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The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision
Abstract
Over the past thirty years, a new systemic conception of life has emerged at the forefront of science. New emphasis has been given to complexity, networks, and patterns of organisation leading to a novel kind of 'systemic' thinking. This volume integrates the ideas, models, and theories underlying the systems view of life into a single coherent framework. Taking a broad sweep through history and across scientific disciplines, the authors examine the appearance of key concepts such as autopoiesis, dissipative structures, social networks, and a systemic understanding of evolution. The implications of the systems view of life for health care, management, and our global ecological and economic crises are also discussed. Written primarily for undergraduates, it is also essential reading for graduate students and researchers interested in understanding the new systemic conception of life and its implications for a broad range of professions - from economics and politics to medicine, psychology and law.
... The world captured by these means came to be seen in objective terms, meaning that the natural world was stripped of any intrinsic value and could be made subordinate to human use. An older intuition that nature was powerful and inexplicable was replaced by the idea that the world could be purposefully remade to suit human needs [12,13]. ...
... These new methods led to knowledge that could be generalized [13,14]. Newton's laws of motion and gravitation, for example, did not apply narrowly to Newton's time, place, and situation but broadly to any masses, even the planets. ...
... Through science the world came to be seen as a clockwork, a mechanism that could be studied, regularized, and controlled [12,13]. The machine metaphor led to the idea that complications could be overcome by simplification; difficult problems could be solved by analysis (breaking them down; taking them apart). ...
The approach to flooding in the U.S. is strongly influenced by research and practices that place the responsibility for managing risk on scientific and technical experts. But there is a recognition that the public generally needs to be more engaged and responsible. There is currently a disconnect between the objective knowledge of experts and the more subjective ways in which people experience floods and flood risk. To bridge this gap, I start with a review of the philosophy that informs government policies and the societal worldview. While societal leaders have maintained a mechanistic vision of a world that is ultimately knowable and controllable, scientific understandings have progressed to see the world as complex. Understanding the world as complex implies a need for multiple, mutually supporting knowledges. The philosophy of critical complexity inspired by Paul Cilliers motivates a blending and balancing of complementary objective and subjective understandings, an approach I term complexability. An example shows how data and models utilized routinely by hydrologists can be reoriented to better convey flood risk to the public and provide opportunities for discussion and engagement.
... In a more extensive way, the link between different components of the Universe is reported: Fig. 3 (Upper left) a metabolic network of a "simple" bacterium where each point is connected to any other point through the complexity of the network (Capra & Luisi, 2014). Fig. 3 (Upper right) shows the cosmic network (Credit: Andrew Pontzen/Fabio Governato, 2014; see also in (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmologia ...
... Shandarin, Habib & Heitmann (2010) quantitatively specified the underlying mechanisms that drive the formation of the cosmic network. Fig. 3 (Lower left and right) shows the human body network and the human society network, respectively (Capra & Luisi, 2014). (Capra & Luisi, 2014). ...
... Fig. 3 (Lower left and right) shows the human body network and the human society network, respectively (Capra & Luisi, 2014). (Capra & Luisi, 2014). Adopted from Giovannelli, 2023. ...
... Amidst the accelerating crises of climate change, environmental degradation, social inequity, and spiritual malaise, the prevailing models of innovation have proven woefully inadequate. Rooted in a mechanistic, reductionist worldview, the dominant innovation paradigms have failed to account for the deeply interconnected, sacred nature of human and natural systems (Santos, Ferreira & Pedersen, 2022 ;Capra & Luisi, 2014;Meadows, 2008). As a result, much of our technological progress has come at the expense of ecological and societal wellbeing, perpetuating a destructive cycle of unsustainable development and disruption. ...
... From this view, innovation is 2 not merely a technical or economic process, but a sacred co-creative endeavor through which humanity collaborates with the regenerative patterns and intelligence of the biosphere (Yadav & Yadav, 2024 ;Gibbons, 2020 ;Wheatley & Frieze, 2011). This spiritual lens on innovation transcends the prevailing mechanistic and materialistic worldviews, which have long dominated the fields of science, technology, and economics (Capra & Luisi, 2014). Instead, it embraces a holistic, living systems perspective that honors the intrinsic worth and agency of all beings, human and more-thanhuman alike. ...
... Underpinning this integral ecology of innovation is a profound understanding of the interconnected, dynamical nature of human and natural systems. Drawn from the insights of complexity theory, systems thinking, and transdisciplinary research, this perspective recognizes innovation as a multi-scalar, co-evolutionary process that is shaped by the complex, nonlinear interactions between diverse actors, technologies, and environmental factors (Capra & Luisi, 2014;Meadows, 2008;Senge et al., 2004). Rather than viewing innovation through the lens of linear causeand-effect, this systems-based approach embraces the inherent unpredictability, uncertainty, and emergent properties inherent in complex socio-ecological systems. ...
This article forges an unprecedented synthesis between the realms of spirituality, sustainability, and systems thinking, unveiling a transformative framework for an "integral ecology of innovation." By bridging insights from world wisdom traditions, ecological sciences, and complexity theory, the author presents a radically integrative understanding of the interconnected, sacred nature of human and natural systems. Transcending the fragmented, mechanistic worldviews that have long dominated innovation paradigms, this groundbreaking work illuminates innovative design principles, technological solutions, and collaborative processes that embody reverence for the sacredness of life and the regenerative patterns of the biosphere. The visionary ideas explored here represent a watershed moment in redefining the purpose and practice of innovation to align with humanity's highest spiritual and ecological aspirations.
... La Teoría de sistemas nació en la década de 1940 en el ámbito de la biología organicista, planteando una nueva forma de comprender la vida y a los seres vivos, basada en interconexiones, relaciones, patrones y contexto (Capra & Luisi, 2014). Bajo esta perspectiva los seres vivos son conceptualizados como "sistemas", esto es, entidades que exhiben "propiedades emergentes" observables en el todo, las que no radican en sus partes sino en las interacciones entre éstas. ...
... Cabe mencionar que la incorporación de la distinción de sinergia puede no resultar trivial en las personas, dada la presencia que el reduccionismo cartesiano ha tenido desde el siglo XVII hasta el día de hoy en el desarrollo de la ciencia moderna (Capra & Luisi, 2014). La concepción reduccionista entiende que los fenómenos pueden explicarse mediante el estudio de sus partes, desconociendo la existencia de propiedades que puedan asociarse a las interacciones entre ellas, en otras palabras, cegándose ante la sinergia. ...
... De esta forma, la teleología se asocia al concepto de "causa final" planteado por Aristóteles (Giannini, 2005). Se observa en los sistemas teleológicos que todas sus partes actúan contribuyendo al funcionamiento armónico del todo (Capra & Luisi, 2014). ...
Considerando los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) de la Agenda 2030, en concreto, el objetivo cuatro, garantizar una educación inclusiva, equitativa y de calidad y promover oportunidades de aprendizaje durante toda la vida para todos, es un hecho que desafía a los sistemas educativos a trabajar desde el profesionalismo colaborativo (Hargreaves y O ́Connor, 2018) entre: profesores, familias, comunidades y estudiantes. Esta colaboración es esencial para garantizar una educación equitativa y de calidad que contribuya al desarrollo sostenible.
Del mismo modo, Organismos Internacionales como UNESCO, en 2021, aludió la necesidad de nuevas escuelas y nuevas exigencias a los gobiernos con fines de dinamizar y unificar comunidades de individuos con conocimientos compartidos y compromisos hacía mejorar la calidad y equidad de la educación (de La Hoz- Ruíz, et al., 2024). Para dichos fines, es preciso acciones de liderazgo que promuevan el trabajo en comunidad, el apoyo y la confianza como valores principales de las relaciones profesionales y un fuerte capital social. Al hilo de lo expuesto y según Romanowski (2022), el capital social contribuye a la reducción de la pobreza, repercute positivamente en las escuelas y favorece los resultados escolares. A la vez, invoca redes de colaboración, comunicación y un liderazgo compartido desde posiciones centrales (Rincón, 2019). Con estas premisas, es preciso detenerse en el capital social cuyo origen se remite a finales de los años 80 con las teorías de los sociólogos Bourdieu (1986) y Colemann (1988). El capital social se compone de: redes, confianza, normas y sanciones (Halpern, 2005; Scott, 2000; Putnam, 1995). Así como, ejerce tres funciones a partir de sus características y vínculos: bonding, bridging y linking (Halpern, 2005; Putman, 2000; Woolcock, 2001).
Es evidente que una red es el componente principal para el desarrollo del capital social. Por tanto, es oportuno dejar claro que una red es el conjunto de actores (personas, equipos, organizaciones, etc.,), los cuales están conectados por determinados vínculos (Daly, 2010). El análisis de estas redes permite explorar diferentes aspectos, en relación a la colaboración profesional, el tipo de liderazgo, la construcción de redes comunitarias y formaciones para mejorar el desarrollo profesional, etc.,
... There are myriad challenges facing all of humanity. In examining these social, economic, and environmental challenges, Capra and Luisi (2014) propose that they are all down to a single crisis, "a crisis of perception…a perception of reality inadequate for dealing with our overpopulated, globally interconnected world" (p. xi). ...
... "The world as a vast machine fails to account for our own self-awareness and self-determination because the mechanical world denies choice" (Margulis & Sagan, 1995. Capra and Luisi (2014) agree with Margulis and contend that the current metaphor driving human society is a reductionist, mechanical metaphor, resulting in a "monoculture of the mind" (p. 439). ...
... It is proposed here that the original concept of autopoiesis, rightly understood, is not so controversial but rather quite original and offers opportunities for broader application. In this regard, the present work adopts the perspective of Capra and Luisi (2014) who describe autopoiesis as "specifying how to characterize the living organism from a merely [emphasis added] biological and phenomenological point of view, starting from the uniqueness of the biological cell" (p. 129). ...
This theoretical dissertation introduces a novel approach to extend the Santiago theory as formulated by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela into the social realm. They contend that cognition arises as a consequence of a biological system interacting with its environment and equate this with the process of life. In line with this theory, this dissertation explains how the operation of individual human beings as independent cognitive entities gives rise to social structures and how these structures support the ongoing self-organization and self-maintenance of those individuals. Organization development and organization studies in general, from this perspective, bring forth the Santiago theory as an exercise in human development above all: Growth can only occur with, through, and for each other as human beings.
... Investigadora en las áreas de Artes, Cultura y Educación en el Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias y Humanidades (CICH) de la Universidad Doctor José Matías Delgado. 3 Lic. en Letras. ...
... Los saberes que propone Morin no son un conjunto de materias a estudiar, sino problemas centrales, fundamentales, vitales (Morin, 1999; 2020), que, como señala el autor, "permanecen por completo ignorados u olvidados y que son necesarios para enseñar" en el siglo XXI (Morin, 1999, p. 1). 3 Estos son: 1. Las cegueras del conocimiento: el error y la ilusión, 2. Los principios de un conocimiento pertinente, 3. Enseñar la condición humana, 4. Enseñar la identidad terrenal, 5. Enfrentar las incertidumbres, 6. Enseñar la comprensión, y 7. La ética del género humano. ...
El ensayo hace una reflexión sobre la educación en El Salvador en la época actual y en el futuro cercano. La evidencia y la realidad muestran que la escuela salvadoreña no responde a los desafíos que plantea el siglo XXI. Ante esta situación, se proponen paradigmas a considerar como perspectiva orientadora de la educación en el país, de acuerdo con los consensos y tendencias educativos internacionales, los avances en educación y los diversos contextos y realidades históricas. Entre estos paradigmas está el pensamiento complejo, propuesto en educación por Edgar Morin, y la visión sistémica de la vida, propuesta de Capra y Luisi. Se plantean líneas orientadoras, de carácter estructural, que deberían enrumbar el sistema educativo salvadoreño en el siglo XXI.
... 6° The Natural Environment: Environmental organizations, natural resource managers, and ecological experts (Benyus, 1997;Capra & Luisi, 2014). ...
... Environmental organizations, natural resource managers, and ecological experts are essential participants in the decuple helix, as they possess deep knowledge of the biophysical systems that underpin the sustainability and resilience of human societies. By integrating their perspectives, the decuple helix framework can ensure that innovation is aligned with the needs and constraints of the natural world, moving towards a more harmonious and regenerative relationship between human and ecological systems (Benyus, 1997;Capra & Luisi, 2014). ...
In an era of unprecedented global challenges, the limitations of traditional, linear models of innovation have become increasingly apparent. This pioneering work introduces the revolutionary "decuple helix" framework - a comprehensive, multistakeholder approach to driving transformative change through collaborative innovation. By expanding the scope of stakeholder engagement to include a diverse array of actors, from academia and industry to marginalized communities, the natural environment, and international organizations, the decuple helix model unlocks new frontiers of collective creativity, values-driven problem-solving, and systemic regeneration. Drawing on cutting-edge theoretical foundations and a wealth of empirical evidence, this groundbreaking contribution demonstrates how the strategic integration of these ten key stakeholders can catalyze a profound paradigm shift in the way we conceptualize, organize, and mobilize innovation to address the complex, interconnected crises facing our world. Challenging dominant narratives of technocratic, top-down innovation, this article unveils a radically reimagined vision - one in which diverse epistemologies, holistic well-being, and ecological restoration converge to unlock a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all.
... Also, other relevant scientific studies and reports of environmental organizations, mainly (Capra & Luisi 2019) and have slightly enhanced the formula for assessment of environmental impact. Finally, the most important drivers were systematically classified and characterized. ...
... This will not help climate, on the contrary, it will further decrease natural capital and its capacity to sustain our civilization. Together with Capra & Luisi (2019) and Sadowski (2023) we believe that less mechanical, organic and contextual system thinking, is just now critical for survival and prosperity of our civilization. ...
The growth of anthropogenic impacts on environment rapidly acelerated since 1950s and led to overshooting of several planetary ecological thresholds, decreasing the Earth´s ability to support our civilization. Even the concept of sustainability did not lead to recognition of necessary limits to this growth. These limits define the framework of our study on the roots of the current environmental crisis. Numerous studies have been devoted to environmental degradation, but analyses of its indirect driving forces are often fragmentary and confusing. We have attempted to provide a systemic assessment of three groups of indirect drivers by reflecting new physical ones and adding the paradigmatic drivers – such as the mechanical heritage and low reflection of life´s awesome complexity. A paradigm shift is required, as the current paradigm is incompatible with the reality of the Earth´s life support systems erosion. We also strived to contribute to much debated value-based category analysis. This underlines complexity of the driving forces of the crisis. Moreover, some absurd theories of how to come out of the crisis were mentioned. We stress the opportunity for Christians to put into practice the biblical messages to become caring stewards of nature in the God´s image.
... They are systemic problems and opportunities, meaning that they are all interconnected and interdependent. And from a systemic point of view, a sustainable society needs to be designed in such a way that our ways of consuming and producing, physical infrastructures, and technologies are in accordance with nature's inherent ability to sustain life (Capra and Luisi 2012). And if it wasn't clear before, latest now has the COVID-19 pandemic shown us vividly and morbidly how crucial it is to take a systems perspective and to design in agreement among nations if we are to solve such worldwide problems. ...
... Illustrating with an example from the food sector, one might for instance envisage change from large-scale industrial, chemical agriculture to community-based, organic, sustainable farming. It would contribute to solving three of our biggest problems: reduce our energy dependence, healthy, organically grown food would have a positive effect on public health as many chronic diseases are linked to our diet, and organic farming would contribute significantly to fighting climate change because organic carbonrich soil would draw more CO 2 from the atmosphere (Capra and Luisi 2012). ...
... We plainly must begin from understanding how the modern age and its postmodern deconstructions remain counterproductively enthralled with images of a clockwork universe, of humanity as the crown of creation, and of time as money. The popular press offers imaginative explorations of how humanity could experience itself as enchanted and at home in a living, evolving universe (Capra & Luisi, 2014;Cole, 1985;Kauffmann, 1996;Laszlo, 2019;Sahlins, 2022;Swimme & Tucker, 2011;Wheeler, 1994;Zukav, 1979), but these uniformly lack any specification of pragmatic methods for moving in new directions. ...
... Not only will new standards of practice and regulatory criteria need to be determined for applications of an extended SI, those utilitarian and technical issues will also need to be fit into a transformed world hypothesis, one with a participatory logic, aesthetics, and ethics attracting voluminous and intensive investments in creating clear and preferable alternatives to the modernist root metaphor of an independently existing and alienating clockwork universe. Though this transition has been envisioned in many different variations (Capra & Luisi, 2014;Cole, 1985;Kauffmann, 1996;Laszlo, 2019;Sahlins, 2022;Swimme & Tucker, 2011;Wheeler, 1994;Zukav, 1979), pragmatic paths forward in an operational program have been lacking. It may be that the globally manifest pent-up demand for change will soon find its way toward articulating, infrastructuring, and enacting new kinds of ecological political economies. ...
... As "contemporary populisms […] appear to be primarily focused -at least on the face of it -on questions of national sovereignty", 14 media reporting on and about national self-identification in Romanian-speaking countries is steeped in conspiratorial and populist narratives. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic waves of 2021 and early 2022, Romanian-language media discourses have essentially brought together left and right-wing populism in their use of CTs. ...
This paper investigates the discursive interconnections between conspiracy theories and populism in Romanian-language contexts, encompassing both right-wing and left-wing ideologies. Employing interdiscursive analysis, it explores how these narratives converge to shape and reinforce shared identity discourses from Romanian literary culture to Romanian language mainstream media. While the relationship between right-wing populism and conspiracy theories has been extensively documented, the interplay between left-wing populism and conspiratorial thinking in Romania and the Republic of Moldova remains understudied. This qualitative analysis builds on the concept of cultural populism to examine the long-term synchronisation of literary culture and media discourse, particularly in relation to national self-identification. This case study demonstrates how the dissemination of conspiracy theories and populist narratives in Romanian-speaking cultures perpetuates an ethnocentric collective identity, mainly through right-wing ideological tropes. By giving a glimpse into interdiscursive dynamics, the paper contributes to understanding the use value of literary culture in mainstream political discourse across Romanian-speaking societies.
... Considering the environmental consequences of industrialization and ongoing economic expansion, it is imperative to recognize ecological philosophy as a valuable yet frequently disregarded asset in the pursuit of creating sustainable societies. It surpasses the restrictions of separate areas determined by academic boundaries and instead embraces a comprehensive approach that integrates radical holism and interdisciplinarity, rooted in the interconnected functioning of living systems rather than simplistic mechanical models [4,5]. The framework integrates diverse disciplines, such as cosmology, biology, and social sciences, to uncover intricate interdependencies that are often obscured by fragmentation. ...
Marxist ecological philosophy carries profound implications and serves as the guiding principle for constructing an ecologically advanced society. The essence and fundamental principle of Marxist philosophy is to demand individuals to fully utilize their subjective agency and achieve the harmonization and integration of humanity and the natural world by adhering to objective rules. An extensive examination of Marxist ecological philosophy holds significant theoretical and practical significance in the pursuit of constructing a harmonious and sustainable planet.
... Quando a análise da cadeia de valor é feita de forma sistêmica, deve-se considerar que essa análise parte, a priori, da governança que envolve a relação entre agentes sociais (produtores, intermediários, apoio, cooperados e associados, representantes do poder público) e agências sociais (associações, cooperativas, empresas de logística, organizações do Estado e demais organizações do segundo e do terceiro setores). Essa análise da cadeia de valor consiste na interação sistêmica formada por um conjunto de atividades (processos que envolvem obtenção de matéria-prima, logística, beneficiamento até a disponibilização ao consumidor final) e um conjunto de organizações sociais (agentes e agências sociais) que atuam em rede (Capra & Luisi, 2014;Siqueira, 2018). Nesse sentido, essa rede que forma a cadeia de valor da castanha possui cinco elos principais: floresta, comunidade, beneficiamento primário, beneficiamento secundário e mercado (Figura 1). ...
Resumo A cadeia de valor da castanha-do-brasil, que envolve mais de 60 mil famílias de agricultores indígenas e tradicionais, é gerida por mais de 100 organizações do terceiro setor que atuam basicamente no beneficiamento primário. Apesar de ser o principal produto florestal extrativista da Amazônia, sua cadeia de valor segue associada às relações de trabalho pré-capitalistas e monopsônios regionais e vem perdendo espaço para o paradigma agropecuário, defendido pela maioria dos planejadores e agentes econômicos da região. O objetivo geral deste estudo é investigar se o novo modelo das agroindústrias cooperativadas está contribuindo para o surgimento de um novo paradigma extrativista para a região. Na análise de inovações e descobertas sobre a cadeia de valor, as cooperativas agroindustriais mostram sinais de uma lógica de trabalho coletivo que pode reverter a subordinação do trabalho ao capital. A cadeia de valor é composta por cinco elos: floresta, comunidade, beneficiamento primário e secundário e mercado. As agroindústrias cooperativas do Amazonas mostram uma emancipação do sistema de aviamento e a ascensão de seus agentes sociais como protagonistas locais. A gestão coletiva desses empreendimentos tende a convergir para o novo paradigma extrativista na Amazônia.
... .When the concept of the human spirit is understood as the mode of consciousness in which the individual feels a sense of belonging, of connectedness, to the cosmos as a whole, it becomes clear that ecological awareness is spiritual in its deepest essence" (p. 12) [46]. ...
Worldviews, the foundational assumptions guiding human behaviour and societal systems, are pivotal in shaping planetary health and human flourishing. This paper discusses two divergent worldviews that have prevailed in human populations over time and which are still evident today: the Holistic/Non-linear Worldview, which emphasises interconnectedness and harmony with nature, and the Dualistic/Linear Worldview, which prioritises human-centric activities and the more recent exploitation of nature. The characteristics of human worldviews are explored, including how these are formed in early life via the vital role of human communication and storytelling and the expressive role of the arts. To support the future of human flourishing, this paper makes the case for an integrative worldview that would enable us to embrace paradox and complexity, to seek synthesis, and to promote an integrated approach that reconciles the tensions between seemingly opposing ways of understanding our world. The principle of “Right Relationship”—fostering reciprocal, respectful, and sustainable interactions between humans and the natural world—is examined as a possible framework that could be employed to help humanity navigate today’s global crises and create the conditions for a sustainable, flourishing future.
... He called upon humanity to create action and dialogue about what he termed one complex problem-integrally related environmental and social issues of sustainability and poverty/inequality, stating clearly that there is "an intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet." He further notes, as physicists have (e.g., Capra, 1995;Capra & Luisi, 2014), that "everything in the world is connected" (Francis, 2015: sec. 16). ...
... SESs exist in a context of complexity (e.g., Capra & Luisi, 2014;Geels, 2005;Geels et al., 2016;Loorbach, 2010;Rotmans & Loorbach, 2009;Stacey, 1995;Waddock, Meszoely, Waddell, & Dentoni, 2015). Further, they exhibit many so-called wicked problems (e.g., Churchman, 1967;Rittel & Webber, 1973) creating complexly wicked (or wickedly complex) contexts. ...
... ' While Frank et al. (2024) argue for the inclusion of consciousness as an essential component in understanding and constructing scientific knowledge, they do not go as far as claiming that the complexity, structure and coherence of physical reality itself is totally contingent upon consciousness. Also, while it seems to be almost tautologically true that consciousness is required for the world to appear as we experience it (i.e., our experiential or phenomenal world), this doesn't entail that consciousness is required for the world to exist in itself as an incredibly complex, structured and lawful web of interacting processes and components at multiple spatial and temporal scales (Capra, 1997;Capra & Luisi, 2014;Thompson, 2007). ...
This paper addresses a problem that arises from the ontological commitments of Integrated Information Theory (IIT) 4.0, particularly its stance that only conscious entities truly exist. This position leads to the "origin of consciousness problem": if non-conscious entities do not truly exist, how could consciousness have evolved from non-conscious ancestors? We explore several responses IIT might offer, such as the co-origin of life and consciousness, or the idea that non-conscious ancestors might have been constituted by "ontological dust"—minimally conscious, intrinsic micro-entities collectively aggregated to form bigger objects lacking unified consciousness. Our analysis shows that IIT’s ontological framework, along with scientific knowledge regarding biological evolution, prebiotic chemical structures, and physical cosmology, ultimately forces the theory into positing a form of "Big Bang consciousness", that is, a primordial ontological dust constituted by minimally conscious elementary particles created soon after the Big Bang. Although IIT may accept this striking implication, we think that it introduces tensions with both the received scientific view of the evolutionary origin of consciousness and the cosmological understanding of early universe components. We also present but ultimately reject an alternative option based on what we call the “formless stuff hypothesis”, which might avoid the implication that consciousness originates from nothing as well as the necessity of a "Big Bang consciousness”. We conclude by suggesting that IIT's metaphysical commitments, especially the equation true existence=phenomenal existence, require re-examination to reconcile its framework with standard scientific knowledge, and in particular, with the received view about the phylogenetic origin of consciousness.
... This systemic description of art is most fully articulated in Niklas Luhmann's Art as a Social System (2000), which differentiates art in terms of its communicatory power in the age of systems enfoldment. More broadly, Capra and Luisi's (2014) The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision offers a comprehensive systems description of the physical world and demonstrates the fundamental interconnectedness of things and how we need to think holistically about the planet, the environmental and biological systems and, more speculatively, how we might apply this to culture, including the production of art, as a collective and distributed activity. Thinking through systems from a cultural perspective, Paul Cilliers's Complexity and Postmodernism: Understanding Complex Systems (1998) synthesises Postmodernism and systems thinking, which, as discussed, are often dealt with in mutually or culturally exclusive terms. ...
The distribution of authorship in the age of machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) suggests a taxonomic system that places art objects along a spectrum in terms of authorship: from pure human creation, which draws directly from the interior world of affect, emotions and ideas, through to co-evolved works created with tools and collective production and finally to works that are largely devoid of human involvement. Human and machine production can be distinguished in terms of motivation, with human production being driven by consciousness and the processing of subjective experience and machinic production being driven by algorithms and the processing of data. However, the expansion of AI entangles the artist in ever more complex webs of production and dissemination, whereby the boundaries between the work of the artist and the work of the networked technologies are increasingly distributed and obscured. From this perspective, AI-generated works are not solely the products of an independent machinic agency but operate in the middle of the spectrum of authorship between human and machine, as they are the consequences of a highly distributed model of production that sit across the algorithms and the underlying information systems and data that support them and the artists who both contribute and extract value. This highly distributed state further transforms the role of the artist from the creator of objects containing aesthetic and conceptual potential to the translator and curator of such objects.
... As shown in Table 1, Grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and Inducing patterns (Capra & Luisi, 2014) focus on the emergence of theories from data. Discernment tools enrich these methods by providing participant-constructed data, facilitating the discovery of complex social dynamics and patterns, and fostering a deeper understanding of social interactions. ...
This article explores the practical application of Bruno Latour’s “tools of discernment,” designed to facilitate open collective inquiry without preconceived outcomes. These tools aim to enhance understanding of complex social phenomena, often called “wicked problems,” by encouraging participants to self-describe their experiences and perspectives. This approach allows for individual expression, constructing collective narratives, and pursuing societal solutions. In Bordeaux, research focused on young people’s engagement and aspirations. Researchers employed discernment tools alongside a non-participatory observational approach, meticulously documenting interactions and discussions. The abductive process enabled a real-time understanding of young participants’ social dynamics and concerns, highlighting essential themes such as the multifunctionality of public spaces and the impact of digital technology on social relations. In Montreal, the study addressed systemic racism and discrimination using discernment tools. Written contributions were analyzed to identify recurring themes and underlying dynamics. This process ensured participants’ voices were accurately represented, resulting in 38 recommendations for institutional recognition and action against systemic racism. The deployment of discernment tools in both cities demonstrated their effectiveness in capturing individual experiences and fostering collective understanding while addressing complex societal challenges. However, challenges such as participant engagement and interpretive bias require adaptive planning and critical reflection. This article demonstrates the potential of discernment tools in participatory social science research, advocating for inclusive and iterative methodologies to tackle complex societal issues. Additionally, it proposes a deployment protocol to foster constructive dialogue, improve understanding of complex social dynamics, and facilitate the development of workable solutions.
... Complex systems such as family systems, like biological systems, demonstrate autopoietic or self-producing and -organizing processes via circular feedback mechanisms (Luhmann, 2008;Muturana et al., 1973). One way such systems become self-organized is through roles that emerge out of interaction and communication between system members (Capra & Luisi, 2014). A healthy complex system includes an optimal level of randomness in these processes (Redekop & Yoannes, 2021), which results in role flexibility. ...
Family members of a loved-one with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) experience much stress and other adverse impacts, especially those that are frontline caregivers and therefore most proximal to AUD. Previous research has shown such family members experience altered functioning of the prefrontal cortex in response to images of their loved-one, and these responses have similarities to brain responses to alcohol cues for a person with AUD. The current study aimed to expand this research by examining whole-brain functional activation of family members’ brains. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure activation responses of 10 family members with a loved-one with diagnosed AUD, as well as that of 10 control group participants, during an event-related research paradigm. Results from Generalized Linear Modeling (GLM) indicated significant activation in the left hippocampus and left amygdala for family members of an AUD loved-one, and this activation was significantly greater than that of a control group. These two subcortical regions play a role in the reward network and their activation found in this study may be associated with a reward-based “approach” response – drawing further parallels between the functioning of the impacted family member’s brain and that of the brain of someone with AUD. This understanding influences how clinicians might provide services to family members of those with AUD.
... The research orienting principles presented here are intended to key a social scientist into the ideas that connect world-systems analytic theory to the contemporary understandings of science, and to ways of thinking about and analyzing complex systems (e.g., Arnold and Wade, 2015;Capra and Luisi, 2014). These principles are not fully compatible with much of research on social-systems change in the social sciences. ...
... Such a property is called logical openness [40][41][42], which characterizes living organisms as well as biological and social organizations. Artificial systems lack logical openness because they can be articulated in precise functional parts, each designed for a precise function, while the structure and behavior of evolved complex systems emerge through a dialectic interaction with the environment [38,[43][44][45][46]. Finally, we observe that the steps involving the modification of U as a consequence of noise and error are in general path-dependent [47]. ...
Noise and error are usually considered to be disturbances negatively affecting the behavior of a system. Nevertheless, from a systemic perspective, taking into account openness and incompleteness of complex systems, noise and error may assume a creative, constructive, and positive role in that they are a source of novelty that can trigger the reorganization of the system, the growth of complexity, and the emergence of new meaning. Examples of this phenomenon can be found in evolutionary phenomena driven by affordances, the formation of new attractors in dynamic systems responding to external perturbations, and improvisation in music. We argue that it is possible to identify general properties that enable the positive effect of noise and errors in complex systems, namely, multilevel organization, redundancy, incompleteness, and criticality. These properties play a major role in living systems and can guide the design of robust and adaptive artificial systems.
本発表の目的は、〈メタバース〉という新たな概念を、我々の時代と将来の技術社会的苦境、特に人類に対する人工の脅威に対する人間の長年にわたる不安に光を当てる方法で概念化することである。
これを達成するために、メタバースを「人工環境」の歴史に位置付け、それを小原秀雄とNoah Yuval Harariに参照した人間、世界、〈ユニバース〉との関連で考察する。ユニバースとは、人間に先行する背景環境であり、人間はそこに位置しているが、人間の意図によって制御できない。この強力な環境で生き残るために、人間は、人工的なものを作り出し、ユニバースによって課された生存の課題に対して、我々の「ハビタット」、すなわち我々が住むことができる〈世界〉を構築し、守り、維持する。こう見ると、世界は最初から人工的なものである。
しかし、我々が住む世界は、主にギリシャ・ローマとユダヤ・キリスト伝統から進化した特殊な人工性、すなわち〈現代人工性〉に支配される。上柿崇英の〈自己完結社会論〉に参照すれば、現代人工性の独特の特徴は、〈意のままになる〉解放を求めることで、多面的なパラドクスを引き起こしている。現代人工性の物事を制御する力を通じて、意のままになる解放を求めれば求めるほど、逆に状況が制御できなくなるだけでなく、人間そのものはより脆弱になり、現代人工性によって制御されるようになる。
上記とビッグデータ、AI、IoT、Code is Law（コードは法である）などの新興技術の出現を踏まえ、次の仮説を提案する。ある時点で、現代人工性は最終的に人間の制御から独立し、我々が置かれている新しい背景環境を形成するかもしれない。この環境は、物質的にユニバースに依存し、ユニバースの影響を受けることができるが、ユニバースの「自然法則」ではなく、この新たな背景環境自身の法則に支配されているため、ユニバースに還元することはできない。新たに独立した〈新現代人工性〉は、もはや我々が自由に利用できる「手段」とはならず、完全に把握することができず、常に人間が「意のままに」働くわけでもない太陽、海、大気のようになる。言い換えると、過去には、我々は生き残るために制御不能なユニバースに対処する必要があっただけであったが、新たな未来には、我々の世界がその存在を継続するために、ユニバースに加えてメタバースと呼ぶ新近代人工性によって形成された新しい制御不能な環境にも適応しなければならない。
この仮説は、人工性に直面したときの我々の実存的不安を、それに「適応」するための生存と進化の圧力として、新たな説明を提供するものであると主張する。つまり、人工性の脅威は、AI意識の生まれ、テクノ失業、または人類を絶滅させる力から生じる必要はなく、単に、絶えず変動するユニバースと制御・予測不可能なメタバースに直面して生存し適応する手段をますます失う「二重背景環境に絞られている」事態によって十分に生じられるからである。
Systems thinking is a promise of wholeness and agency. It appears as the right approach to meet the challenges of the Anthropocene. Yet, to keep its promise, systems thinking needs to critically review itself, the wholeness it integrates and the sense of agency it informs and forms. Transcending systems thinking is a continuous process of critical systems integration. Since the 1980s, this process of further integrating systems thinking in the mirror of complex (organisational) practice has been Mike Jacksons research agenda. Today, in the light of the demands of systems change vocalised by a young generation of activists and campaigners but more so in the mirror of research in metamorphic transformation, a next chapter of critical systems integration is due. Widening the gaze and revisiting its philosophical foundations, critical systems integration dissolves distinctions in a quest for meaning and purpose and transcends in a metamodern turn the axiological struggle of the critical school. Critical systems integration embraces a wider range of lived experiences allowing itself to include the formerly excluded. It finds its confluence in a shared understanding growing from co‐reflected lived experiences. In the Tamkeen experience of metamorphic transformation, systems thinking mirrors itself and the challenges of the generation systems change growing out of itself, from itself, into itself ; and finally, it needs to answer the ultimate critical question: What's love got to do with it?
Fundamentals of systems theory are outlined in this chapter, it aims to extract guidable and valuable ideas.
This paper compares Gabriel’s new ontology after metaphysics to Martiniquan prose writer Édouard Glissant’s parallel endeavor to think the world beyond totality. It explores substantial affinities between the no-world view of field of sense ontology and Glissant’s pluralistic concept of “tout-monde,” proposed in the Traité du Tout-monde (1997; trans. Traktat über die Welt). Because Glissant’s background is in Caribbean culture and literature and his focus is on its characteristic trans-cultural dynamics, the analogies with fields of sense ontology are especially interesting. In the Traité, Glissant expands his theory of creolization to a theory of globalization. Reading Caribbean creolization as a blueprint for the cultural dynamics of the globalizing world, he argues that the mixed-race composite cultures of the Caribbean model the trans-cultural processes of globalization. Glissant’s cultural theory joins Gabriel’s philosophy in outlining a non-reductionist, pluralistic “new realist” ontology.
Market studies is a newly emerging field dedicated to understanding the origins, core concepts, theories and methods currently being used and developed to examine markets in the making. Providing a unique overview that introduces, positions and develops this highly fertile area of research, Market Studies is the first book to consolidate its themes, tools and methods in a single, comprehensive volume. Topics covered include: market organization and design; performativity in and around markets; valuation; market places and spaces; methods that may be utilized in studying markets; the field's relation to adjacent disciplines; the future of markets. Deploying a sensitivity for the socio-material constitution of markets, the authors put market practices at the centre of inquiry and offer insights into the future and potential impact of market studies research. The contemporary, practical and interdisciplinary approach is strengthened by multiple examples of original empirical research into markets.
Market studies is a newly emerging field dedicated to understanding the origins, core concepts, theories and methods currently being used and developed to examine markets in the making. Providing a unique overview that introduces, positions and develops this highly fertile area of research, Market Studies is the first book to consolidate its themes, tools and methods in a single, comprehensive volume. Topics covered include: market organization and design; performativity in and around markets; valuation; market places and spaces; methods that may be utilized in studying markets; the field's relation to adjacent disciplines; the future of markets. Deploying a sensitivity for the socio-material constitution of markets, the authors put market practices at the centre of inquiry and offer insights into the future and potential impact of market studies research. The contemporary, practical and interdisciplinary approach is strengthened by multiple examples of original empirical research into markets.
In this study, we explore systems thinking maps as a local literacy practice in a systems thinking professional development institute for PreK-8 teachers. Existing literature underscores the necessity of equipping teachers with a robust understanding of systems thinking; this study addresses a call in the research to find ways to do so. Rooted in the principles of systems thinking, professional development, and literacy practices, we analyze how the literacy practice of systems thinking mapping contributed to participant pedagogical reflection and systems thinking theory development. We employed a case study approach, allowing an in-depth investigation of the mapping literacy events within the professional development setting. We collected data throughout the four days of the professional development; the data set included observations and recordings of mapping sessions, reflections on mapping from 29 participants, and photographs of the systems maps created. Our results highlight the potential of systems thinking maps to foster collective understandings of systems thinking, deepen understandings via the co-construction of dynamic texts, and imagine pedagogical possibilities. The literacy practice not only strengthens participants’ grasp of systems but also creates a shared space for collaborative learning, flattening hierarchies and engaging teachers as co-learners. The implications extend to disrupting traditional professional structures, emphasizing the centrality of the learner while fostering hope, optimism, and agency. This study contributes valuable insights into literacy practices that promote collaborative learning among teachers, encouraging a shift toward more inclusive and transformative professional development.
In Western societies, more and more people are suffering from overweight and are developing metabolic syndrome and/or type 2 diabetes. A sustainable lifestyle change, based on exercise and balanced nutrition, can prevent the onset of a disease, alleviate its course, or promote recovery. However, those affected find it difficult to sustainably change their lifestyle. Often, intervention programs are not aimed at sustainable behavior change and do not sufficiently take into account the motivational factors of individuals. As a result, those affected often revert to old patterns after some time. The applied research project “Lifestyle Change” deals with the question of how sticking to a healthy lifestyle can be supported from the perspective of motivational psychology and service management. This book focuses on the maintenance phase, which is central to the sustainable success of the lifestyle change.
Service-dominant (S-D) logic is a metatheoretical framework for understanding economic activity. It depicts value creation as a collaborative process in which resource-integrating actors perform service-for-service exchange in nested and overlapping service ecosystems enabled and constrained by actor-generated institutions. It is a counter-logic to the conventional goods-dominant, firm-centric, linear perspective to exchange that emphasizes the production and distribution of value-laden goods. S-D logic offers a holistic, dynamic, and systemic understanding of value cocreation across a wide configuration of actors.
S-D logic is identified as the theoretical basis of human-to-human (H2H) marketing, a new framework in marketing that emphasizes humanism in efforts to address existential human problems while mutually benefiting customers and marketers, as well as upholding ethical commitment among stakeholders. S-D logic provides a broader view of collaborative value creation that emphasizes the need for firms to maintain quality relationships with multiple stakeholders for long-term benefits. By promoting business decisions mutually beneficial for customers, employees, and society in general, S-D logic offers a perspective that can potentially reduce tensions and narrow the gap between business and ethical decisions, therefore accommodating a humanistic approach to marketing.
In this chapter, we provide a brief introduction to the basic principles of service-dominant (S-D) logic, explain the foundational concepts in S-D logic, i.e., service, resources, actors, value, and institutions as well as depict the conceptual turns that S-D logic has undergone since its inception, including the utilization of an actor-to-actor designation, increased emphasis on institutions, institutional arrangements, and service ecosystems, as well as the consideration of a multi-level approach in analyzing theories and empirical observations.
The diffusion of S-D logic within and beyond the marketing discipline can partly be attributed to its associated unifying, transcending, accommodating, and transformative nature. Consequently, scholars increasingly identify S-D logic as a metatheoretical framework that can facilitate the development of a general theory of markets on which normative theories of marketing can rest. This chapter briefly outlines pathways toward S-D logic’s progress toward theory formalization by identifying the accomplishment of lexicon building and axiomatization and underlining the ongoing need to pursue theory interpretation, which requires more exploration of emerging areas of inquiry, development of marketing-born mid-range theories, and theory cocreation involving a broad range of market actors.
El presente artículo aborda, desde la metodología propia de la revisión sistemática de la literatura y de la guía PRISMA (2020), la evolución de los planes o programas de desarrollo desde el fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial hasta la primera década del siglo XXI. Concretamente este trabajo pretende dar respuesta a interrogantes como: ¿Cómo han evolucionado los planes de desarrollo? ¿Ha ocurrido un cambio sustancial en la forma de entender el desarrollo? ¿Son los planes efectivos para lograr el bienestar? ¿Qué tipo de bienestar? Los estudios revisados arrojan algunas conclusiones sobre cambios en los objetivos de los planes, así como en las vías para alcanzarlos y en los enfoques y las metodologías de éstos y de sus evaluaciones.
This research explores the relationship between the concept of Khilafah in the Risale-i Nur and the "Zero Waste" movement in Indonesia. The study utilizes a literature review, including a compilation of Risale-I Nur, data from the Zero Waste program in Indonesia's National Waste Management Information System (SIPSN), and related literature. This data is then qualitatively analyzed and subjected to content analysis to describe the relevance and implications of it concept on the Indonesia Zero Waste movement. The research demonstrates that the concept of Khilafah transcends the anthropocentric and ecocentric perspectives, emphasizing human responsibility towards the environment. The research further illustrates how the concept of Khilafah utilizes the "Law of Purification" as a foundation for the "Zero Waste" concept. Despite the progress made by Indonesia in waste management, significant challenges remain. The research highlights the role of the Khilafah concept in fostering religious awareness and sensitivity within the "Zero Waste" movements. It elucidates that the connection between the Nursian Khilafah and the "Zero Waste" movements constitutes a religious basis and sensitivity that requires continuous attention. The research is expected to provide profound insights into the potential of the Nursian Khilafah in addressing waste problems and supporting the "Zero Waste" movement in Indonesia
This unique collection of essays, edited by and for students of linguistics, offers insights into the personal and professional journeys of some of the key thinkers in language studies.
With contributions by fifteen established scholars, the volume provides first-hand insights into the ‘becoming’ of a linguist, and the many joys and challenges which come with it. The contributors pair honest and practical academic advice with personal experiences to assist novice and aspiring linguists to find their footing in the rapidly changing landscape of language studies, and guide them through linguistics past, present, and future. Autobiographical and reflexive, each chapter also includes recommendations for key readings and resources used or produced by the contributors.
As a volume focused on the people behind the ideas, Becoming a Linguist will be of interest to students and scholars of language and linguistics, the history of linguistic thought, as well as the interested general reader.
This foundational chapter introduces the multidisciplinary POZE framework to analyze the interplay of humans and technology. The m4-matrix is offered to map out the arenas where transformative changes are occurring at the intersection of individual (aspiration, emotions, thoughts, sensations) and societal (individual, community, country, planet) dimensions. The argument is made that a mindset of agency amid AI, across generations, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds can transform technology into an ally for humankind. The A-Frame is introduced to cultivate such agency intentionally, which involves awareness of interplays and appreciation of individual vulnerability, requiring acceptance of the unique opportunity that humans have to create the reality they want, and accountability for the responsibility that comes with that privilege. Combined these attitudes result in the type of leadership mindset that is needed to promote and achieve agency amid AI. As it will be explained, leadership should be approached as a way of life, independent of hierarchy; perceived as a path that is driven by values. If it is framed in such a manner it opens a path for anyone to rise beyond personal interest to the bigger picture perspective of the Common Good, which is a pragmatic perspective considering the interconnected nature of everything. We look at the Spiral of influence which allows humans to trigger change, and the potential of technology to support them. Everyone can win if everyone has a fair chance to play; this book shows possible ways to achieve this. The binomen of GIGO (Garbage in, Garbage out) versus VIVO (Values in, Values out) is introduced as the central tension of the relationship that humans entertain with technology; it reflects the argument that humans cannot expect the technology of tomorrow to reflect values that they do not manifest today.
Resumen Exploramos la integración del pensamiento complejo en la ingeniería, proponiendo un cambio de paradigma desde el enfoque tradicional reduccionista hacia una visión holística y multidimensional. Analizamos cómo el pensamiento complejo permite abordar los desafíos contemporáneos de manera integral, considerando las interconexiones entre sistemas naturales, vitales y sociales. Resaltamos la importancia de reformular la educación en ingeniería, fomentar la investigación interdisciplinaria y promover una práctica profesional ética y responsable. Argumentamos que esta integración facilitará el abordaje de problemas globales como el cambio climático y la desigualdad social. Concluimos que la adopción del pensamiento complejo en la ingeniería es un imperativo ético y una necesidad para diseñar soluciones sostenibles y equitativas en el siglo XXI. Palabras clave: pensamiento complejo, ingeniería de sistemas, interdisciplinario, desarrollo sustentable, ética Abstract: We explore the integration of complex thinking in engineering, proposing a paradigm shift from the traditional reductionist approach to a holistic and multidimensional vision. We analyze how complex thinking allows us to address contemporary challenges holistically, considering the interconnections between natural, vital, and social systems. We emphasize the importance of reformulating engineering education, fostering interdisciplinary research, and promoting ethical and responsible professional practice. We argue that this integration will facilitate addressing global problems such as climate change and social inequality. We conclude that adopting complex thinking in engineering is an ethical imperative and a necessity for designing sustainable and equitable solutions in the 21st century.
The purpose of the research is to investigate the increasing importance of the role of sustainability in high‐end restaurants, specifically in those awarded Michelin stars. The focus is on the role sustainability plays as a crucial element in the state‐of‐the‐art of fine‐dining business given that restaurants are challenged to reconsider the noteworthiness of new sustainable imperatives. The study is based on a questionnaire survey carried out with over 70 owners and chefs from Italian Michelin‐starred restaurants. The results show a clear tendency towards sustainability and an increasing attention towards this trend, emphasizing its peculiarities for the restaurant industry, which is indicates profound changes. More specifically, 35% of the variance in internal sustainability policies adoption is explained by external drives related to sustainability and customers' demands of sustainability. The data collected relies on an Italian sample, but the results are useful to understand the sustainability imperatives for the Michelin‐stars restaurants worldwide as the Italian food service industry is often deemed as iconic. The study advances new insights into the future of the sustainable restaurant industry. The results of research are based on a novel research design and empirical survey capturing the state‐of‐the‐art of sustainability policies adoption in the case of Michelin‐starred restaurants.
This paper argues that for humanity to deal with the intersecting, existential threats of polycrisis, broad-based narrative changes are needed to make practical and relevant eco-social (or social ecological) imaginaries and related contracts. An imaginary is how people conceive or think about the world around them and their relationship to it. Social contracts are explicit and implicit agreements about how humans structure their social institutions, including rights and obligations, privileges, benefits, and restrictions. Current imaginaries (and related contracts) are almost solely human-centric, while the shift argued for here is towards eco-social imaginaries, in which both humans and nature are granted rights to flourish. Such new imaginaries have the potential to shift ideas about humans as actors in the world towards life-centric eco-social understandings in which human beings are seen as part of and interdependent with nature, and develop economies and societies oriented towards wellbeing for both humans and nature. While historically social imaginaries and their related social contracts have been human-centric, more ecologically centric imaginaries have been emerging for several decades, and in the early 2020s, as this paper documents, have now begun to become explicit. This paper identifies seven recent efforts to define and make explicit the broad parameters of such eco-social imaginaries that might be widely deployed to begin the difficult and long-term process of systemic change needed to achieve flourishing for humans and nature.
Стаття присвячена філософському дослідженню релігійної свідомості, особливостям становленнярелігійності як такої, місцю релігійної свідомості в соціокультурних процесах. Окремо виділяється поняття «релігійнасвідомість», яка є мінливою величиною. Розглядається ставлення до релігії й релігійної свідомості в працях Т. Гоббса,І. Канта, Гегеля, В. Вернадського та ін. Сучасний період історичного руху людства демонструє певні зміни у смислах ізмістах релігійної свідомості. Сучасність – це пошуки можливостей для трансцендування «Я», пошуки подолання межміж світом матеріального і духовного, створення єдиної «картини світу». Звертається увага на те, що кожнарелігійна традиція виступає як втілення й трансляція певного типу внутрішньої сутності людини, а в православнійтрадиції затверджується онтологічна реальність і принципова новизна екзистенціальної ситуації людини, якапов’язана з появою та усвідомленням Боголюдини. В такий спосіб, визначення сутності релігії постає дефініцієюсутності релігійності. Головним висновком є те, що релігійна свідомість може розумітися як акт присутності упросторі буття, тобто як просторове поле, в якому свідомість здійснює свої зміни на основі емоційної матриці.Точніше, рафінованого почуття, у безпосередній інтенції якого - як інтуїції, здійснюється самоцінність та пов'язаністьсвідомості у буття цілого. Тобто постулюється самоцінність свідомості, що актуалізує безпосередню інтенціюнеявного порядку.
Advocates of biotechnology affirm that the application of genetic engineering to develop transgenic crops will increase world agricultural productivity, enhance food security, and move agriculture away from a dependence on chemical inputs helping to reduce environmental problems. This paper challenges such assertions by first demystifying the Malthusian view that hunger is due to a gap between food production and human population growth. Second, we expose the fact that current bio-engineered crops are not designed to increase yields or for poor small farmers, so that they may not benefit from them. In addition, transgenic crops pose serious environmental risks, continuously underplayed by the biotechnology industry. Finally, it is concluded that there are many other agro-ecological alternatives that can solve the agricultural problems that biotechnology aims at solving, but in a much more socially equitable manner and in a more environmentally harmonious way.
1] The Earth's shallow subsurface results from integrated biological, geochemical, and physical processes. Methods are sought to remotely assess these interactive processes, especially those catalysed by micro-organisms. Using saturated sand columns and the metal reducing bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, we show that electrically conductive appendages called bacterial nanowires are directly associated with electrical potentials. No significant electrical potentials were detectable in columns inoculated with mutant strains that produced non-conductive appendages. Scanning electron microscopy imaging revealed a network of nanowires linking cells-cells and cells to mineral surfaces, ''hardwiring'' the entire length of the column. We hypothesize that the nanowires serve as conduits for transfer of electrons from bacteria in the anaerobic part of the column to bacteria at the surface that have access to oxygen, akin to a biogeobattery. These results advance understanding of the mechanisms of electron transport in subsurface environments and of how microorganisms cycle geologic material and share energy.
From the pioneering explorations of Joseph Banks (later a President of the Royal Society), to the present day, a great deal has been learnt about the extent, distribution and stability of biological diversity in the world. We now know that diverse life can be found even in the most inhospitable places. We have also learned that biological diversity changes through time over both large and small temporal scales. These natural changes track environmental conditions, and reflect ecological and evolutionary processes. However, anthropogenic activities, including overexploitation, habitat loss and climate change, are currently causing profound transformations in ecosystems and unprecedented loss of biological diversity. This series of papers considers temporal variation in biological diversity, examines the extent of human-related change relative to underlying natural change and builds on these insights to develop tools and policies to help guide us towards a sustainable future.
The context of an operational description is given by the distinction between what we consider as relevant and what as irrelevant for a particular experiment or observation. A rigorous description of a context in terms of a mathematically formulated context-independent fundamental theory is possible by the restriction of the domain of the basic theory and the introduction of a new coarser topology. Such a new topology is never given by first principles, but depends in a crucial way on the abstractions made by the cognitive apparatus or the pattern recognition devices used by the experimentalist. A consistent mathematical formulation of a higher-level theory requires the closure of the restriction of the basic theory in the new contextual topology. The validity domain of the so constructed higher-level theory intersects nontrivially with the validity domain of the basic theory: neither domain is contained in the other. Therefore, higher-level theories cannot be totally ordered and theory reduction is not transitive. The emergence of qualitatively new properties is a necessary consequence of such a formulation of theory reduction (which does not correspond to the traditional one). Emergent properties are not manifest on the level of the basic theory, but they can be derived rigorously by imposing new, contextually selected topologies upon context-independent first principles. Most intertheoretical relations are mathematically describable as singular asymptotic expansions which do not converge in the topology of the primary theory, or by choosing one of the infinitely many possible, physically inequivalent representations of the primary theory (Gelfand�Naimark�Segal-construction of algebraic quantum mechanics). As examples we discuss the emergence of shadows, inductors, capacitors and resistors from Maxwell�s electrodynamics, the emergence of order parameters in statistical mechanics, the emergence of mass as a classical observable in Galilei-relativistic theories, the emergence of the shape of molecules in quantum mechanics, the emergence of temperature and other classical observables in algebraic quantum mechanics.
Molecular hydrogen produced biologically from renewable biomass is an attractive replacement for fossil fuels. One potential
route for biological hydrogen production is the conversion of biomass into formate, which can subsequently be processed into
hydrogen by Escherichia coli. Formate is also a widely used commodity chemical, making its bioproduction even more attractive. Here we demonstrate the
implementation of a formate-overproducing pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a well-established industrial organism. By expressing the anaerobic enzyme pyruvate formate lyase from E. coli, we engineered a strain of yeast that overproduced formate relative to undetectable levels in the wild type. The addition
of a downstream enzyme, AdhE of E. coli, resulted in an additional 4.5-fold formate production increase as well as an increase in growth rate and biomass yield.
Overall, an 18-fold formate increase was achieved in a strain background whose formate degradation pathway had been deleted.
Finally, as a proof of concept, we were able to produce hydrogen from this formate-containing medium by using E. coli as a catalyst in a two-step process. With further optimizations, it may be feasible to use S. cerevisiae on a larger scale as the foundation for yeast-based biohydrogen.
The dipeptide seryl-histidine (Ser-His) catalyses the condensation of esters of amino acids, peptide fragments, and peptide nucleic acid (PNA) building blocks, bringing to the formation of peptide bonds. Di-, tri- or tetra-peptides can be formed with yields that vary from 0.5% to 60% depending on the nature of the substrate and on the conditions. Other simpler peptides as Gly-Gly, or Gly-Gly-Gly are also effective, although less efficiently. We discuss the results from the viewpoint of primitive chemistry and the origin of long macromolecules by stepwise fragment condensations.
Tools to re-sequence the genomes of individual patients having well described medical histories is the first step required to connect genetic information to diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. There is little doubt that in the future, genomics will influence the choice of therapies for individual patients based on their specific genetic inheritance, as well as the genetic defects that led to disease. Cost is the principle obstacle preventing the realization of this vision. Unless the interesting parts of a patient genome can be resequenced for less than 100,000 or more), it will be difficult to start the discovery process that will enable this vision. While instrumentation and biology are important to reducing costs, the key element to cost-effective personalized genomic sequencing will be new chemical reagents that deliver capabilities that are not available from standard DNA. Scientists at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution and the Westheimer Institute have developed several of these, which will be the topic of this talk..
In Haiti, a novel approach to nutritional surveillance was developed on the basis of a low-cost, simple-to-repeat set of household surveys in all nine administrative departments using sentinel community sites. This system allows each department to independently conduct follow-up surveys as needed. The results of the first round of surveys conducted in 1995 show lower malnutrition rates in typical food-deficient departments and high levels of malnutrition in several food-surplus areas. Further analyses underscore the importance of variables related to child-care practices and of care-enabling factors such as household food security, health environment, and caregivers' time and education. These findings challenge the traditional thinking among a majority of Haitian policy makers who look at the malnutrition problem solely from the perspective of local food production.
Is it possible for there to be subjectivity without a subject, for conscious states to be truly real while there is no real self or owner that has them? One step toward answering this question involves a further question: is consciousness in some sense reflexive or self-aware? The chapters in this collection investigate the linked issues of egological vs nonegological accounts of consciousness and the reflexivity of consciousness from the diverse perspectives of phenomenology, analytic philosophy, the Buddhist philosophical tradition, and the Indian school of Advaita Vedānta. The resulting dialogue illustrates the enhanced clarity that can be achieved by philosophizing across boundaries. Together the chapters lay out the full range of possible views concerning the nature of the self and proofs of its existence or non-existence, and the full spectrum of positions on the question of consciousness' allegedly self-intimating or self-illuminating nature. In doing so they help clarify just what is involved in giving an account of consciousness that takes subjectivity and the first-person perspective seriously.
Protoplasm from Bryopsis maxima, a coenocytic green alga, was dissociated into two fractions: chloroplasts, and protoplasmic fraction without chloroplasts (PF). The protoplasmic fraction (PF) included nuclei, mitochondria, dictyosomes, endoplasmic reticuli, etc. These two fractions were reassembled and formed protoplasts, which developed into mature plants.
Principles of Embryology By Prof. C. H. Waddington. Pp. x + 510. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1956.) 45s. net.
A review is presented of the use of oscillating chemical reactions for analytical monitoring purposes. Several well-known oscillating reactions, e.g., the Belousov-Zabotinskii (BZ) reaction, Cu oscillators and the peroxidase-oxidase biochemical oscillator, are discussed and the analytical use of the BZ reaction and Cu oscillators, e.g., for metal ion and inorganic anion determinations, is described. The recently introduced analyte pulse perturbation technique is also discussed and its application to routine analytical monitoring, e.g., in food and pharmaceutical analysis, is described (76 references).
The original article to which this Erratum refers was published in Chirality (2001) 13(10) 745–753
Biological systems exhibit molecular handedness: During biosynthesis, predominantly L amino acids rather than D amino acids
are incorporated into proteins. The origins of this handedness remain puzzling. In his Perspective, Bada discusses results
reported by Cronin and Pizzarello in the same issue (p. 951) showing a slight excess of L amino acids in a well-known extraterrestrial object, the Murchison meteorite. This finding
suggests the existence of an enrichment process in cosmochemical environments and could possibly be the source of molecular
handedness on Earth.
From the Proceedings of the meeting Mind and Life XII, 'What is matter, what is life?', held in Dharamsala, India, in 2002, in the presence of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama
The current conception of Progress is somewhat shifting and indefinite. Sometimes it comprehends little more than simple growth--as of a nation in the number of its members and the extent of territory over which it has spread. Sometimes it has reference to quantity of material products--as when the advance of agriculture and manufactures is the topic. Sometimes the superior quality of these products is contemplated: and sometimes the new or improved appliances by which they are produced. When, again, we speak of moral or intellectual progress, we refer to the state of the individual or people exhibiting it; while, when the progress of Knowledge, of Science, of Art, is commented upon, we have in view certain abstract results of human thought and action. Not only, however, is the current conception of Progress more or less vague, but it is in great measure erroneous. It takes in not so much the reality of Progress as its accompaniments--not so much the substance as the shadow. That progress in intelligence seen during the growth of the child into the man, or the savage into the philosopher, is commonly regarded as consisting in the greater number of facts known and laws understood: whereas the actual progress consists in those internal modifications of which this increased knowledge is the expression. Social progress is supposed to consist in the produce of a greater quantity and variety of the articles required for satisfying men's wants; in the increasing security of person and property; in widening freedom of action: whereas, rightly understood, social progress consists in those changes of structure in the social organism which have entailed these consequences. The current conception is a teleological one. The phenomena are contemplated solely as bearing on human happiness. Only those changes are held to constitute progress which directly or indirectly tend to heighten human happiness. And they are thought to constitute progress simply because they tend to heighten human happiness. But rightly to understand progress, we must inquire what is the nature of these changes, considered apart from our interests. Leaving out of sight concomitants and beneficial consequences, let us ask what Progress is in itself. From the earliest traceable cosmical changes down to the latest results of civilization, we shall find that the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous, is that in which Progress essentially consists. On passing from Humanity under its individual form, to Humanity as socially embodied, we find the general law still more variously exemplified. The change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is displayed equally in the progress of civilization as a whole, and in the progress of every tribe or nation; and is still going on with increasing rapidity. From the law that every active force produces more than one change, it is an inevitable corollary that through all time there has been an ever-growing complication of things. Starting with the ultimate fact that every cause produces more than one effect, we may readily see that throughout creation there must have gone on, and must still go on, a never-ceasing transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous. But let us trace out this truth in detail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Changing views of health and healing are presented as being part of a larger change of paradigms, which amounts to a profound cultural transformation. Modern scientific medicine is firmly rooted, both in theory and practice, in the mechanistic, Cartesian paradigm. In spite of the great advances of medical science in our century, the limitations of the mechanistic approach to health are now clearly visible and are manifest in the current health care crisis. At the same time, new holistic and ecological approaches to health and healing are now emerging in theory and in practice. These approaches are synthesized in this article in a new conceptual framework that provides a systems view of health based on the recently developed systems view of life. The new systems view of health is profoundly ecological, and thus in harmony with the Hippocratic tradition which lies at the roots of Western medicine.
This review concentrates on models of chemical oscillations, which constitute the self-organization of a system in time without any accompanying organization in space. Keywords (Audience): First-Year Undergraduate / General
History of the cerium / bromate oscillator and the awarding of the 1980 Lenin Prize. Keywords (Audience): Upper-Division Undergraduate
The Belousov reaction provides a fascinating and easily staged lecture demonstration that is suitable for use in conjunction with discussions of free energy and spontaneity or complex reaction kinetics. Keywords (Audience): Upper-Division Undergraduate
The natural genesis of life on Earth is a hypothesis of evolutionary science; it is the task of synthetic organic chemistry to test this hypothesis experimentally. The aim of an experimental aetiological chemistry is not primarily to delineate the pathways along which our (‘natural’) life on Earth could have originated, but to provide decisive experimental evidence, through the realization of model systems (‘artificial chemical life’), that life can arise as a result of the organization of organic matter.
This chapter is an attempt to provide a framework of epistemology to the growing field of synthetic biology (SB). It is preliminarily argued that there are two kinds of SB, one (bioengineering SB) clearly and purposely directed towards one goal set from the start and the other kind being more concerned with basic science and responding to the basic question, “why this and not that?” They need to be considered separately from the point of view of epistemology.
Some basic notions are necessary for this enterprise. One is the clarification between teleology and teleonomy in the synthetic enterprises of nature and mankind; another one is the clarification of the apparent dichotomy between reductionism and emergentism. Preliminarily, one needs an operational definition of life, and the vision given here, based on system biology and autopoiesis in particular, is one in which life is seen as a dynamic integration of parts, which have all to interact with each other in order to give rise to an emergent whole – which is life. Within this framework, SB appears at first sight as reductionism, as most of its operations are based on assembly of bio-bricks, and “cut and paste” of genomic parts, seen often like the components of an electronic circuit. However, the necessary condition to arrive at a novel form of life (the goal of SB) is the integration of parts in the complete unity, which corresponds to life as an emergent property. Emergentism is then the real basis of SB, although the researchers in the field are not always conscious of that. It is also argued that emergence is somewhat linked to bioethical problems, as novel, unexpected and in principle harmful properties may arise from the genetic manipulations. This point is discussed, emphasizing that in general epistemic considerations should be brought more and more to the attention of students as integrant part of their understanding of life sciences.
Recent discoveries in science have led to the recognition that instability and creativity are inherent to our world. This has major implications for the way we perceive the universe and our place in it. In an unstable world, absolute control and precise forecasting are not possible. In this article, Ilya Prigogine traces the emergence of the new worldview provided by science, and suggests that it offers hope and new responsibility for humankind
Mouse L929 cells were separated into enucleated cytoplasmic components (cytoplasts) and nucleated subcellular fractions (karyoplasts) in the presence of cytochalasin B. Karyoplasts from cells containing tritiated nuclei were fused, using inactivated Sendai virus, to cytoplasts from cells containing large (1.0-mum diameter) latex spheres in the cytoplasm. Mononucleated cells containing radioactive nuclei and large latex spheres in the cytoplasm were observed among the products of the fusion reaction. Some of these cells were in mitotic configurations. The results indicate that cells capable of undergoing mitosis can be reconstructed from the products of cellular enucleation in the presence of cytochalasin B.
A. mediterranea cells capable of full morphogenesis were reassembled from nuclei, cytoplasm, and cell wall fraction.
Reassembly was performed stepwise with the recombination of cytoplasm and cell walls and finally a nucleus was implanted.
Reassembly of anucleate cells was carried out by means of retransplantation of their own cytoplasm or transplantation of cytoplasm from another cell. Combinations between cytoplasm and cell walls of dark or light maintained cells were prepared. The nuclei were always transferred from light maintained cells.
Catalytic RNAs, or ribozymes, possessing both a genotype and a phenotype, are ideal molecules for evolution experiments in vitro. A large, heterogeneous pool of RNAs can be subjected to multiple rounds of selection, amplification and mutation, leading to the development of variants that have some desired phenotype. Such experiments allow the investigator to correlate specific genetic changes with quantifiable alterations of the catalytic properties of the RNA. In addition, patterns of evolutionary change can be discerned through a detailed examination of the genotypic composition of the evolving RNA population.
Beginning with a pool of 10(13) variants of the Tetrahymena ribozyme, we carried out in vitro evolution experiments that led to the generation of ribozymes with the ability to cleave an RNA substrate in the presence of Ca2+ ions, an activity that does not exist for the wild-type molecule. Over the course of 12 generations, a seven-error variant emerged that has substantial Ca(2+)-dependent RNA-cleavage activity. Advantageous mutations increased in frequency in the population according to three distinct dynamics--logarithmic, linear and transient. Through a comparative analysis of 31 individual variants, we infer how certain mutations influence the catalytic properties of the ribozyme.
In vitro evolution experiments make it possible to elucidate important aspects of both evolutionary biology and structural biochemistry on a reasonable short time scale.
We developed an effective strategy to restrict the amino acid usage in a relatively large protein to a reduced set with conservation of its in vivo function. The 213-residue Escherichia coli orotate phosphoribosyltransferase was subjected to 22 cycles of segment-wise combinatorial mutagenesis followed by 6 cycles of site-directed random mutagenesis, both coupled with a growth-related phenotype selection. The enzyme eventually tolerated 73 amino acid substitutions: In the final variant, 9 amino acid types (A, D, G, L, P, R, T, V, and Y) occupied 188 positions (88%), and none of 7 amino acid types (C, H, I, M, N, Q, and W) appeared. Therefore, the catalytic function associated with a relatively large protein may be achieved with a subset of the 20 amino acid. The converged sequence also implies simpler constituents for proteins in the early stage of evolution.
A possible role that might have been played by ordered clusters at interfaces for the generation of homochiral oligopeptides under prebiotic conditions has been probed by a catalyzed polymerization of amphiphilic activated alpha-amino acids, in racemic and chiral non-racemic forms, which had self-assembled into two-dimensional (2D) ordered crystallites at the air-aqueous solution interface. As model systems we studied N(epsilon)-stearoyl-lysine thioethyl ester (C(18)-TE-Lys), gamma-stearyl-glutamic thioethyl ester (C(18)-TE-Glu), N(alpha)-carboxyanhydride of gamma-stearyl-glutamic acid (C(18)-Glu NCA) and gamma-stearyl-glutamic thioacid (C(18)-thio-Glu). According to in-situ grazing incidence X-ray diffraction measurements on the water surface, (R,S)-C(18)-TE-Lys, (R,S)-C(18)-TE-Glu, and (R,S)-C(18)-Glu-NCA amphiphiles self-assembled into ordered racemic 2D crystallites. Oligopeptides 2-12 units long were obtained at the air-aqueous solution interface after injection of appropriate catalysts into the water subphase. The experimental relative abundance of oligopeptides with homochiral sequence generated from (R,S)-C(18)-TE-Lys and (R,S)-C(18)-TE-Glu, as determined by mass spectrometry on enantioselectively deuterium-labeled samples, was found to be significantly larger than that obtained from (R,S) C(18)-thio-Glu which polymerizes randomly. An efficient chiral amplification was obtained in the polymerization of non-racemic mixtures of C(18)-Glu-NCA since the monomer molecules in the racemic 2D crystallites are oriented such that the reaction occurs between heterochiral molecules related by glide symmetry to yield heterochiral oligopeptides whereas the enantiomer in excess, in the enantiomorphous crystallites, yield oligopeptides of a single handedness.
This article revisits the concept of autopoiesis and examines its relation to cognition and life. We present a mathematical model of a 3D tesselation automaton, considered as a minimal example of autopoiesis. This leads us to a thesis T1: "An autopoietic system can be described as a random dynamical system, which is defined only within its organized autopoietic domain." We propose a modified definition of autopoiesis: "An autopoietic system is a network of processes that produces the components that reproduce the network, and that also regulates the boundary conditions necessary for its ongoing existence as a network." We also propose a definition of cognition: "A system is cognitive if and only if sensory inputs serve to trigger actions in a specific way, so as to satisfy a viability constraint." It follows from these definitions that the concepts of autopoiesis and cognition, although deeply related in their connection with the regulation of the boundary conditions of the system, are not immediately identical: a system can be autopoietic without being cognitive, and cognitive without being autopoietic. Finally, we propose a thesis T2: "A system that is both autopoietic and cognitive is a living system."
This paper examines two questions related to autopoiesis as a theory for minimal life: (i) the relation between autopoiesis and cognition; and (ii) the question as to whether autopoiesis is the necessary and sufficient condition for life. First, we consider the concept of cognition in the spirit of Maturana and Varela: in contradistinction to the representationalistic point of view, cognition is construed as interaction between and mutual definition of a living unit and its environment. The most direct form of cognition for a cell is thus metabolism itself, which necessarily implies exchange with the environment and therefore a simultaneous coming to being for the organism and for the environment. A second level of cognition is recognized in the adaptation of the living unit to new foreign molecules, by way of a change in its metabolic pattern. We draw here an analogy with the ideas developed by Piaget, who recognizes in cognition the two distinct steps of assimilation and accommodation. While assimilation is the equivalent of uptake and exchange of usual metabolites, accommodation corresponds to biological adaptation, which in turn is the basis for evolution. By comparing a micro-organism with a vesicle that uptakes a precursor for its own self-reproduction, we arrive at the conclusion that (a) the very lowest level of cognition is the condition for life, and (b) the lowest level of cognition does not reduce to the lowest level of autopoiesis. As a consequence, autopoiesis alone is only a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for life. The broader consequences of this analysis of cognition for minimal living systems are considered.
Between the nano- and micrometre scales, the collective behaviour of matter can give rise to startling emergent properties that hint at the nexus between biology and physics.
I survey physics theories involving parallel universes, which form a natural four-level hierarchy of multiverses allowing progressively greater diversity. Level I: A generic prediction of inflation is an infinite ergodic universe, which contains Hubble volumes realizing all initial conditions - including an identical copy of you about 10^{10^29} meters away. Level II: In chaotic inflation, other thermalized regions may have different effective physical constants, dimensionality and particle content. Level III: In unitary quantum mechanics, other branches of the wavefunction add nothing qualitatively new, which is ironic given that this level has historically been the most controversial. Level IV: Other mathematical structures give different fundamental equations of physics. The key question is not whether parallel universes exist (Level I is the uncontroversial cosmological concordance model), but how many levels there are. I discuss how multiverse models can be falsified and argue that there is a severe "measure problem" that must be solved to make testable predictions at levels II-IV.