What is a System?

A system has two aspects, its transcendent aspect is as a transitory pattern of transcendent information that conditions the flow of transcendent information. When the system is perceived from an empirical perspective by another system within the common network of interacting systems, then it is experienced via its observable attributes, which result in information that flows into the observer system's inputs. This results in an experience of a manifest form, which is the empirical aspect.

Subsystems interact to form supersystems; i.e. patterns dynamically merge to produce larger patterns. Whilst the transcendent patterns are what they are the empirical forms exist only in the eye of the beholder. A system may interact with other systems that are considered to lie 'within' different supersystems so it may be considered a subsystem of either, thus there are no absolute system boundaries. Different observers may observe different interaction channels and thereby resolve different system boundaries thus they experience very different empirical forms.

Why should we care to clearly know what a system is?

We are systems formed out of interacting subsystems and we interact to form supersystems. All manifest forms are systems. All events and processes are system interactions. Our transcendent part we call our 'soul' and our empirical part we call our 'body'. The empirical universe is a construct of the experiential aspect of systems and behind this perceptual veil there is an information theoretic aspect. Some call this the quantum realm, spiritual realm, Brahman (Vedic), Hundun (Daoist), Heaven (Christ) and so on.

Everything that is and everything that happens is the experiential aspect of a unified transcendent process. This is analogous to the way that a virtual reality is the experiential aspect of a unified transcendent process.

Understanding the nature of systems leads us to an understanding of ourselves, of the universe, of what is happening and how we should respond in order to harmoniously and effectively participate in the process of evolution that is underway.

What fundamental questions can it help answer?

A deep understanding of the nature of systems can help answer all fundamental questions except one, and it can explain why it cannot answer that one.

There is only one true mystery – What is the true nature of the fundamental reality generative process? A manifest form cannot approach this via enquiry; e.g. a sentient AI character in a virtual reality could realise many things about their situation all the way down to the computational process itself, but they cannot realise that the computer is a particular machine sitting in a particular room, they can only ever know the computer from within. Similarly, we can systematically comprehend all the general principles of our reality right down to the fundamental reality generative process and we cannot enquire beyond that.

Holism is a metaphysical paradigm that focuses on the whole and comprehends the parts as discernible features – objects of perception – within the whole. Reductionism is a metaphysical paradigm that focuses on the many parts and their interactions and envisages the whole as the product of the many parts and interactions. Unified system science can comprehend both paradigms and show how they relate to each other. Similarly it can unify duality and non-duality. Transcendent and empirical. Subjective and objective. For these reasons I propose that a unified system science could provide a useful conceptual framework for the development of a unified awareness that can flower into a new consciousness for humanity.

Best Wishes,
John Ringland

How many times has this happened to you? You leave work, decide that you need to get groceries on the way home, take a cellphone call and forget all about your plan. Next thing you know, you've driven home and forgotten all about the groceries.

Or this. You decide, perhaps circa Jan. 1, that it's time to lose weight; you need to eat less, eat better and exercise more. But by the first of May, your New Year's resolutions are a distant memory.

Human beings are, to put it gently, in a unique position in the animal world. We're the only species smart enough to plan systematically for the future -- yet we remain dumb enough to ditch even our most carefully made plans in favor of short-term gratification. ("Did I say I was on a diet? Mmm, but three-layer chocolate mousse is my favorite. Maybe I'll start my diet tomorrow.")...

Because breathing charts the life rhythms, the way we breathe signals the disposition of our energies. Agitation or excitement causes the breath to be uneven and rapid; but when we are calm and balanced, our breathing is even, slow, and soft. We can also change our mental and physical states by the way we breathe. Even when very upset, we can calm and balance ourselves by breathing slowly and evenly.

When you are aware of your breath, your whole life becomes balanced. Even when you find yourself in situations which arouse great anger, frustration, or pain, you can dissolve the disturbance by just being aware of your breathing, slightly paying attention and making the breath calm, slow, and rhythmical.” Tarthang Tulku, Kum Nye Relaxation,

Excerpts from brainstorming notes related to SMNDesignView

For more information on SMN see SMN on Anandavala.

I am exploring the idea of developing a Netbeans 6.0 module, either as a plugin or as a rich-client application.

Things to consider:

I need a good vision of what I am building before I start designing it.

What is it that the SMN functionality seeks to provide the application user? What will people want the whole application or plugin to do?

What sorts of things will people want to be able to do with the GUI and with the model and with the simulation space itself via the GUI? How best can the GUI facilitate this?

If developed as a plugin then how will the SMN functionality be integrated into the rest of Netbeans?

If developed as a rich-client application then how will it come together as a single whole application?

How best to implement the matrix itself? As some kind of table? It needs to be programmatically controlled and not set in the code – we may want more or less rows or columns, we may want different types of elements altogether (e.g. instead of text fields they are buttons perhaps).

The matrix-view is a small window that allows for detailed access, but for large models we need a lower resolution but broader scope view, we could have subsystem / supersystem viewing levels for the matrix. One could view systems at the atomic scale, or as a single whole system, or at many different levels between these. The designer can click on systems (either by row, column, vector element or rowOp) and choose to collapse all sibling subsystem and show only their supersystem. Or they can drill into a supersystem and show all or selected subsystems.

The state vector needs to be represented somehow in the matrix-view so that the system designer can visualise the current state of the model. The multiple system viewing levels apply to the state vector as well.

Whether an SM or an SV element, at each level there is some screen graphic to represent it to the designer. If the element is an atomic system it shows a text field to display and edit the data. If it is a conceptual system then there is an icon that displays the subsystems as small squares within the element.

When the designer double-clicks on an element they drill into the system and reveal all subsystems. There is also a right-click option on elements that brings up a dialogue box for selecting which subsystems to show.