by Hugh M. Lewis

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.

General Systems Essays, Vol. I