An alternative panhuman religious ideology would be in order that would serve to symbolically displace competing alternative systems and provide the basis for the psycho-social integration of humanity under a common umbrella of belief and behavior.

On the level of alternative intelligence meta-systems, it involves the design and implementation of an intelligent network of machines that are capable of independently monitoring and articulating with the environment in a number of different generalized or specialized ways. Such a system serves the purpose of providing information about environmental factors and permitting a range of limited appropriate response to the maintenance of the meta-system as a whole. The various functions of such a system would be the monitoring of environmental factors on earth and the exploration of space by remote control or by fully autonomous control. In this I can picture robotic satellites that look something like cephalopods with retractable tentacles, that are capable of navigating themselves to distant corners of the solar system in order to conduct experiments and provide information. In essence there would be an entire network of such systems that all combined into a single meta-system. The same sorts of monitoring devices deployed in space can be utilized as well in the monitoring of earth zones and habitats.

A successfully applied and fully integrated meta-system would be in a sense a kind of technological utopia--a complex system of meta-engineering that would permit humans to achieve an advanced state of civilization and progress that has been unprecedented, will serving to forestall the destructive processes occurring today.

An important concept in the articulation and realization of applied meta-systems engineering is that space-based systems must serve as design templates for earthbound systems, and the two kinds of systems are interconnected to one another such that each is an extension of the other. The rationale for the development of independent space-based systems is the construction of totally artificial systems that can sustain both human and non-human life forms in perpetuity free of the restrictions of the earth. By this means, life can be extended within an interplanetary and inter-gallactic sense, assuring that it can be sustained beyond the bounds of a fragile earth.

The concept of hybrid intermediate meta-systems arises in the framework of current states of knowledge and the arts about systems. In essence they represent intermediate precursors to more advanced and potentially revolutionary systems based upon technological designs that are available today. Many preliminary models of these systems can be rather straightforwardly constructed upon the ground, before their being realized in space.

The main class of hybrid meta-systems that I am interested in is the possibility of space dirigibles and the construction of aviation systems and platforms that would allow the low velocity portage of very large quantities of material from earth into outer space. There are variant designs of such systems, but all would utilize the principle of dynamic lift of lighter than air gases coupled with basic turbine or rocket propulsion systems. Such super-sized aircraft would be streamlined aerodynamically to provide general lift of the entire body as if it were like a giant wing. As such ships ascended to high altitude, they could achieve greater velocities with less drag from air resistance. Such ships would be designed to fly into outer space and to ferry very large quantities of material and people up to these altitudes. These kinds of ships could replace modern jet transport craft as well, even containing within themselves smaller transport craft for ferrying people back and forth to the earth's surface. Once aloft at high altitude, such ships could achieve relatively high speeds of greater than Mach 10 or 20, and could essentially deliver cargo to any point on the earth's surface within a matter of hours.

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I have sought to define an alternative meta-systems that combines several basic sets of designs at basic levels to a coordinated single system. I do not claim that this is the only kind of meta-system possible or even likely, but I will assert that if we are to escape the earthbound dilemmas of our current global predicament, then we must give careful consideration and effort to the reorientation of basic processes and systems as they occur today on earth. There is a logical inevitability about such systems and their designs, if we are to fully consider and deal with the kinds of dilemmas that have been created by the fact of our civilization in the first place.

I have pointed the general meta-system in a direction that is not beyond the purview of reality or possibility. If such systems could be engineered both upon earth and in outer space, then many of the basic dilemmas confronting humankind will be thereby resolved in a favorable manner. A well developed solar-hydrogen energy platform would allow global human civilization to achieve unprecedented levels of energy production and utilization, even more than has been achieved by the current petrochemical state, and this form of energy production, beyond the creation of prodigious quantities of heat energy, would be essentially non-polluting. An similar kind of argument can be put forward for the other biological and human levels of such systems. It is important only to emphasize in closing that ultimately the choice is ours to make, collectively and individually, about what kind of world we wish to leave to our posterity.