CURRENT WORLD VIEWS

Cherrymae Elda Suga

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

Introduction
Current experience show we cannot divide the world into independently existing units or building blocks. As we penetrate deeply into matte we see not isolated buildings blocks, rather nature shows us a complicated web of relationships between various parts of a unified whole.

In quantum theory, the observed objects can only be understood in terms of interaction between the various processes of observation and measurement, and the end of this chain of processes lies in the consciousness of the human observer. The crucial feature of quantum theory is that the human observer is not only necessary to observe the properties of an atomic phenomenon but is necessary even to bring about these properties.

In modern physics mass is no longer associated with material substance and hence particles are not seen as consisting of any basic stuff but rather as bundles of energy. The notion of substances that make up matter is quite useful at the macroscopic level but it does not make sense at the atomic level

Atoms are made up of particles and the particles are not made up of any kind of material substance. When we observe them we do not see any substance. What we observe are dynamic continually changing patterns a continuous dance of energy.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

The Systems View of Life

Solutions to problems, particularly as they pertain to life on Earth and the Earth itself, are no longer simple solutions but multilateral solutions involving all countries of this Earth.

As we face the future and attempt to safeguard the interest of generations yet to come we begin to realize that we live in an era where there is a need, more than at any other time in the worlds history, for greater coordination and cooperation of political and social action and responsibility which also extends to the economic system as is evident by the establishment of an international system.

The 20th century has also seen a marked concern for global problems bearing on our very survival: a warming globe threats to the Earths ozone layer, deserts creeping on agricultural lands, pollution of land, sea and air, lack of water in some areas. There is also the realization that these problems are interrelated with one another and with man and nature. It therefore seem logical that the concepts of systems has began to be applied to anew view of life.

A systems view looks at the world in terms of relationships and integration. Systems are integrated wholes whose properties cannot be reduced to those of smaller units. Instead of focusing on building blocks or basic component substances, the systems approach emphasizes basics principles of organization.

Every living organism is an integrated whole, and thus it is a living system. Cells are living systems and so are various organs and tissues in the body- the human brain being the most complex example. This kind of material systems are wholes whose specific structure arise from interactions and interdependence of their parts

Systemic properties are destroyed when a system is dissected into isolated elements. Although we discuss individual parts in a system the whole is different from the mere sum of its parts. Another important aspect of systems is their intrinsically dynamic nature.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

Open Systems
Living organism are open systems which means that they have to maintain a continuous exchange of energy and matter with their environment to stay alive. This exchange involves taking food/ nourishment, breaking them down and using some of their components to maintain or even increase the order of the organism. This process is known as metabolism.

Metabolism allows the system to remain in a state of nonequilibrium in which it is always at work. A high degree of nonequilibrium is absolutely necessary for self-organizations; living organisms are open systems that continually operate far from equilibrium. At the same time these self-organizing systems have a high degree of stability.

The stability of self-organizing systems, is completely dynamic and must not be confused with equilibrium. It is consists of maintaining the same over all structure in spite of ongoing changes and replacements of its components. For example, all the cells in our body except those in our brain are replaced within a few years, yet we have no difficulty recognizing friends even after long periods of separation. Such is a dynamic stability of self organizing system.

A system in a state of continual fluctuation even when there is no disturbance is called homeotasis. When there is a disturbance the organism tends to return to its original state and it does so by adapting in various ways in the environment. For example:
Stress Adaptation Somatic Adaptation The process of Evolution

These three modes of adaptation are characterized by increasing flexibility and decreasing reversibility. The ability of the organism to adapt to environment changes through genetic mutation. This represents only one aspect of the phenomenon of evolution. On the other side, the creative development of new structures and functions without any environmental pressures, is a manifestation of the potential for self-transcendence that is inherent in all living organisms.

The Darwinian concept therefore expresses only one of two complementary views that are necessary in understanding evolution. Living organisms being open systems themselves, keep themselves alive and functioning through intense transactions with the environment itself consists partially of organisms.

Most organism are not only embedded in the ecosystems but are complex ecosystems themselves containing a host of smaller organisms that have considerable autonomy and yet integrate themselves harmoniously into the functioning of the whole i.e., they live as a system.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

Relationships
Close coordination of activities exists not only among individuals of the same aspect but also among different species, and again the resulting systems have the characteristics of simple organisms. Symbiosis is a phenomenon that happens when many types of organisms that were thought to represent well-defined biological species have turned out, upon close examination, to consist of 2 or more different species in intimate biological association.

For example: bacteria that are usable for energy needs of plants have incorporated themselves in the roots of the plants to become almost indistinguishable. Bacteria live in symbiotic relationship in tissues of higher organisms especially in the intestinal tracts of animals and humans. In brief, we do not have solitary beings. Every creature is, in some sense connected to and dependent on the rest.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

MultiMulti-Leveled Structure and SelfSelfRegulation

Another principle of living systems is their tendency to from multi-leveled structure this is pervasive throughout nature. At each level of complexity we encounter systems that are integrated, self-organizing wholes consisting of smaller parts and at the same time acting like parts of larger wholes.

An example is the organ systems of human beings --- each system is made of organs, each organ is made of tissues, each tissues is made of cells. The important aspect of stratified order in nature is not transfer of control but rather the organization of complexity. The various systems levels are stable levels of different complexities and this makes it possible to use different descriptions of each level.

The concept of stratified order also provides perspectives on the phenomenon of death. Self-renewal is an essential living systems. The structures that are being replaced are themselves living organisms- from their point of view, the self-renewal of the larger system is their own cycle of life over death. Birth and death are central aspects of self-organization.

James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis suggested that the phenomena happen to the Earth can only be understood if the planet would be regarded as a single living organism. Recognizing that their hypothesis represents a renaissance of an ancient myth, these scientists have called it the Gaia hypothesis after the Greek Goddess of the Earth.

Aware of our Earth a alive played an important role in mans cultural past and it was revived when astronauts were first able to look at our planet from outer space. Their perception of our planet- a beautiful blue and white globe floating in a sea of darkness, moved deeply and was profound spiritual experience that forever changed their relationship wit the Earth.

What astronauts and many men and women on Earth before them realized is that the Earth is not only teeming with life but seems to be a living being in its own right. All living matter on earth, together with the atmosphere, oceans, and the soil form a complex system that has all the characteristic pattern of selforganization.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

The Systems View and Evolution

There are fundamental differences between the new systems view of evolution and the view of classical Neo Darwinian Theory. The classical theory sees evolution as moving towards an equilibrium state with organisms adapting themselves ever more perfectly to their environment.

According to th esystems view evolution operates far from equilibrium and unfolds through an interplay of creation and evolution. It also takes into account that the environment itself is a living system capable of adaptation and evolution. Thus, in the systems view, the focus shifts from the evolution of an organism to the convolutions of an organism plus environment.

Darwins theory of evolution posits the specie, subspecies or some other building blocks of the biological world as the unit of survival. However, a century later it becomes quite clear that the unit of survival is not any of these entities; what survives is the organism in its environment. An organism that thinks only of survival will invariably destroy its environment and in the end itself.

From the systems view the unit of survival is not an entity but rather a pattern of organization adapted by an organism in its interactions with the environment. An elaboration of this idea is shown in the evolution of life on Earth is as follow:
The earliest forms of life appeared on Earth about billion years after the planet was formed. The emergence of eukaryotes. Organisms developed sexual reproduction which introduced genetic variety . Emergence of consciousness which made it possible to replace mechanisms.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

The Systems View and Mind

There are large manifestations of mind of which our minds are only subsystems; this idea has implications for the natural environment. If we separate mental phenomena from the larger systems, and confine them to human individuals, we will see the environment as mindless, and tend to exploit it. Our attitudes will be very different if we see the environment as alive and mindful like ourselves.

Multi-level structure of organisms implies that there are also levels of minds. In the individual organisms there are various levels of metabolic mentations involving cells, tissues, organs. Such notion of mind as a multi-leveled phenomenon of which we are only partly aware in ordinary states of consciousness is widespread in many non-Western nations.

As in the case of the evolution two complementary approaches are needed; the reductionism approach- to understand the detailed neural mechanism and the holistic approach- to understand the integration of this mechanisms into the functioning of the whole system. Since the systems view of mind is not limited to individual organisms but can be extended to social and ecological systems.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

The Mystical View

It regards consciousness as the primary reality and the reality and the ground of all being. In its purist form. Consciousness is nonmaterial, formless, void of all content, without reality.

This manifestation of consciousness is associated with the Divine in many traditions. The mystical view of consciousness is based on the experience of reality in nonordinary modes of awareness which are traditionally achieved through meditation but may also occur spontaneously in the process of artistic creation and in various contexts. The roots of cultural crises lie in the imbalance between two modes of consciousness which have been recognized as characteristic aspects of human nature through the ages.

They oftentimes referred as masculine, feminine; linear, nonlinear; yin, yang by the Chinese. In traditional Chinese, Yang is our masculine side- active, rational competitive, scientific; Yin is the feminine side- yielding, intuitive, cooperative, mystical side. Before the 1960s, the yang seemed to be consistently favored by Western culture but in the 1960s to the current decade some authors believe the movement is toward the other direction.

Most of the manifestation in this time is found to be of the trend that counteracts the rational, machine attitude and values, attain a balance between the masculine and the feminine. Hence, the movement has been towards yin.

Current World Views

Implications

to Science and Society The System View of Life >Open System >Relationships >Multi-leveled Structure and SelfRegulation ->The Systems View and Evolution ->The Systems View and Mind The Mystical View An Ideal World View Entropy

An Ideal World View

any philosophy that advocates the continued rape of this Earth in the hope of achieving some kind of paradise in the alien planet is a philosophy that threatens the very existence of our Earth. The proposal to colonize other planets when we have exhausted our Earths resources or overpopulated it is a myth fostered by the world-power game that compete for the worlds resources and dominance of outer space. -J. Michell

J. Michell, a scholar who spent years researching and rediscovering the wisdom of ancient civilizations, speaks of the power of mythology, each dominant myth exerts great influence on society. Examples are the two contrasting myths:
The Newtonian Myth Plato who gave the myth that the world is a living creature

Michell believes it is a fundamental error to regard the universe as a mechanism because of the effects of that view. If we decide to regard the Earth as a living organism in an organic universe, that decision will condition the way we relate to it. If we see the Earth as a living creature we will be able to detect the symptoms of overall illness.

At this point we identify two constant sources from which we draw a cosmology. These two sources are: human nature and the nature of the universe. Michell thinks there are at present two general world-views or cosmologies, one established in power and the other still in the process of formation.

First the force, now power, was the expanding universe theory as the model for an ape-to-spaceman view of history because man is now able to explore the universe though at a vast cost of the Earths resources. Second, Darwin's view of life as spontaneous development from simple organisms to larger complex forms has been taken as a universal paradigm.

A rival of Darwin, Kropotkin ha san opposite view of life. According to him, natures first principle is mutual aid relationships between and within species. They are not primarily aggressive but cooperative. The study of long lasting civilizations in the past shows only in this way, by allowing society to reflect the entirety of human nature- its positive inventive aspect as well as its traditionalist Earth rooted aspect- can we hope to slow down and harmonize the inevitable tendency to rise, to progress and dissolve which is inherent in all human institution.

This implies a steady-state model of the universe. The type of science appropriate to a steady state society will be very different from what it is now. The purpose of a steady state science is to form relationships between people and human activities, and the world we live in.

The traditional view of the life span of a culture as a process of running down from the time of original inspiration is the opposite of the modern view which is that cultures tend to naturally improve and develop. This is related to the Darwinian belief that life forms have spontaneously organized themselves from simpler to more complicated organisms with human awareness somehow developing as a function of matter.

The general notion has been criticized as contradicting the second law of thermodynamics- the tendency of energy to spread itself and dissipate (entropy).