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.

General Systems Essays, Vol. I