ISSS Wiki - User contributions [en]

Principles of Systems Science (Understanding Complex Systems)

2026-07-22T17:32:51Z

Laouris:

{{Book
|title=Principles of Systems Science: Understanding Complex Systems
|book_image=Principles_of_Systems_Science_(Understanding_Complex_Systems).jpg
|author=[[George E. Mobus, Michael C. Kalton]]
|editor=
|publisher=[[Springer]]
|pages=755
|isbn_13=978-1493919199
|isbn_10=1493919199
|lccn=
|bisac=
|year=2014
|link=[[https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Systems-Science-Understanding-Complex/dp/1493919199 | Link to the book]]
}}

==About this book==
[[George Mobus]]'s book "Principles of Systems Science: Understanding Complex Systems" provides a comprehensive introduction to systems structure, function, and modeling as applied in all fields of science and engineering. Systems understanding is increasingly recognized as a key to a more holistic education and greater problem solving skills. The book captures the trend towards interdisciplinary research and problem solving. It includes numerous examples of systems in science and society. The book ends with practical aspects such as systems analysis, computer modeling, and systems engineering that demonstrate how the knowledge of systems can be used to solve problems in the real world.

==About the authors==
George E. Mobus and Michael C. Kalton are the authors of the book. They have contributed uniquely to major products or outcomes enhancing society or meeting its needs.
[[Category: Books]]
[[Category: Books by George Mobus]]
[[Category: Books by Michael Kalton]]

53th Annual Meeting of the ISSS - Brisbane 2009

2026-07-04T07:19:24Z

Laouris:

{{Event
|acronym=53th Annual Meeting of the ISSS - Brisbane 2009
|image=2009_isss.png
|project=ISSS Conference
|place=The University of Queensland Brisbane, Australia
|dates=July 12-17, 2009
|moderator=[[The School of Integrative Systems]] and [[ANZSYS]]
|participants_type=Researchers, ISSS Members
|participants_num=
|total_duration=5 days
|link=[[https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings53rd/article/view/1308/467 | ISSS Journal archives]]
}}

===Sunday===
* Professor [[Len Troncale]] - The System of Systems Processes Theory (SoSP) – A Workshop on How Systems Work (or Don’t Work)
* Dr [[John Kineman]] and [[Judith Rosen]] - Relational Theory Workshop – Fundamentals of Relational Theory Part II
* [[Alexander Laszlo]] and [[Kathia Laszlo]] - Welcome Cocktail Reception by The University of Queensland Vice Chancellor and Traditional Welcome

===Monday===
* Professor [[Ockie Bosch]] - Setting the Scene: Unremarkable, Liveable, Sustainable Systems
* ISSS President, Professor [[Tim Allen]] - The positive attractor: the role of the holistic worldview in the evolution of a sustainable societal system
* [[Graeme Taylor]] - Analysing Liveability – More than Constructive Ambiguity
* Dr [[Jacqui de Chazal]] - Liveability as a constraint on sustainability or sustainability as a constraint on liveability? Defining terms and mapping relationships to separate scaled hard constraints from soft preferences
* Professor [[Martin Burd]] - Hunting, gathering, investing, globalizing: the evolutionary roots of economic behaviour
* Professor [[Richard Bawden]] - Inclusive well-being: a systemic view of development

===Monday Sessions===
* **Session 1 (Gordon Greenwood Building Room 207) - Cybernetics and VSM**
* [[Allenna Leonard]] - A Sociocybernetic Model of Liveable and Sustainable Social Systems
* [[Stephens J]] - The Application of Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Model to Strategic Planning
* [[Tejeida-Padilla]] - In Search of a Viable System Model for After-Sales Spare Parts Service in Telecom Firms

* **Session 2 (Gordon Greenwood Building Room 211) - Critical Systems Theory and Practice**
* [[Dean]] - Expense Accounts, MPs and Accountability in the British Parliament: An Autopoietic Perspective
* [[Foote]] - Systemic Evaluation of Community Environmental Management Programmes
* [[Smith, T]] - Using Critical Systems Thinking to Help Development Practitioners Foster Sustainable and Liveable Communities

* **Session 3 (Gordon Greenwood Building Room 213) - Socio-Ecological Systems**
* [[Painter]] - Sustainable Water Allocation for Families, Fish and Farming: a Wicked Problem Or a Wicked Solution?
* [[Eriyatno]] - Model of Regional Policy Strategy in Sustainability Irrigation Management
* [[Ross]] - A Systems Framework for Integrated Water Resource Management

* **Session 4 (Gordon Greenwood Building Room 214) - Designing Educational Systems**
* [[Love]] - Using Variety Analyses to Improve Educational Sustainability and Liveability
* [[Nguyen]] - Capacity Building for Learning Laboratory for Sustainability: the Case of Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve (Viet Nam)

* **Session 5 (Gordon Greenwood Building Room 215) - Organizational Transformation and Social Change**
* [[Harel]] - Livability and Sustainability Are They Contradictory? A Social Organizational Perspective on Participatory Action Research Oriented Response
* [[Taylor]] - Systems Thinking: The Key to Survival
* [[Dos Santos Martins]] - Sustainable Development Requires An Integrating Discipline to Address Its Unique Problems - Design Thinking

* **Open Room (Able Smith Building Room 1)**
* Various Workshops

===Monday Evening===
* [[James Simms]] - ISSS Board Meeting
* [[Len Troncale]] - Making the Soft Sciences Hard and Making Systems Science Relevant
* [[Tuesday July 14 2009]]
* Progressive Plenary Session Facilitated by Alexander and Kathia Laszlo
* Brisbane River - A Voice for Waterways: An integrated approach to managing catchments and waterways in Australia’s fastest-growing region (UQ Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield)
* Mt-Cootha Botanical Gardens - Peri-urban Food systems (Martha Sheppard)
* Queensland State Planning & Infrastructure, Brisbane CBD - Infrastructure for a fast-growing State (John Larcombe)
* [[Alexander Laszlo]] and [[Kathia Laszlo]] - Closing Remarks and next steps

===Tuesday===
* Assoc. Professor [[Bob Cavana]] - People First: How to make environmental sustainability something we want to live with.
* [[The Hon. Steve Maharey]] - Contemporary Government Challenges: Delivering performance and accountability' and the intersections with 'wicked policy problems
* [[Lynelle Briggs]] - Tea
* Prof [[Ray Ison]] - Café Style Interactive Plenary Session facilitated by ANZSYS (Australian and New Zealand Systems Group): Conversation Mapping coordinated by Prof Ray Ison – examining issues raised by keynote speakers, Panel discussion between the 2 keynote speakers & organizers of conversation mapping workshop, Discussions & Feedback

===Wednesday===
* Professor [[Helen Ross]] - Art & Systems Thinking – Floating Lands Indigenous Perspectives on Sustainability: Connectedness
* [[Christine Ballinger & Ben McMullen]] - Getting our act together: a systems change in everyday decision-making
* Professors [[Ockie Bosch]] & [[Kambiz Maani]] - Role of Systems Approaches in the sustainable management of Biosphere Systems Thinking in Planning and Managing Hai Phong City, Vietnam
* [[Michael Williams]] - Role of Systems Thinking in Journalism and media coverage of complex issues
* [[Professor Val Brown]] - Lunch

===Thursday===
* Professor [[Kambiz Maani]] - The role of Systems Approaches in the sustainable management of Biosphere Systems Thinking in Planning and Managing Hai Phong City, Vietnam
* Dr [[Ishwaran Natajaran]] - Systems Thinking in Planning and Managing Hai Phong City, Vietnam
* Dr [[Nguyen Van Thanh]] - Role of Systems Thinking in Journalism and media coverage of complex issues
* Professor [[Michael Bromley]] - Lunch
* Professor [[Amareswar Galla]] - Systems Expressed in Everyday Life – Art, People, Tourism, Planning, Management, Journalism, Cultural Heritage Development

This breakdown organizes the information based on the speakers and the subjects discussed during the conference sessions on each day.
[[Category: ISSS Annual Conferences]]

Jessie Henshaw

2026-07-04T07:06:03Z

Laouris: Added awards

{{
ISSS Member
|name=Jessie Lydia Henshaw
|image= JessieLydiaHenshaw.png
|period=1985
|title=Member
|affiliation=Research Natural Systems Scientist, Consultant, and Teacher at HDS natural systems design science
|notable_works= A natural science of self-organizing system design, development, and behavior in context.
|interests=(devl) ISSS SIG Chair, Natural Systems Design Sci.
|degrees= BS Physics, M.Arch, 40 years of fieldwork
|fields= A form of physics, a "New Physics," for studying the material designs of natural systems in-context.
|universities= St. Lawrence, Stoney Brook, Columbia, Univ. Pa.
|specializations= fieldwork and teaching
|orcid=https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6341-5367
|achievements= finding that energy use requires organizational transformations and that evolution is also an exploratory growth process, not random.
|links=https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessilydia-henshaw

}}

''Jessie Lydia Henshaw''
Today, Jessie is an empirical systems scientist and consultant. She uses her physics to help illuminate the designs of nature in context, opening a viable path for science to begin studying self-animating systems of nature as physical subjects in context, i.e., "natural systems." Early on, she noticed that theory and data might get it all wrong, but that contrast could also illuminate the world of natural system designs too. After all, it is reading nature’s signals of design and change that we rely on to get along today, too, as humans did throughout our long evolution.

She relies on developing a sensitivity to change in environmental contexts and learning to expand on the readily observable signals of change as the weather changes, as relationships and cultures change, and as nature changes. Watching Emerging systems helps one find what signals of change in their worlds determine how they will steer their paths and transform. You see in the smoke rising above the candle a system of flow that is very organized and can abruptly become very disorganized. The tipping points for these kinds of transformations are often quite similar, so understanding one helps one understand many others.

Emerging systems all capture energy and resources to multiply their starting designs. So, how they fit or don't fit that model is the first step into real science. That burst of growth may either just fail by itself or, as an exploratory system, it may adapt to keep finding new and bigger resources. That will, of course, collide with new contexts that don't support that, but one also observes some systems that sense the approach of their limits and respond before disruptively hitting them. It's a common trait of self-organizing systems in general.

That is also what seems to be going on inside the systems that display the ubiquitous “S” curve growth path, from energetic take-off to reorganizing to achieve a smooth landing at the practical new scald for the context. The study of such behaviors draws you into a holistic awareness of their whole world behaving almost like one.

[[File:GrowthSysIntegral.jpg|thumb|center|alt=Stages of system self-organizationan|A guide to the normal sequence of tipping points, stages of growth and adaptation that punctuate emergence]]

Growth is an organizational, not numerical, process that begins with a “germination event” as contextual factors couple and start to reproduce. It is sometimes noticeable, like when a new game, project, or friendship takes off, but they are always implied where there’s evidence of regular proportional change: growth.

Sadly, it is some of the most innovative and successful people who become powerfully stuck on their own ideas of how things should work in nature, often long after they stop working. For example, our reliance today on regularly doubling the scale, complexity, and demands of our global economy is utterly foolhardy, but also our main quest. That could indeed cause our civilization to fully collapse and vanish if we proceed as other civilizations before us: trying to expand their powers to infinity to the end, naturally disrupting the working designs of everything they relied on. - Oops!
She joined the ISSS as SGSR in 1984 and rejoined in 2020. In between, she did the research needed to fill out the new general systems science she had developed in the late 1970s based on careful fieldwork observation of the emergence of orderly energy systems and their evolving designs found in the complexly organized natural microclimates. There are so many things nature does differently than theory or lab tests; it's a wonder that more study of the working designs of nature isn't first and foremost in teaching science.

It was an unusual coincidence that let her notice and write up a complete outline of a new general systems theory of organization in nature. Its source might well have been John Maynard Keynes' repeated insistence that compound investing would destabilize civilization, as we now see. Her father, Clement Long Henshaw, an admired physics professor, and Kenneth Boulding, the co-founder of SGSR and noted economist, had been best friends as junior faculty at Colgate in the 1930s before they were married. Ken, having been a student of Keynes at Oxford, and Clem, somehow passed on a kind of marriage of physics and economics to Jessie, born several years later. She does not recall the subject ever coming up, but her first post-graduate work seemed perfectly targeted to prove Keynes' conjecture as a physical law. It went as unnoticed as the many efforts Keynes and Boulding too made to point out that devotion to seeking infinite power over nature would be a very bad idea.

So, much of Jessie's work in the interim and today has been focused on understanding the difference between abstract knowledge and experiential knowledge, the one never giving a user any hint of the things that might go wrong and the latter built layer by layer from contextual experience with how natural systems do and don't misbehave. The systems of mathematics, for example, simply never misbehave. It's only natural systems, embedded in and relying on their contexts, having multiple scales of self-organization organized to work as a whole, that rely on staying within the boundaries of their systemic resilience to avoid the risk of misbehaving when pushed too far. Her humor is expressed as anyone's would be, facing such odd discordances in everyday life, in remarks such as observing: "Infinity, most would agree, is pushing things way too far."

==Personal Life==
Jessie lives in New York City and is grateful for its rich culture, the generosity of the government, and the freedom she finds in retirement to explore and connect with people and perhaps start new careers.

==Academia and Career==
Public school in the small town of Hamilton, New York; Studying physics, math, Russian, sports, art, and theater at St Lawrence University; three years based in Brooklyn with post-college friends connected with a farm in Tennessee, group travel and experiments, and redeveloping the 1892 Earlville Opera house as rural arts and culture center, while trying out new academic and employment options. For grad school, she put physics aside, looking for something creative, and found an inspirational three years at the University of Pennsylvania Architecture and Landscape Design School, where one of the first genius voices of modern architecture, Louis I. Kahn, led the school. After graduating in a recession, she decided to travel, visiting friends and running out of money in Denver, taking work as a carpenter, then contracting some. Sharing a house gave her resources and time to do the microclimate field work that changed her life. In the '80s, she started her architectural career, paying dues for years and advancing to work on prestige jobs with fine firms: Beyer Blinder Belle, Gwathmey Siegel, Rockwell, KPF, H3., continuing new systems science at nights and weekends when the architecture wasn't taking nights and weekends.

==Awards==
Jessie has been honored with the 2026 (70 Years Anniversary) ISSS Active Wisdom Award, which recognizes elder practitioners whose lifelong engagement, systemic insight, civic imagination, and continued service have enriched communities and expanded the practical relevance of systems thinking beyond formal academic settings.

==Current==
Jessie's research and consulting practice is HDS Natural Systems Design Science at: 'synapse9.com/sighals' Her main expertise is in building a context of awareness of the world in which someone's concerns are found and put in context. That involves reading "book zero" (the context without interpretation) and noticing emerging patterns and gaps as opportunities or concerns. For design work, the intent is to provide facilities for someone else's creative use and reading of the potentials of the context. Living systems both love and hate surprises, want things they can't have, and to have fun and be satisfied with trying. For science, it's identifying typical patterns of natural system designs, behaviors, and interactions that help others find and respond to those of interest in their time and place.

Above all, responding to the chaos of our world's place and time calls for us to "recover enough of our most ancient skills and understandings, still deep within us." Language is one of those ever-present places where the deepest of ancient human knowledge is often hidden in plain sight. It's the words that refer to observable common subjects, things, and experiences that date back thousands of years and come with a package of accumulated cultural perspective and wisdom.

==The urgent need for better and more understandable systems science==
Anyone can see why our planet is in trouble without trusting theory or facts. Follow your instincts to the great ironies. One big “tipoff” is that the smartest species ever is wholeheartedly committed to the stupidest of all possible plans for its future, growing its power to infinity! Synapse9.com/CO2.jpg

==Video Presentations==
Jessie's better recorded public ISSS talks are on [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC56PdCyYky-krgyE1upohwA her YouTube Channel]. Some of the oldest are of talks given earlier. See the notes.

<table width="100%" style="padding:10px;">
<tr>
{{#ev:youtube| Xd3aLWMztR0 |350|left}}
</tr>
</table>

==Selected Publications==
At the top of the [https://www.synapse9.com/jlhpub.htm List of papers and reports] are services, email, citations, ID, and Site links.

[[Category: Members]]

William E. Smith

2026-07-04T07:05:22Z

Laouris: Added award

{{
ISSS Member
|name= William E. Smith
|image= William_Bill_Smith.jpg
|period=
|title=Member
|affiliation=
|notable_works=Solved some very complex challenges for the World Bank
|interests=
|degrees=PhD
|fields=
|universities= Wharton Graduate School of Business
|specializations=
|orcid=
|achievements=Proposed the AIC Theory
|links= https://www.odii.com/index.php?page=w_e_smith

}}

'''William (Bill) E. Smith''' has joined ISSS in the 90s. He is an innovative thinker and practitioner in leadership, organization, and social development.

Bill presented a notable paper titled "A Lifelong Perspective on Systems Capped by the Discovery of Stem‑Systems" at the ISSS, exploring how systems evolve through personal, social, political, and cultural phases, influenced by experiences such as WWII bombings, global travel, and organizational dynamics. His work delves deeply into how spiritual, philosophical, and scientific perspectives shape a life-long engagement with systems—and how these inform the development of new concepts, models, and practices.

Bill has been, over the years, one of the most active ISSS Members. He participates regularly in the Mini Symposia, writes in the ISSS Newsletter, and served in various positions of the Board, such as [[Vice President of Practice]].

Bill has also served as the Chair of the Special Integration Group [[SIG: Systemic Innovation, Engagement, and Leadership]] within ISSS, taking over leadership from [[Alexander Laszlo]] in August 2020. In this role, he has guided the SIG’s efforts to integrate theory and practice in systemic innovation, engagement, and leadership development.

==Personal Life==

==Academia and Career==
Bill completed his PhD at the Wharton Graduate School of Business. The highlight of his early career was the work he conducted for the World Bank.

==Special Interests==
Smith developed the [[AIC Theory: Appreciation, Influence, and Control]], which is a model of power and systems, based on the three dimensions of Appreciation, Influence, and Control:

* Appreciation (of the whole): This dimension focuses on a group’s exploration of the ideals and inspirations that guide their work, encouraging a holistic, purpose-driven perspective.

* Influence (among stakeholders): This centers on the dynamics and relationships among actors—recognizing how values are negotiated and shaped within a system.

* Control (of production): This relates to the concrete structures and goals that emerge when the system is enacted—essentially how outcomes are managed and achieved.

Smith emphasizes the simplicity and efficacy of the methodology: by developing a personal understanding of each of the three elements—Appreciation, Influence, and Control—and dedicating equal attention to each, the framework becomes a powerful tool for navigating systemic dynamics

==Awards==
Bill has been honored with the 2026 (70 Years Anniversary) ISSS Active Wisdom Award, which recognizes elder practitioners whose lifelong engagement, systemic insight, civic imagination, and continued service have enriched communities and expanded the practical relevance of systems thinking beyond formal academic settings.

==Selected Publications==
* [[The Creative Power: Transforming Ourselves, Our Organizations, and Our World]]

==Links to relevant pages==
* https://www.odii.com/index.php?page=w_e_smith
* https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Power-Transforming-Ourselves-Organizations/dp/0415393604

[[Category: Members]]

James N (Jamie) Rose

2026-07-04T07:04:15Z

Laouris: Added ISSS Active Wisdom Award

{{ISSS Member
|name=James N [Jamie] Rose
|image= S200_james.rose.jpg
|period=Since 1997
|title=Member
|affiliation=
|notable_works=
|interests= General Systems, Complexity, Emergence,
|degrees=Biology
|fields=Biology, Medical Cases Examiner Adjudicator
|universities=Duquesne University<br>individual courses studies at<br>SUNY Stony Brook<br>Villanova, NYU<br>Univ Miami<br>Univ Pittsburgh<br>MIT
|specializations= Complexity, Emergence, Biology
|orcid=
|achievements= INTEGRITY PARADIGM <br>Founder of<br> Conceptual Institute (1996 <br>SDM (Single Decision Maker) for SSA (state of NV)<br>Sr Adjudicator for Disability Claims
|links=https://independent.academia.edu/JamesRose<br>https://ceptualinstitute.com

}}

'''James N (Jamie) Rose,''' Resident of Minden NV., 78 yo (2025), joined ISSS in 1997. He is Emeritus theorist in General Systems Theory since 1972, presenter at USA/international conferences since 1996 in the fields of General Systems, Complexity, Emergence, Cybernetics, Information Theory, Biology. [including ISSS, NECSI, ASC, WOSC, Russian Academy of Sciences RAS (by invitation of Prof Vladimir Lepsky), PRC Science Academia (CAS) at the personal invitation of Prof Wu Jie)].

Rose identifies that a Kuhnian shift is called for in science and conceptual modeling, especially in the current era of hyper exponential cross-connecting of many information influences and resources.

Rose has proposed expanded math modeling to generalize entropy beyond thermodynamics as a first order distribution and communication process - this being key to unifying existing energy and information modelings per Clausius, Boltzmann and Shannon. Rose also recommends a modification to essential mathematics -- expanding the definition of exponents to be considered fully "dimensional" in appropriate circumstances. Scalar considerations are retained in specific computations, but the addended expansion is required to account for Complexity relations among emerging hierarchies of organization. He states that a better math bridge is needed between levels of computation which can only be made with this conceptual adjustment.

Rose also explores justifications to fully coordinate seemingly disparate mechanisms of the universe (inanimate vis a vis animate) - their shared properties and motivators~drivers for behaviors, interactions and development. Dimensional transforms of information among different qualia in nested tiers of complexity require a "next frame of reference" consideration. The universe is a Communications Phenomena before all else --- of many different types, but a shared set of Relations Patterns, Dynamics, Rules of Performance (subtly different from "laws of nature" as conventionally held). In an added shift linguistically, Rose recommends that the spectrum of alternatively performing systems be recognized as "pre-animate through animate" rather than "inanimate vs animate". There is no "biological overlay" recommended. Biological interactions do not occur without their basis~relations being pre-present in the quantum performance relations realm first.

Nothing is 'unconnected' in "fully companioned existence". This strongly infers current math & "relations languaging" is "adequate", but missing concepts recognition~translation framing and a more rationally navigable manifold of properties and deep connections which are well associated rather than incompatible.

Rose's shifted perspective is proposed as the first true all encompassing "THEORY OF EVERYTHING" ... spanning dimensional spacetime on through sentience and conceptualizing consciousness. Extant math models still hold. But, Albert Einstein and Buckminster Fuller already shed illumination on underpinning "form is function" verity by identifying "gradiented stress tensors" in both primal spacetime and in physical material EM bonded architectural structures. The scientific establishment already acknowledges those continuum relations behaviors ... prior to quantum depictions and also bridged by quantum qualia. Rose's depictions spotlight the attributes and mechanisms involved.

That is, no new 'law of nature' is needed to explain negentroepic complexity in opposition to energy entropy (towards disorder). The original associations of energy and work, as previously identified and defined 'entropy', still hold as valid and computationally correct, but, the Integrity Paradigm model holds all interaction transforms as "work" and recognizes pre-eminent "distribution~dissemination" --- happening in all noted levels of organization --- generate expanded "new engagement loci" for the energies and informations involved. It is "New Opportunities Locations" ... being the basis for profound new communicating interactions ... which present and enable "complexity coordinating states and conditions". Those are not reached without diffusive spreading via a universal General Entroepic gradient differential -- present within every level of organization. Complex Order is the natural "product of disorder" ... when conditions and parameters are met. No new 'law or meta-law' of nature is required.

[Note amended spellings of: 'entroepy' and 'negentroepy' ... to distinguish the General Property of fields gradients versus specialized thermodynamic work capabilities which _reduce_ over time with repetitive dissipations.]

The "INTEGRITY PARADIGM" theory steps up as a first viable hypothesis that looks to achieve the goal of a "General Theory of Systems", per von Bertalanffy et al. [SGSR/ISSS]. .. inclusive of, but expanded beyond, Physics.
THIS IS THE FIRST TRUE ALL ENCOMPASSING .... "THEORY OF EVERYTHING".PROPOSITION

==Personal Life==
Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA June 30, 1947. Parents were Lillian F Rose (d, 1978) and Milton Bernard Rose (d 1948) ; adopted by father Benjamin Rose.

==Special Interests==
J N Rose is Chair of the 'International Society for Systems Sciences' [ISSS] Permanent Topic Group:
GENERAL SYSTEMS '''MATHEMATICS AND LANGUAGING [SIG]'''- SPECIAL INTEGRATION GROUP.
From the very establishment of SGSR / ISSS "Society for General Systems Research",
it was not lost on von Bertalanffy that it is critically important for a true viable and
communicable universal "general theory of shared systems properties and attributes
and performings" that it satisfy science depictions in mathematics And then, for clear
human practical uses and comprehensions it also be comfortably expressible in
natural languages as well. Good understandable descriptions in daily conversant
languages people use world wide ... as best as possible ... regardless of cultures.

von Bertalanffy devoted a full chapter in his closing opus "General System Theory"
to the ideas of 1930's linguist~chemist Benjamin Whorf ... who explored and exposed
the importance of concepts sharing in well defined words to deal with specifics,
generalities and conditional details.

J N Rose, the first Chair of the General Systems Mathematics and Languaging"
SIG independently, cited and foundationed his systems explorations also based on
Benjamin Whorf's astute ideas about 'best possible human communicating
skills and practices ... especially important for quality science'. (paraphrased)

To that end, in support of ISSS members work towards true cross integration and
cross fertilization of ideas and understandings among silo'd topics and concepts,
the Gen Sys Math & Languaging SIG was established to promote those necessary
and important conversations.

SGSR started with scientists well versed in mathematics, but without concepts
unifying their many specializations. 70 years later. we have members closing in
on improved unifying natural language descriptions, but less verse in mathematics.

The SGM&L SIG serves as our in-house clear conversation space to achieve
maximum accuracy and competence in describing General System Theory.
It is the agora center from which ISSS will take our achieved concepts out to
the science and public communities world wide.

He is Founder of Art Locations in the early 1970's such as computerization of NYC Museums and Dealers art inventories.
Also, Founder: Ceptual Institute (1996 ..+); SDM (Single Decision Maker) for SSA (state of NV) Sr Adjudicator for Disability Claims. (Ret. 2015).

==Awards==
Jamie has been honored with the 2026 (70 Years Anniversary) ISSS Active Wisdom Award, which recognizes elder practitioners whose lifelong engagement, systemic insight, civic imagination, and continued service have enriched communities and expanded the practical relevance of systems thinking beyond formal academic settings.

==Links to relevant pages==
* https://independent.academia.edu/JamesRose

[[Category: Members]]

Mini Symposium 2026 May 7 - Barbara Widhalm

2026-06-13T08:27:24Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo=barbara
| name=[[Barbara Widhalm]]
| title=The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between
| date=May 27, 2026
| presentation=xx.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1196142529
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between </span>

==Abstract==
Our relationship lives in the space between us. It doesn’t live in me or in you or even in the dialogue between the two of us. It lives in the space we live together and that space is sacred space.

—Martin Buber<br>
More than ever, the world needs spaces where people cultivate trust to connect across differences, to listen for what’s at the “heart of the matter” in the group, and to attune to a mutual, caring field.
In this mini symposium, I will invite dialog on holding space in academic and non-academic settings. Together, we will consider:
* What does holding space mean in our communities of practice?
* How can holding space support bridge-building, self-organizing, and co-creative capacities?
* What’s your special sauce in holding space?
My interest in holding space is grounded in my transdisciplinary framework for designing collaborative learning experiences as living systems, as well as in my praxis of nurturing affective intelligence in groups.
The importance of tending to space has been theorized in the transformative learning and adult learning literature, in the healing and therapeutic arts, in ritual design, as well as in systemic group facilitation practices (such as approaches developed by the International Bateson Institute, Center for Systems Awareness, the Art of Hosting, and Universidade Biocêntrica).

In our discussion, I will introduce several space-holding qualities I have identified. I will then offer examples from my teaching practice, including a module in an asynchronous community college course, called the We-Ro’s Journey (elevating the hero’s journey to a collective We).
As part of our shared exploration, I will invite some co-creative experiential group processes, as well.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1196142529 |600|left|The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between: Barbara Widhalm}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Barbara Widhalm is an adult educator committed to teaching students with multiple barriers to learning and to facilitating cohort-based adult education graduate programs.
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, she serves as faculty at Peralta Community College District in Oakland, CA (Humanities, Critical Thinking, Learning Resources) and at St. Mary’s College of California (Bachelors Completion Program in Leadership Studies, Master of Leadership Studies).
Her teaching philosophy blends transformative learning theory, ecological design, living systems awareness, and affective intelligence. Her research focuses on designing collaborative learning communities that foster collective wisdom in hybrid, face-to-face, and online formats. In her dissertation research, she developed a framework for designing learning experiences as self-organizing living systems, inspired by the principles of living systems as articulated by Fritjof Capra. Her Journal of Sustainability Education article “Educators as Architects of Living Systems” has been cited widely, including in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Barbara current research interest focuses on the art of holding space and fostering affective intelligence in learning communities (see ISSS Proceedings 2025).
She holds a doctorate in Transformative Learning, a Masters in Community and Regional Planning and pursued undergraduate studies in languages, ecology, and environmental economics in Austria and Russia. Barbara has benefited from multiple systemic facilitation styles, including the practice of Freirean culture circles and the affective intelligence approach as articulated by the Universidade Biocêntrica in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Originally from Vienna, Austria, she also operates a small Austrian community bakery and enjoys hosting collaborative dialog cafés.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Barbara Widhalm]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 May 7 - Barbara Widhalm

2026-06-13T08:26:23Z

Laouris: created and populated page

{{Mini Symposia
| photo=barbara
| name=[[Barbara Widhalm]]
| title=The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between
| date=May 27, 2026
| presentation=xx.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1170997055
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between </span>

==Abstract==
Our relationship lives in the space between us. It doesn’t live in me or in you or even in the dialogue between the two of us. It lives in the space we live together and that space is sacred space.

—Martin Buber<br>
More than ever, the world needs spaces where people cultivate trust to connect across differences, to listen for what’s at the “heart of the matter” in the group, and to attune to a mutual, caring field.
In this mini symposium, I will invite dialog on holding space in academic and non-academic settings. Together, we will consider:
* What does holding space mean in our communities of practice?
* How can holding space support bridge-building, self-organizing, and co-creative capacities?
* What’s your special sauce in holding space?
My interest in holding space is grounded in my transdisciplinary framework for designing collaborative learning experiences as living systems, as well as in my praxis of nurturing affective intelligence in groups.
The importance of tending to space has been theorized in the transformative learning and adult learning literature, in the healing and therapeutic arts, in ritual design, as well as in systemic group facilitation practices (such as approaches developed by the International Bateson Institute, Center for Systems Awareness, the Art of Hosting, and Universidade Biocêntrica).

In our discussion, I will introduce several space-holding qualities I have identified. I will then offer examples from my teaching practice, including a module in an asynchronous community college course, called the We-Ro’s Journey (elevating the hero’s journey to a collective We).
As part of our shared exploration, I will invite some co-creative experiential group processes, as well.

{{#ev:vimeo|1170997055|600|left|The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between: Barbara Widhalm}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Barbara Widhalm is an adult educator committed to teaching students with multiple barriers to learning and to facilitating cohort-based adult education graduate programs.
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, she serves as faculty at Peralta Community College District in Oakland, CA (Humanities, Critical Thinking, Learning Resources) and at St. Mary’s College of California (Bachelors Completion Program in Leadership Studies, Master of Leadership Studies).
Her teaching philosophy blends transformative learning theory, ecological design, living systems awareness, and affective intelligence. Her research focuses on designing collaborative learning communities that foster collective wisdom in hybrid, face-to-face, and online formats. In her dissertation research, she developed a framework for designing learning experiences as self-organizing living systems, inspired by the principles of living systems as articulated by Fritjof Capra. Her Journal of Sustainability Education article “Educators as Architects of Living Systems” has been cited widely, including in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Barbara current research interest focuses on the art of holding space and fostering affective intelligence in learning communities (see ISSS Proceedings 2025).
She holds a doctorate in Transformative Learning, a Masters in Community and Regional Planning and pursued undergraduate studies in languages, ecology, and environmental economics in Austria and Russia. Barbara has benefited from multiple systemic facilitation styles, including the practice of Freirean culture circles and the affective intelligence approach as articulated by the Universidade Biocêntrica in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Originally from Vienna, Austria, she also operates a small Austrian community bakery and enjoys hosting collaborative dialog cafés.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Barbara Widhalm]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Jun 10 - Yiannis Laouris

2026-06-13T08:18:25Z

Laouris: /* Short Bio */

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Laouris_Talking.jpeg
| name=[[Yiannis Laouris]]
| title= Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life
| date=Jun 10, 2026
| presentation=Membranes_ISSS_MiniSymposium_20260610.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1200240078
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">Membranes as the Earliest Entropy-Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life </span>

==Abstract==
The origin of life remains among the most compelling and debated scientific mysteries. Traditional hypotheses, such as the RNA World and Metabolism-First models, emphasize nucleic acids or metabolic cycles as life's earliest foundations. However, both approaches inherently assume the existence of structured, stable compartments to maintain molecular interactions; yet do not fully explain their emergence. In this paper, we propose the Membrane-First Hypothesis, asserting that a plausible pathway toward life may have begun with spontaneously forming amphiphilic boundaries that enabled protocellular microenvironments that actively resisted entropy, maintained stable internal environments, and provided primitive localized gradients that bias reaction fluxes. Other prebiotic organizing structures, such as mineral surfaces and coacervate-like droplets, are considered alongside membranes, and their respective advantages and limitations are evaluated. Drawing insights from systems science, including dissipative structures, autopoiesis, hierarchical complexity, and cybernetics, we argue that membranes were not passive containers, but the drivers of differential persistence (‘proto-selection’) and complexity. By systematically comparing existing origin-of-life theories, we propose that membrane-based compartments uniquely integrate metabolic and genetic emergence, offering robust experimental pathways for validation. This systems-science-informed model fundamentally reshapes our understanding of life's defining origin. We argue that membranes represent one plausible route by which localized, energy-coupled protocellular systems could have emerged prior to fully Darwinian evolution.

{{#ev:vimeo|1200240078|600|left|Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life : Yiannis Laouris}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
ISSS President (2024-2026) and active member periodically since 2003, Laouris is a social-, business-, and science entrepreneur, Lead Scientist and CEO of Future Worlds Center [1]. Founding member of the Cyprus Society for Systemic Studies; Current President of the Board of the Institute for 21st Century Agoras [2]. Served as national representative in several European bodies such as COST Actions, Insafe, Inhope, EU Kids online, ECSO, Cybercrime Centre of Excellence, ECTEG – Europol, and as a member of Boards and/or partner in several high-tech companies [3]. One of the 12 authors of the ONLIFE Manifesto [4] and lead author of Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era Manifesto [5]. Author of books including, Direct Democracy, Democratic [R]evolution, and Masks of Demons. Leads internationally the development of theory, tools, and applications of structured dialogic design. Yiannis researches to scale up participatory dialogic processes engaging asynchronously thousands of people in meaningful, authentic dialogues, thus accelerating institutional and societal change. Holds an MD (distinction; Germany), a PhD Neurophysiology (summa cum laude; Germany), an MSc Eng (GPA 4.0: USA), and a PhD Systems Engineering (UK). 100+ papers/book chapters; 200+ conference papers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laouris<br>
ORCID number: 0000-0002-9081-5849<br>
Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5a7NA7cAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

[1] www.futureworlds.eu<br>
[2] https://globalagoras.org<br>
[3] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Yiannis_Laouris<br>
[4] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/The_Onlife_Manifesto<br>
[5] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Manifesto:_Democracy_in_the_Digital_Era<br>

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Yiannis Laouris]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Jun 10 - Yiannis Laouris

2026-06-13T08:16:46Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Laouris_Talking.jpeg
| name=[[Yiannis Laouris]]
| title= Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life
| date=Jun 10, 2026
| presentation=Membranes_ISSS_MiniSymposium_20260610.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1200240078
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">Membranes as the Earliest Entropy-Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life </span>

==Abstract==
The origin of life remains among the most compelling and debated scientific mysteries. Traditional hypotheses, such as the RNA World and Metabolism-First models, emphasize nucleic acids or metabolic cycles as life's earliest foundations. However, both approaches inherently assume the existence of structured, stable compartments to maintain molecular interactions; yet do not fully explain their emergence. In this paper, we propose the Membrane-First Hypothesis, asserting that a plausible pathway toward life may have begun with spontaneously forming amphiphilic boundaries that enabled protocellular microenvironments that actively resisted entropy, maintained stable internal environments, and provided primitive localized gradients that bias reaction fluxes. Other prebiotic organizing structures, such as mineral surfaces and coacervate-like droplets, are considered alongside membranes, and their respective advantages and limitations are evaluated. Drawing insights from systems science, including dissipative structures, autopoiesis, hierarchical complexity, and cybernetics, we argue that membranes were not passive containers, but the drivers of differential persistence (‘proto-selection’) and complexity. By systematically comparing existing origin-of-life theories, we propose that membrane-based compartments uniquely integrate metabolic and genetic emergence, offering robust experimental pathways for validation. This systems-science-informed model fundamentally reshapes our understanding of life's defining origin. We argue that membranes represent one plausible route by which localized, energy-coupled protocellular systems could have emerged prior to fully Darwinian evolution.

{{#ev:vimeo|1200240078|600|left|Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life : Yiannis Laouris}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
ISSS President (2024-2026) and active member periodically since 2003, Laouris is a social-, business-, and science entrepreneur, Lead Scientist and CEO of Future Worlds Center [1]. Founding member of the Cyprus Society for Systemic Studies; Current President of the Board of the Institute for 21st Century Agoras [2]. Served as national representative in several European bodies such as COST Actions, Insafe, Inhope, EU Kids online, ECSO, Cybercrime Centre of Excellence, ECTEG – Europol, and as a member of Boards and/or partner in several high-tech companies [3]. One of the 12 authors of the ONLIFE Manifesto [4] and lead author of Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era Manifesto [5]. Author of books including, Direct Democracy, Democratic [R]evolution, and Masks of Demons. Leads internationally the development of theory, tools, and applications of structured dialogic design. Yiannis researches to scale up participatory dialogic processes engaging asynchronously thousands of people in meaningful, authentic dialogues, thus accelerating institutional and societal change. Holds an MD (distinction; Germany), a PhD Neurophysiology (summa cum laude; Germany), an MSc Eng (GPA 4.0: USA), and a PhD Systems Engineering (UK). 100+ papers/book chapters; 200+ conference papers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laouris
ORCID number: 0000-0002-9081-5849.

[1] www.futureworlds.eu<br>
[2] https://globalagoras.org<br>
[3] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Yiannis_Laouris<br>
[4] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/The_Onlife_Manifesto<br>
[5] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Manifesto:_Democracy_in_the_Digital_Era<br>

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Yiannis Laouris]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Jun 10 - Yiannis Laouris

2026-06-13T08:16:19Z

Laouris: added PPT

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Laouris_Talking.jpeg
| name=[[Yiannis Laouris]]
| title= Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life
| date=Jun 10, 2026
| presentation=Membranes_ISSS_MiniSymposium_20260610.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1200240078
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">Membranes as the Earliest Entropy-Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life </span>

==Abstract==
The origin of life remains among the most compelling and debated scientific mysteries. Traditional hypotheses, such as the RNA World and Metabolism-First models, emphasize nucleic acids or metabolic cycles as life's earliest foundations. However, both approaches inherently assume the existence of structured, stable compartments to maintain molecular interactions; yet do not fully explain their emergence. In this paper, we propose the Membrane-First Hypothesis, asserting that a plausible pathway toward life may have begun with spontaneously forming amphiphilic boundaries that enabled protocellular microenvironments that actively resisted entropy, maintained stable internal environments, and provided primitive localized gradients that bias reaction fluxes. Other prebiotic organizing structures, such as mineral surfaces and coacervate-like droplets, are considered alongside membranes, and their respective advantages and limitations are evaluated. Drawing insights from systems science, including dissipative structures, autopoiesis, hierarchical complexity, and cybernetics, we argue that membranes were not passive containers, but the drivers of differential persistence (‘proto-selection’) and complexity. By systematically comparing existing origin-of-life theories, we propose that membrane-based compartments uniquely integrate metabolic and genetic emergence, offering robust experimental pathways for validation. This systems-science-informed model fundamentally reshapes our understanding of life's defining origin. We argue that membranes represent one plausible route by which localized, energy-coupled protocellular systems could have emerged prior to fully Darwinian evolution.

{{#ev:vimeo|1200240078|600|left|Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life : Yiannis Laouris}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
ISSS President (2024-2026) and active member periodically since 2003, Laouris is a social-, business-, and science entrepreneur, Lead Scientist and CEO of Future Worlds Center [1]. Founding member of the Cyprus Society for Systemic Studies; Current President of the Board of the Institute for 21st Century Agoras [2]. Served as national representative in several European bodies such as COST Actions, Insafe, Inhope, EU Kids online, ECSO, Cybercrime Centre of Excellence, ECTEG – Europol, and as a member of Boards and/or partner in several high-tech companies [3]. One of the 12 authors of the ONLIFE Manifesto [4] and lead author of Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era Manifesto [5]. Author of books including, Direct Democracy, Democratic [R]evolution, and Masks of Demons. Leads internationally the development of theory, tools, and applications of structured dialogic design. Yiannis researches to scale up participatory dialogic processes engaging asynchronously thousands of people in meaningful, authentic dialogues, thus accelerating institutional and societal change. Holds an MD (distinction; Germany), a PhD Neurophysiology (summa cum laude; Germany), an MSc Eng (GPA 4.0: USA), and a PhD Systems Engineering (UK). 100+ papers/book chapters; 200+ conference papers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laouris
ORCID number: 0000-0002-9081-5849.

[1] www.futureworlds.eu
[2] https://globalagoras.org
[3] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Yiannis_Laouris
[4] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/The_Onlife_Manifesto
[5] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Manifesto:_Democracy_in_the_Digital_Era

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Yiannis Laouris]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

File:Membranes ISSS MiniSymposium 20260610.pdf

2026-06-13T08:15:45Z

Laouris:

Mini Symposium 2026 Jun 10 - Yiannis Laouris

2026-06-13T08:14:59Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Laouris_Talking.jpeg
| name=[[Yiannis Laouris]]
| title= Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life
| date=Jun 10, 2026
| presentation=xxx.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1200240078
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life </span>

==Abstract==
The origin of life remains among the most compelling and debated scientific mysteries. Traditional hypotheses, such as the RNA World and Metabolism-First models, emphasize nucleic acids or metabolic cycles as life's earliest foundations. However, both approaches inherently assume the existence of structured, stable compartments to maintain molecular interactions; yet do not fully explain their emergence. In this paper, we propose the Membrane-First Hypothesis, asserting that a plausible pathway toward life may have begun with spontaneously forming amphiphilic boundaries that enabled protocellular microenvironments that actively resisted entropy, maintained stable internal environments, and provided primitive localized gradients that bias reaction fluxes. Other prebiotic organizing structures, such as mineral surfaces and coacervate-like droplets, are considered alongside membranes, and their respective advantages and limitations are evaluated. Drawing insights from systems science, including dissipative structures, autopoiesis, hierarchical complexity, and cybernetics, we argue that membranes were not passive containers, but the drivers of differential persistence (‘proto-selection’) and complexity. By systematically comparing existing origin-of-life theories, we propose that membrane-based compartments uniquely integrate metabolic and genetic emergence, offering robust experimental pathways for validation. This systems-science-informed model fundamentally reshapes our understanding of life's defining origin. We argue that membranes represent one plausible route by which localized, energy-coupled protocellular systems could have emerged prior to fully Darwinian evolution.

{{#ev:vimeo|1200240078|600|left|Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life : Yiannis Laouris}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
ISSS President (2024-2026) and active member periodically since 2003, Laouris is a social-, business-, and science entrepreneur, Lead Scientist and CEO of Future Worlds Center [1]. Founding member of the Cyprus Society for Systemic Studies; Current President of the Board of the Institute for 21st Century Agoras [2]. Served as national representative in several European bodies such as COST Actions, Insafe, Inhope, EU Kids online, ECSO, Cybercrime Centre of Excellence, ECTEG – Europol, and as a member of Boards and/or partner in several high-tech companies [3]. One of the 12 authors of the ONLIFE Manifesto [4] and lead author of Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era Manifesto [5]. Author of books including, Direct Democracy, Democratic [R]evolution, and Masks of Demons. Leads internationally the development of theory, tools, and applications of structured dialogic design. Yiannis researches to scale up participatory dialogic processes engaging asynchronously thousands of people in meaningful, authentic dialogues, thus accelerating institutional and societal change. Holds an MD (distinction; Germany), a PhD Neurophysiology (summa cum laude; Germany), an MSc Eng (GPA 4.0: USA), and a PhD Systems Engineering (UK). 100+ papers/book chapters; 200+ conference papers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laouris
ORCID number: 0000-0002-9081-5849.

[1] www.futureworlds.eu
[2] https://globalagoras.org
[3] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Yiannis_Laouris
[4] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/The_Onlife_Manifesto
[5] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Manifesto:_Democracy_in_the_Digital_Era

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Yiannis Laouris]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Jun 10 - Yiannis Laouris

2026-06-13T08:14:29Z

Laouris: created and populated page

{{Mini Symposia
| photo=laouris.png
| name=[[Yiannis Laouris]]
| title= Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life
| date=Jun 10, 2026
| presentation=xxx.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1200240078
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life </span>

==Abstract==
The origin of life remains among the most compelling and debated scientific mysteries. Traditional hypotheses, such as the RNA World and Metabolism-First models, emphasize nucleic acids or metabolic cycles as life's earliest foundations. However, both approaches inherently assume the existence of structured, stable compartments to maintain molecular interactions; yet do not fully explain their emergence. In this paper, we propose the Membrane-First Hypothesis, asserting that a plausible pathway toward life may have begun with spontaneously forming amphiphilic boundaries that enabled protocellular microenvironments that actively resisted entropy, maintained stable internal environments, and provided primitive localized gradients that bias reaction fluxes. Other prebiotic organizing structures, such as mineral surfaces and coacervate-like droplets, are considered alongside membranes, and their respective advantages and limitations are evaluated. Drawing insights from systems science, including dissipative structures, autopoiesis, hierarchical complexity, and cybernetics, we argue that membranes were not passive containers, but the drivers of differential persistence (‘proto-selection’) and complexity. By systematically comparing existing origin-of-life theories, we propose that membrane-based compartments uniquely integrate metabolic and genetic emergence, offering robust experimental pathways for validation. This systems-science-informed model fundamentally reshapes our understanding of life's defining origin. We argue that membranes represent one plausible route by which localized, energy-coupled protocellular systems could have emerged prior to fully Darwinian evolution.

{{#ev:vimeo|1200240078|600|left|Membranes as the Earliest Entropy Resisting Structures in the Origin of Life : Yiannis Laouris}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
ISSS President (2024-2026) and active member periodically since 2003, Laouris is a social-, business-, and science entrepreneur, Lead Scientist and CEO of Future Worlds Center [1]. Founding member of the Cyprus Society for Systemic Studies; Current President of the Board of the Institute for 21st Century Agoras [2]. Served as national representative in several European bodies such as COST Actions, Insafe, Inhope, EU Kids online, ECSO, Cybercrime Centre of Excellence, ECTEG – Europol, and as a member of Boards and/or partner in several high-tech companies [3]. One of the 12 authors of the ONLIFE Manifesto [4] and lead author of Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era Manifesto [5]. Author of books including, Direct Democracy, Democratic [R]evolution, and Masks of Demons. Leads internationally the development of theory, tools, and applications of structured dialogic design. Yiannis researches to scale up participatory dialogic processes engaging asynchronously thousands of people in meaningful, authentic dialogues, thus accelerating institutional and societal change. Holds an MD (distinction; Germany), a PhD Neurophysiology (summa cum laude; Germany), an MSc Eng (GPA 4.0: USA), and a PhD Systems Engineering (UK). 100+ papers/book chapters; 200+ conference papers.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laouris
ORCID number: 0000-0002-9081-5849.

[1] www.futureworlds.eu
[2] https://globalagoras.org
[3] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Yiannis_Laouris
[4] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/The_Onlife_Manifesto
[5] https://futureworlds.eu/wiki/Manifesto:_Democracy_in_the_Digital_Era

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Yiannis Laouris]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Mar 6 - Janet McIntyre

2026-06-11T08:41:26Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo=Mcintyre_janet.png
| name=[[Janet McIntyre]]
| title=Re-imagining our world, making friends and making a difference
| date=Mar 6, 2026
| presentation=ISSS_MiniSymposium_JanetMcIntyre_20260306.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1170997055?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci#t=231
}}

<span style="font-size:200%">Re-imagining our world, making friends and making a difference</span>

==Abstract==
The short presentation by [[Janet McIntyre]] is aimed at inspiring conversation. As members of ISSS and members of the community of practice are scattered in many different time zones, a short presentation will be recorded on sources of practical inspiration, intergenerational leadership, and case studies that have made a difference to people’s lives. We will also reflect on our own efforts to do community engagement and what we learn together as a community of practice. We will pose some questions for a conversation and invite responses as part of a synchronous conversation, and an asynchronous metalogue.
If we do not develop equanimity and solidarity, what are the implications for social and environmental justice? What will it mean for the future of life ( as we know it) on this planet?

{{#ev:vimeo|1170997055|600|left|Re-imagining our world, making friends and making a difference: Janet McIntyre}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
[[Janet McIntyre]] publishes as Janet J. McIntyre-Mills (D.Litt. et Phil., Sociology). She is Adjunct Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa in the College of Education and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide Business School) since 2019. She also holds affiliations with universities in Indonesia, such as Universitas Padjadjaran where she is linked with the Centre for Decentralization and Participatory Development Research and chairs Balancing Individualism and Collectivism , a Special Integration Group of the International Systems Sciences . Her research focuses on systemic representation, accountability and re-generation applied to social and environmental justice concerns and includes several articles in accredited journals as well as edited and sole-authored volumes such as ‘Affirmative Intervention to support Multispecies Relationships’(2024), ‘From Polarisation to Multispecies Relationships’, Springer (2021); ‘Planetary Passport: Re-presentation, Accountability and Regeneration’ (2017); and ‘Systemic Ethics and Non-anthropocentric Stewardship’ (2014), Springer, New York. She has supervised 35 Ph.D. students to successful completion and continues to mentor and facilitate research with colleagues. She facilitates a community of practice spanning academics, practitioners and community members.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Janet McIntyre]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

General System Theory by Bertalanffy

2026-05-14T09:31:37Z

Laouris: created and populated page

=Bertalanffy’s General System Theory=

[[Ludwig von Bertalanffy]]’s [[General System Theory]] (GST) is one of the foundational intellectual sources of the modern systems movement. Developed from his work in theoretical biology and most fully presented in General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, GST proposed that many phenomena across biology, psychology, the social sciences, and technology could not be adequately understood by reducing them to isolated parts. Instead, they had to be studied as organized wholes: systems whose properties arise from the dynamic relations among their components. Bertalanffy’s contribution was not simply to add another theory within biology, but to articulate a general scientific orientation for studying organization, wholeness, interaction, and emergence across domains.

==Historical context and purpose==
Bertalanffy developed GST in response to what he saw as a crisis of scientific fragmentation and reductionism. By the mid-twentieth century, the sciences had become increasingly specialized, while many of their most important problems concerned organized complexity: living organisms, minds, social groups, institutions, and ecological relations. The attached source emphasizes that Bertalanffy was reacting against the assumption that understanding parts automatically explains wholes, especially when mechanistic models drawn from classical physics were applied uncritically to living and social systems.
GST therefore aimed to identify principles, models, and laws that apply to systems in general, independently of the particular material out of which those systems are composed. Bertalanffy argued that “systems” of different kinds may exhibit structurally similar patterns, or isomorphisms, making it possible to transfer conceptual insights across fields without collapsing one field into another. This was also one of the original purposes of the systems movement institutionalized through the Society for General Systems Research, the predecessor of the International Society for the Systems Sciences. The ISSS history records that the Society was conceived in 1954 by Bertalanffy, Kenneth Boulding, Ralph Gerard, and Anatol Rapoport, and that one of its principal aims was to investigate the isomorphy of concepts, laws, and models across fields.

==Core idea: systems are organized wholes==
For Bertalanffy, a system is not merely an aggregate of elements. A system is a set of interacting components whose relations and organization are essential to its behavior. The behavior of the whole cannot be fully derived by studying the parts in isolation. This anti-reductionist position did not reject analysis; rather, it rejected the assumption that analysis alone is sufficient. Parts must be understood within the organized configuration in which they operate.

Bertalanffy described GST as a “general science of wholeness.” Its task was to formulate concepts such as organization, wholeness, directiveness, differentiation, and teleology in ways that could become scientifically legitimate rather than vague or metaphysical. This made GST an intellectual bridge between the natural sciences, the biological sciences, and the human sciences.

==Open systems and steady state==
Bertalanffy’s most important technical contribution was his theory of open systems. Classical physics had largely focused on closed systems: systems considered in isolation from their environments. Living systems, however, are not closed. They maintain themselves through continuous exchange of matter, energy, and information with their environment. An organism survives not by reaching thermodynamic equilibrium, but by sustaining a dynamic steady state through ongoing inflow, transformation, and outflow.

This idea helped resolve an apparent contradiction between thermodynamics and life. Closed systems tend toward increasing entropy, but living systems maintain and even increase local order by importing energy and exporting entropy. In this way, GST provided a scientific vocabulary for understanding growth, regulation, metabolism, differentiation, and self-maintenance without appealing to vitalism.
Equifinality, regulation, and organization

A further key concept is equifinality. In closed mechanical systems, the final state is strongly determined by initial conditions. In open systems, by contrast, similar end states may be reached from different starting points and by different pathways. This is central to understanding biological development, adaptation, robustness, and recovery. A living organism, for example, can often compensate for disturbances and still preserve its overall form or function.

Bertalanffy also gave scientific importance to organization over substance. Systems may be composed of cells, organs, persons, institutions, or technological components; what makes them comparable is not their material composition, but their organization. This was the basis for his search for isomorphisms: recurring formal patterns across otherwise different domains. Feedback in physiology, regulation in organizations, growth in populations, differentiation in embryos, and specialization in social systems may be studied as structurally comparable phenomena, provided the comparison is disciplined and not merely metaphorical.

==Relationship to cybernetics and later systems science==
GST developed in close historical proximity to cybernetics, but the two traditions were not identical. Cybernetics emphasized communication, control, feedback, and regulation, especially in machines and organisms. Bertalanffy’s GST emphasized open systems, organismic biology, wholeness, hierarchy, differentiation, and the general theory of organization. Later systems science drew heavily from both traditions. Historical studies of Bertalanffy’s work show that GST and cybernetics had both convergences and differences, and that understanding their relationship is important for reconstructing the genealogy of systems science.

==Humanistic and ethical significance==
Bertalanffy’s systems thinking also had a humanistic dimension. He was concerned that mechanistic and reductionist models, when applied to human beings and societies, could encourage technocracy, manipulation, and dehumanization. GST, therefore, carried an implicit ethical warning: science should not treat living beings, persons, and societies merely as machines. A systems worldview should help restore attention to wholeness, context, meaning, and responsibility.

==Limitations and continuing relevance==
Bertalanffy did not provide a complete methodology for systems intervention, nor did he fully develop observer-dependence, power, conflict, participatory design, or the complexities of social systems. These questions were later taken up by second-order cybernetics, critical systems thinking, soft systems methodology, organizational cybernetics, complexity theory, and dialogic systems approaches. Nevertheless, GST remains foundational because it established the ontological and epistemological shift from parts to organized wholes, from closed to open systems, from linear causality to dynamic interaction, and from disciplinary isolation to transdisciplinary inquiry.
For the International Society for the Systems Sciences, Bertalanffy’s GST is not merely a historical precursor. It is part of the Society’s founding intellectual identity. Its continuing value lies in its invitation to search for rigorous, transferable principles of organization while respecting the specificity of different domains. GST opened the door to systems science as a transdisciplinary project; subsequent generations have continued the work of deepening, critiquing, formalizing, and applying that project to the complex challenges of life, society, technology, and planetary futures.

==Selected references==
* Bertalanffy, L. von. (1968). General system theory: Foundations, development, applications. George Braziller.
Drack, M., & Pouvreau, D. (2015). On the history of Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s “General Systemology,” and on its relationship to cybernetics. International Journal of General Systems.
* International Society for the Systems Sciences. (n.d.). History. https://www.isss.org/history/

[[Category: Systems Theories by ISSS Members]]

Category:Systems Theories by ISSS Members

2026-05-14T09:27:41Z

Laouris: Created page with "Category for Systems Theories by ISSS Members"

Category for Systems Theories by ISSS Members

Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose

2026-05-14T09:27:27Z

Laouris:

[[James N (Jamie) Rose]]’s '''Integrity Paradigm''' is an ambitious attempt to formulate a unifying framework for reality, systems, life, mind, and consciousness. Rose presents it not as a narrow theory within a single scientific domain, but as a candidate [[General Theory of Systems]], and, in some places, as a broad [[Theory of Everything]]. The paradigm appears to have roots in work he says began in 1973 and was further developed through the 1990s, and later in papers, conference presentations, and online writings.

At its core, the Integrity Paradigm argues that the universe should be understood primarily through relations, continuity, communication, and organization rather than through rigid separations such as matter versus life, physics versus biology, or the inanimate versus the animate. Rose repeatedly frames the universe as fundamentally communicative and relational, and he argues that life is not an alien break from non-life but a natural extension of pre-existing organizational potentials already present in the cosmos. In this view, what we call living, cognitive, and social systems emerge from deeper shared patterns of interaction and distributed organization.

A second major theme is Rose’s effort to reinterpret entropy, complexity, and self-organization. He appears to reject the idea that order and complexity require an entirely separate principle opposed to entropy. Instead, he proposes that distribution, dissemination, and interaction across nested levels of organization can generate new loci of engagement and, under the right conditions, increase complexity. In this sense, complex order is treated as a natural outcome of universal processes rather than an exception to them. The Integrity Paradigm, therefore, seeks to bridge thermodynamics, information, emergence, and organization within a single conceptual framework.

A third defining feature is its strong transdisciplinary aspiration. Rose explicitly links mathematics, language, philosophy, systems science, biology, information theory, and consciousness studies. He argues that a true general systems theory must be expressible both mathematically and in clear human language, so that it can function not only as abstract science but also as a shared conceptual framework for inquiry across disciplines. This ambition is reflected in his ISSS involvement, including the [[SIG: General Systems Mathematics and Languaging]], and in conference abstracts that position the Integrity Paradigm as an umbrella model for systems unification.

In scholarly terms, the Integrity Paradigm is best described as an original, highly synthetic systems-philosophical framework advanced primarily by Rose himself, rather than as an established paradigm with broad uptake in mainstream science.

The web evidence points mainly to Rose’s own website, [[Ceptual Institute]] materials, Academia postings, ISSS profiles, and conference listings. This does not invalidate the project, but it does mean that any publishable characterization should clearly distinguish between Rose’s proposal and the scientific consensus. It is a personal grand-systems framework seeking to unify physics, biology, complexity, information, and consciousness around the idea that existence is fundamentally relational, communicative, and organizationally continuous across scales.

==External Links==
* Understanding the Integral Universe by J. Rose - Abstracts: https://www.uazone.org/naph/integrity/jnrose/uiuintro-a.htm
* The Integrity Paradigm by James N. Rose: https://www.uazone.org/naph/integrity/integrity-ci.html
* Information concept and the Initial formulation for a unified ...: https://www.uazone.org/naph/integrity/ipci-1973cmts.html
* Integrity Paradigm - General comments: https://www.uazone.org/naph/extegrity.html
* SIG: General Systems Mathematics and Languaging: https://wiki.isss.org/index.php/SIG%3AGeneral_Systems_Mathematics_and_Languaging
* James N (Jamie) Rose: https://wiki.isss.org/index.php/James_N_%28Jamie%29_Rose
* Integrity Paradigm - General Theory of Systems [1997]: https://www.academia.edu/45082070/Integrity_Paradigm_General_Theory_of_Systems_1997_
* James N Rose - Independent Researcher: https://independent.academia.edu/JamesRose
* New Age (Integral) Philosophy - Philosophy of Information Society: https://uazone.org/naph/
* ESTABLISHING AN UMBRELLA PHILOSOPHY - REQUIRED TO UNDERPIN GENERAL SYSTEMS UNIFICATION IN A SINGLE ENCOMPASSING PARADIGM: https://www.academia.edu/128891740/ESTABLISHING_AN_UMBRELLA_PHILOSOPHY_REQUIRED_TO_UNDERPIN_GENERAL_SYSTEMS_UNIFICATION_IN_A_SINGLE_ENCOMPASSING_PARADIGM
* Our GSTS Founders' Goal: a single grand encompassing theory embracing all systems. The First Proposal on the Table: James N Rose 'Integrity Paradigm': https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings63rd/article/view/3551

[[Category: Systems Theories by ISSS Members]]
[[Category: Systems Theories by James N Rose]]

Systems Theories by ISSS Members

2026-05-14T09:26:40Z

Laouris: added listing

==List of Systems Theories developed by notable systems theorists and ISSS Members==
Number: {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Systems Theories by ISSS Members}}
{{#categorytree:Systems Theories by ISSS Members|mode="all" |hideroot=on|mode=pages|style=bold}}

Mini Symposia

2026-05-14T09:25:17Z

Laouris:

The [[International Society for the Systems Sciences'' (ISSS) organizes Weekly mini-symposia and open mic sessions during their operational season to explore systems science, holistic thinking, and global challenges. These sessions typically feature expert presentations followed by, or in combination with, open discussions, and are held online via Zoom to accommodate a global membership across different time zones.

==Types and Themes of ISSS Mini-Symposia==
The mini-symposia cover a wide range of topics that bridge theory with practical, real-world, and "wicked" challenges. Themes often include:
* Systems Theory & Modeling: Exploring foundational concepts like "systemness" (as opposed to just "systems"), general systems theory, and methodologies for analyzing complex problems.
* Cybernetics & AI: Discussions on the role of cybernetics in addressing 21st-century issues (e.g., "Cybernetics Escapes the Laboratory," "Re-Braiding Cybernetics & AI").
* Global & Environmental Challenges: Topics such as Peaceful Futures (understanding peace as a systemic capability), climate change, and sustainability.
* Social & Organizational Systems: Applying systems thinking to topics like migration, resilient communities, organizational change, and social justice.
* Health & Biological Systems: Systems biology 3.0, translational systems biology, and guidelines for reporting systems approaches in health.
* Education & Practice: Discussions on systems engineering education, "Towards a Common Core for System Science Education," and applying systems thinking in the built environment

==Procedure for moderating a Mini Symposium==
The process of planning and moderating a Mini Symposium is described as [[Technical Procedure: Schedule and Moderate a Mini Symposium]].

==List of all Mini Symposia Pages==
Number: {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Mini Symposia}}
{{#categorytree:Mini Symposia|mode="all" |hideroot=on|mode=pages|style=bold}}

Mini Symposia

2026-05-13T10:23:53Z

Laouris: Added: Technical Procedure: Schedule and Moderate a Mini Symposium

The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) organizes Weekly mini-symposia and open mic sessions during their operational season to explore systems science, holistic thinking, and global challenges. These sessions typically feature expert presentations followed by, or in combination with, open discussions, and are held online via Zoom to accommodate a global membership across different time zones.

==Types and Themes of ISSS Mini-Symposia==
The mini-symposia cover a wide range of topics that bridge theory with practical, real-world, and "wicked" challenges. Themes often include:
* Systems Theory & Modeling: Exploring foundational concepts like "systemness" (as opposed to just "systems"), general systems theory, and methodologies for analyzing complex problems.
* Cybernetics & AI: Discussions on the role of cybernetics in addressing 21st-century issues (e.g., "Cybernetics Escapes the Laboratory," "Re-Braiding Cybernetics & AI").
* Global & Environmental Challenges: Topics such as Peaceful Futures (understanding peace as a systemic capability), climate change, and sustainability.
* Social & Organizational Systems: Applying systems thinking to topics like migration, resilient communities, organizational change, and social justice.
* Health & Biological Systems: Systems biology 3.0, translational systems biology, and guidelines for reporting systems approaches in health.
* Education & Practice: Discussions on systems engineering education, "Towards a Common Core for System Science Education," and applying systems thinking in the built environment

==Procedure for moderating a Mini Symposium==
The process of planning and moderating a Mini Symposium is described as [[Technical Procedure: Schedule and Moderate a Mini Symposium]].

==List of all Mini Symposia Pages==
Number: {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Mini Symposia}}
{{#categorytree:Mini Symposia|mode="all" |hideroot=on|mode=pages|style=bold}}

Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose

2026-05-13T07:30:20Z

Laouris: added links

Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose

2026-05-13T07:26:48Z

Laouris:

Integrity Paradigm by James N Rose

2026-05-13T07:26:31Z

Laouris: Laouris moved page Integrity Paradigm by James N Rose to Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose

#REDIRECT [[Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose]]

Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose

2026-05-13T07:26:31Z

Laouris: Laouris moved page Integrity Paradigm by James N Rose to Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose

[[James N. Rose]]’s '''Integrity Paradigm''' is an ambitious attempt to formulate a unifying framework for reality, systems, life, mind, and consciousness. Rose presents it not as a narrow theory within a single scientific domain, but as a candidate [[General Theory of Systems]], and, in some places, as a broad [[Theory of Everything]]. The paradigm appears to have roots in work he says began in 1973 and was further developed through the 1990s, and later in papers, conference presentations, and online writings.

At its core, the Integrity Paradigm argues that the universe should be understood primarily through relations, continuity, communication, and organization rather than through rigid separations such as matter versus life, physics versus biology, or the inanimate versus the animate. Rose repeatedly frames the universe as fundamentally communicative and relational, and he argues that life is not an alien break from non-life but a natural extension of pre-existing organizational potentials already present in the cosmos. In this view, what we call living, cognitive, and social systems emerge from deeper shared patterns of interaction and distributed organization.

A second major theme is Rose’s effort to reinterpret entropy, complexity, and self-organization. He appears to reject the idea that order and complexity require an entirely separate principle opposed to entropy. Instead, he proposes that distribution, dissemination, and interaction across nested levels of organization can generate new loci of engagement and, under the right conditions, increase complexity. In this sense, complex order is treated as a natural outcome of universal processes rather than an exception to them. The Integrity Paradigm, therefore, seeks to bridge thermodynamics, information, emergence, and organization within a single conceptual framework.

A third defining feature is its strong transdisciplinary aspiration. Rose explicitly links mathematics, language, philosophy, systems science, biology, information theory, and consciousness studies. He argues that a true general systems theory must be expressible both mathematically and in clear human language, so that it can function not only as abstract science but also as a shared conceptual framework for inquiry across disciplines. This ambition is reflected in his ISSS involvement, including the [[SIG: General Systems Mathematics and Languaging]], and in conference abstracts that position the Integrity Paradigm as an umbrella model for systems unification.

In scholarly terms, the Integrity Paradigm is best described as an original, highly synthetic systems-philosophical framework advanced primarily by Rose himself, rather than as an established paradigm with broad uptake in mainstream science.

The web evidence points mainly to Rose’s own website, [[Ceptual Institute]] materials, Academia postings, ISSS profiles, and conference listings. This does not invalidate the project, but it does mean that any publishable characterization should clearly distinguish between Rose’s proposal and the scientific consensus. It is a personal grand-systems framework seeking to unify physics, biology, complexity, information, and consciousness around the idea that existence is fundamentally relational, communicative, and organizationally continuous across scales.

[[Category: Systems Theories]]
[[Category: Systems Theories by James N Rose]]

Integrity Paradigm by James N (Jamie) Rose

2026-05-13T07:26:01Z

Laouris: Created and populated page

SIG: Systemic Dialogue

2026-05-08T08:18:08Z

Laouris:

{{ISSS_SIG
|title= Systemic Dialogue
|image=SIG_Logo.png
|start_year=2025
|end_year=
|chair=[[Yiannis Laouris]]
|secretary=[[Kevin Dye]]<br>[[Marcus Hallside]]
|key_domains=Key Domains
|notable_achievements=Notable Achievements
|links=External Links
}}

The '''Systemic Dialogue''' [[Special Integration Group]] was launched in the beginning of 2025

==Focus of the Action Research SIG==
The Systemic Dialogue SIG is dedicated to advancing participatory methodologies and enhancing the role of structured deliberation in democratic decision-making. Its creation responds to the growing need for a forum where systems science methodologies can be explored, refined, and applied to complex societal challenges.
At its core, this SIG promotes structured, systemic dialogue—a methodical approach that fosters equitable participation, deepens collective insights, and strengthens democratic engagement at both local and global levels. The term "systemic" reflects the need for methodologies and modeling techniques that structure and guide dialogue toward meaningful, actionable and impactful outcomes.

By integrating and cross-referencing diverse systems methodologies, the SIG aims to develop synergistic approaches for managing complex societal challenges. The group will investigate how different systems thinking methodologies can inform, supplement, and enhance each other in decision-making and conflict resolution processes.

==Key Activities==

* 2026: [[SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)]]

==Links to other Organizations==
The Systemic Dialogue SIG collaborates closely with the [[Institute for 21st Century Agoras]].

==Chairs, Members and Reading Materials==
The founder of the '''Systemic Dialogue''' [[Special Integration Group]] is [[Yiannis Laouris]].

===Members===
* [[Gerald Midgley]]
* [[Gary Metcalf]]
* [[Norma Romm]]
* [[Peter Tuddenham]]
* [[Peter Hayward Jones]]
* [[Allenna Leonard]]
* [[Kevin Dye]]
* [[Tom Flanagan]]
* [[Michele Friend]]
* [[Marcus Hallside]]
* [[Marios Michaelides]]
* [[Demitrios Varsos]]
* [[Marilia Charonitaki]]
* [[Kirk Weigand]]
* [[Nikitas Assimakopoulos]]

===Reading Materials===

===Links to videos===
Below are links to videos from discussion sessions attended by ISSS members.

[[Category:SIGs]]

SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

2026-05-08T07:57:56Z

Laouris: added text

Reimagining Our World Systemically
From Problématique to Purposeful Action
A Structured Democratic Dialogue for Leaders, Thinkers, and Changemakers

==Overview==
More than half a century after the Club of Rome introduced the Global Problématique, humanity faces an even more tightly interwoven web of ecological, geopolitical, technological, economic, and social pressures. What the Club of Rome described in the 1970s has since accelerated into what many now call a polycrisis: a condition where multiple crises interact and amplify one another, making both diagnosis and intervention increasingly difficult. In this context, the need to update our understanding of the Problématique and to revisit the systemic approaches required to address it has become urgent. The “Reimagining Our World Systemically: From Problématique to Purposeful Action” aspires to address this challenge and advocate that there must be no limits to hope. Central to this effort is SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals): strengthening the means of implementation by enabling intensive collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and regions, and by working explicitly with the interdependencies among the SDGs.
Organizers
* [[International Society for the Systems Sciences]] ([[SIG: Systemic Dialogue]]; [[SIG: Balancing Individualism and Collectivism]]; [[SIG: Students]])
* [[Institute for 21st Century Agoras]] (Global Agoras)
* [[International Federation for Systems Research]]
* [[Future Worlds Center]]
* Endorsed by the [[Club of Rome]]
* Under the auspices of the Cyprus Office of the Commissioner for the Citizen
* Under the auspices of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Jan–Jun 2026)

==Project Overview==
Phase 1: Virtual Sessions (Mar–Apr 2026)
Five to six (2-hour) online sessions, utilizing the structured dialogic design process (widely known as Structured Democratic Dialogue: SDD), devoted to revisiting and updating the global Problématique, with explicit attention to SDG interdependencies and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Up to 30 participants will work collectively to:
i. Surface the continuous critical problems humanity faces today by responding to the Triggering Question:
What are the most critical obstacles that humanity needs to address in the next few years to ensure a sustainable and just future?
ii. Clarify their meanings and cluster them into themes, thus developing a shared language and mental model
iii. Explore the influence relations among the challenges culminating in the construction of a visual map that highlights which obstacles addressed will most likely have the greatest influence on transforming the system.

This preparatory work ensures that all contributors construct a common framing and a deeper appreciation of the complexity involved, thereby being better prepared to propose essential systemic actions, which is the focus of phase 2.
Phase 2: Face-to-face (Jun 29 – 30, 2026; after the 70th ISSS Conference)
The initiative culminates in a two-day summit in Cyprus, which will engage about 24 participants, mostly representatives from Phase 1, as well as a few other leading systems scientists and some senior policymakers from across Europe and beyond. The June dialogue seeks to answer a guiding, action-oriented question regarding the influence map of obstacles generated in Phase 1. The Triggering Question for this phase is:
What essential actions can humanity take in the next decade to build a resilient, fair, peace-capable, and future-fit world system?
Participants will again use the SDD methodology to generate and explore actions, cluster and explore their interdependencies, and finally co-design a shared structural map of priorities; a blueprint for guiding action that can inform policy, research agendas, institutional reforms, partnership strategies, and broader societal mobilization. The aim is not incremental improvement but a coherent systemic architecture for thriving planetary futures. The Cyprus convening is designed as a catalytic starting point rather than a concluding milestone, initiating a longer-term global process of follow-on dialogues, regional replications, and sustained SDG-17-aligned partnerships. Its results will be stewarded through an expanding international network committed to translating systemic insight into coordinated implementation.

==Method==
The process follows the rigorous methodology of SDD; a globally applied, transdisciplinary method used for peacebuilding, governance reform, conflict transformation, and large-scale futures design. SDD is grounded in:
# Systems science and complexity theory
# Dialogic design principles
# Equitable participation, cognitive diversity, and partnership building (SDG 17)
# Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) to map interdependencies
# Collective intelligence processes that reveal “deep drivers” of systemic change

The method creates a safe, intellectually rich environment where every participant contributes to the shared model, regardless of status, discipline, or political position. It is designed to prevent domination, groupthink, rhetorical persuasion, or power asymmetry.

==Expected Results, Outputs, Outcomes, and Legacy==
# A co-created Influence Map showing systemic relationships among key challenges (Phase 1) and key actions (Phase 2); a structural map as a partnership/implementation blueprint (who needs to coordinate with whom, across what dependencies).
# Strategic recommendations tailored to political, institutional, and civil-society audiences.
# Input into the ISSS 2026 post-conference activities on planetary governance and systemic action.
# The results are intended to serve as a reference architecture for governments, international organizations, and civil-society networks to strengthen SDG implementation partnerships (SDG 17).
# Catalyze SDG 17-aligned alliances, research programs, and policy initiatives; a long-term platform for systemic governance innovation.
# A narrative summary, appropriate for audiences worldwide, in the form of a final report/white paper.

==Why This Matters==
Most global initiatives fail not because of a lack of knowledge, but because: institutions are siloed; disciplines do not dialogue; political incentives are short-term; complexity overwhelms decision-makers; and public trust in governance continues to erode. This initiative directly addresses these gaps by enabling: a shared understanding of system interdependencies (including SDG linkages); SDG 17-ready cross-sector partnerships grounded in science and practicality; actionable priorities that withstand political realities; and a unifying narrative for a future-fit planetary civilization. The dialogue brings together those who think about whole systems and those who shape them — a rare but necessary collaboration.
This work is part of the broader mission of the International Society for the Systems Sciences to elevate systems thinking into real-world action at a decisive moment for humanity.

== Part 1: Problématique==

Below are liks to all Problématique sessions.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181664092 |350|left|Introductions}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1176119010 |350|center|Idea Generation}}
<br />

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181642844 |350|left|Categorization Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190385406 |350|center|Categorization Part 2}}
<br />

{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384289 |350|left|Mapping Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384285 |350|center|Mapping Part 2}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384287 |350|right|Mapping Part 3}}

<br />

== Part 1: Purposeful Action==
Below are links to all Action sessions.

SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World (2026)

2026-05-08T07:54:03Z

Laouris: Laouris moved page SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World (2026) to SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

#REDIRECT [[SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)]]

SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

2026-05-08T07:54:03Z

Laouris: Laouris moved page SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World (2026) to SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

Reimagining Our World Systemically
From Problématique to Purposeful Action
A Structured Democratic Dialogue for Leaders, Thinkers, and Changemakers
Overview
More than half a century after the Club of Rome introduced the Global Problématique, humanity faces an even more tightly interwoven web of ecological, geopolitical, technological, economic, and social pressures. What the Club of Rome described in the 1970s has since accelerated into what many now call a polycrisis: a condition where multiple crises interact and amplify one another, making both diagnosis and intervention increasingly difficult. In this context, the need to update our understanding of the Problématique and to revisit the systemic approaches required to address it has become urgent. The “Reimagining Our World Systemically: From Problématique to Purposeful Action” aspires to address this challenge and advocate that there must be no limits to hope. Central to this effort is SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals): strengthening the means of implementation by enabling intensive collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and regions, and by working explicitly with the interdependencies among the SDGs.
Organizers
• International Society for the Systems Sciences (SIG: Systemic Dialogue; SIG: Balancing Individualism and Collectivism; SIG: Students)
• Institute for 21st Century Agoras (Global Agoras)
• International Federation for Systems Research
• Future Worlds Center
• Endorsed by the Club of Rome
• Under the auspices of the Cyprus Office of the Commissioner for the Citizen
• Under the auspices of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Jan–Jun 2026)
Project Overview
Phase 1: Virtual Sessions (Mar–Apr 2026)
Five to six (2-hour) online sessions, utilizing the structured dialogic design process (widely known as Structured Democratic Dialogue: SDD), devoted to revisiting and updating the global Problématique, with explicit attention to SDG interdependencies and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Up to 30 participants will work collectively to:
i. Surface the continuous critical problems humanity faces today by responding to the Triggering Question:
What are the most critical obstacles that humanity needs to address in the next few years to ensure a sustainable and just future?
ii. Clarify their meanings and cluster them into themes, thus developing a shared language and mental model
iii. Explore the influence relations among the challenges culminating in the construction of a visual map that highlights which obstacles addressed will most likely have the greatest influence on transforming the system.

This preparatory work ensures that all contributors construct a common framing and a deeper appreciation of the complexity involved, thereby being better prepared to propose essential systemic actions, which is the focus of phase 2.
Phase 2: Face-to-face (Jun 29 – 30, 2026; after the 70th ISSS Conference)
The initiative culminates in a two-day summit in Cyprus, which will engage about 24 participants, mostly representatives from Phase 1, as well as a few other leading systems scientists and some senior policymakers from across Europe and beyond. The June dialogue seeks to answer a guiding, action-oriented question regarding the influence map of obstacles generated in Phase 1. The Triggering Question for this phase is:
What essential actions can humanity take in the next decade to build a resilient, fair, peace-capable, and future-fit world system?
Participants will again use the SDD methodology to generate and explore actions, cluster and explore their interdependencies, and finally co-design a shared structural map of priorities; a blueprint for guiding action that can inform policy, research agendas, institutional reforms, partnership strategies, and broader societal mobilization. The aim is not incremental improvement but a coherent systemic architecture for thriving planetary futures. The Cyprus convening is designed as a catalytic starting point rather than a concluding milestone, initiating a longer-term global process of follow-on dialogues, regional replications, and sustained SDG-17-aligned partnerships. Its results will be stewarded through an expanding international network committed to translating systemic insight into coordinated implementation.
Method
The process follows the rigorous methodology of SDD; a globally applied, transdisciplinary method used for peacebuilding, governance reform, conflict transformation, and large-scale futures design. SDD is grounded in:
1. Systems science and complexity theory
2. Dialogic design principles
3. Equitable participation, cognitive diversity, and partnership building (SDG 17)
4. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) to map interdependencies
5. Collective intelligence processes that reveal “deep drivers” of systemic change
The method creates a safe, intellectually rich environment where every participant contributes to the shared model, regardless of status, discipline, or political position. It is designed to prevent domination, groupthink, rhetorical persuasion, or power asymmetry.
Expected Results, Outputs, Outcomes, and Legacy
1. A co-created Influence Map showing systemic relationships among key challenges (Phase 1) and key actions (Phase 2); a structural map as a partnership/implementation blueprint (who needs to coordinate with whom, across what dependencies).
2. Strategic recommendations tailored to political, institutional, and civil-society audiences.
3. Input into the ISSS 2026 post-conference activities on planetary governance and systemic action.
4. The results are intended to serve as a reference architecture for governments, international organizations, and civil-society networks to strengthen SDG implementation partnerships (SDG 17).
5. Catalyze SDG 17-aligned alliances, research programs, and policy initiatives; a long-term platform for systemic governance innovation.
6. A narrative summary, appropriate for audiences worldwide, in the form of a final report/white paper.
Why This Matters
Most global initiatives fail not because of a lack of knowledge, but because: institutions are siloed; disciplines do not dialogue; political incentives are short-term; complexity overwhelms decision-makers; and public trust in governance continues to erode. This initiative directly addresses these gaps by enabling: a shared understanding of system interdependencies (including SDG linkages); SDG 17-ready cross-sector partnerships grounded in science and practicality; actionable priorities that withstand political realities; and a unifying narrative for a future-fit planetary civilization. The dialogue brings together those who think about whole systems and those who shape them — a rare but necessary collaboration.
This work is part of the broader mission of the International Society for the Systems Sciences to elevate systems thinking into real-world action at a decisive moment for humanity.

Below are liks to all sessions.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181664092 |350|left|Introductions}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1176119010 |350|center|Idea Generation}}
<br />

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181642844 |350|left|Categorization Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190385406 |350|center|Categorization Part 2}}
<br />

{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384289 |350|left|Mapping Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384285 |350|center|Mapping Part 2}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384287 |350|right|Mapping Part 3}}

<br />

SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

2026-05-08T07:53:39Z

Laouris:

SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

2026-05-08T07:52:12Z

Laouris: Added links to Zoom sessions

Below are liks to all sessions.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181664092 |350|left|Introductions}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1176119010 |350|center|Idea Generation}}
<br />

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181642844 |350|left|Categorization Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190385406 |350|center|Categorization Part 2}}
<br />

{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384289 |350|left|Mapping Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384285 |350|center|Mapping Part 2}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384287 |350|right|Mapping Part 3}}

<br />

SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

2026-05-08T07:47:22Z

Laouris:

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181664092 |350|left|Introductions}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1176119010 |350|center|Idea Generation}}
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{{#ev:vimeo| 1181642844 |350|left|Categorization Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190385406 |350|center|Categorization Part 2}}
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{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384289 |350|left|Mapping Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384285 |350|center|Mapping Part 2}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384287 |350|right|Mapping Part 3}}

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SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

2026-05-08T07:45:54Z

Laouris:

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181664092 |350|left|Introductions}}

{{#ev:vimeo| 1176119010 |350|center|Idea Generation}}

{{#ev:vimeo| 1181642844 |350|right|Categorization Part 1}}

{{#ev:vimeo| 1190385406 |350|left|Categorization Part 2}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384289 |350|center|Mapping Part 1}}
{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384285 |350|right|Mapping Part 2}}

{{#ev:vimeo| 1190384287 |350|left|Mapping Part 3}}

SIG Systemic Dialogue - Reimagining our World Systemically (2026)

2026-05-08T07:35:52Z

Laouris: Page created

https://vimeo.com/1181664092 Introductions

https://vimeo.com/1176119010 Idea Generation

https://vimeo.com/1181642844 Categorization Part 1

https://vimeo.com/1190385406 Categorization Part 2

https://vimeo.com/1190384289 Mapping Part 1

https://vimeo.com/1190384285 Mapping Part 2

https://vimeo.com/1190384287 Mapping Part 3

Mini Symposium 2026 04 29 Harry Anastasiou

2026-05-05T09:59:54Z

Laouris: added vimeo link

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Harry_Anastasiou.jpg
| name=[[Harry Anastasiou]]
| title=Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World
| date=Apr 29, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1187852549
}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World</span>

==Abstract==
The trajectory from modernity to postmodernity, spanning from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century to the contemporary digital era, has been characterized by techno-scientific advances which structurally intertwined the local, the national, the international and the global into tightly interlinked socio-technical systems. These developments created powerful novel phenomena and historical dynamics that can no longer be contained or managed unilaterally by individuals, communities or nation-states. Across domains, the major structures and processes shaping our world increasingly disclose systemic interconnections, interdependencies, and feedback loops, where linear causality breaks down, effects fold back into causes, and space and time appear to implode. Developments in science, technology, industry, finance, energy, communications, politics, ideology, culture, and security unfold within complex, co-evolving global systems, producing patterns that are emergent, non-linear, and often unintended. At the same time, these expanding interconnectivities also collide with traditional nationalism and ethnocentrism precisely as nationalist paradigms reassert themselves at the forefront of history and geopolitics. This creates a growing mismatch between the scale at which problems emerge and the scale at which governance and decision-making remain organized. Within this globalizing techno-systemic landscape human beings find themselves in a precarious situation, as emerging concentrations of economic, technological, and informational power eclipse both citizen agency and the capacity of traditional institutions of democratic representation. This condition raises a set of pressing systemic questions: How can human agency be re-constituted at a scale commensurate with global interconnections and interdependencies? What does this imply for democratic governance, peace, and justice in complex societies? And how can the interdisciplinary tools of systems science—drawing on concepts such as emergence, feedback, adaptation, and participatory design, among others—be mobilized to render our complex and conflicted world more intelligible and to support strategic forms of collective action capable of reinforcing human agency?

{{#ev:vimeo| 1187852549 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Harry Anastasiou is professor of International Peace and Conflict Studies and former Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at Portland State University, USA. He has taught, published and lectured widely on nationalism, ethnic conflict, tech-nationalism, multi-dimensional peacebuilding, and international peace and conflict issues. In his lectures and publications he has addressed the worldwide relapse of ethnocentric and bellicose nationalism and its effects on democracy, human rights, the rule of law and international relations, with particular attention on the implications for peace and security. Building on his experience as a peace and conflict studies scholar and practitioner, Anastasiou has served and contributed to numerous civil society organizations engaged in peacebuilding initiatives, facilitation and mediation. Professor Anastasiou has been an invited lecturer for the “Great Decisions” series of the World Affairs Council, as well as for The International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State, among others. He has also served as an invited consultant to the U.S. Department of State on issues pertinent to the Eastern Mediterranean.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Harry Anastasiou]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 04 29 Harry Anastasiou

2026-04-27T07:43:14Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Harry_Anastasiou.jpg
| name=[[Harry Anastasiou]]
| title=Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World
| date=Apr 29, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/XXXXX}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World</span>

==Abstract==
The trajectory from modernity to postmodernity, spanning from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century to the contemporary digital era, has been characterized by techno-scientific advances which structurally intertwined the local, the national, the international and the global into tightly interlinked socio-technical systems. These developments created powerful novel phenomena and historical dynamics that can no longer be contained or managed unilaterally by individuals, communities or nation-states. Across domains, the major structures and processes shaping our world increasingly disclose systemic interconnections, interdependencies, and feedback loops, where linear causality breaks down, effects fold back into causes, and space and time appear to implode. Developments in science, technology, industry, finance, energy, communications, politics, ideology, culture, and security unfold within complex, co-evolving global systems, producing patterns that are emergent, non-linear, and often unintended. At the same time, these expanding interconnectivities also collide with traditional nationalism and ethnocentrism precisely as nationalist paradigms reassert themselves at the forefront of history and geopolitics. This creates a growing mismatch between the scale at which problems emerge and the scale at which governance and decision-making remain organized. Within this globalizing techno-systemic landscape human beings find themselves in a precarious situation, as emerging concentrations of economic, technological, and informational power eclipse both citizen agency and the capacity of traditional institutions of democratic representation. This condition raises a set of pressing systemic questions: How can human agency be re-constituted at a scale commensurate with global interconnections and interdependencies? What does this imply for democratic governance, peace, and justice in complex societies? And how can the interdisciplinary tools of systems science—drawing on concepts such as emergence, feedback, adaptation, and participatory design, among others—be mobilized to render our complex and conflicted world more intelligible and to support strategic forms of collective action capable of reinforcing human agency?

{{#ev:vimeo|XXXX |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Harry Anastasiou is professor of International Peace and Conflict Studies and former Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at Portland State University, USA. He has taught, published and lectured widely on nationalism, ethnic conflict, tech-nationalism, multi-dimensional peacebuilding, and international peace and conflict issues. In his lectures and publications he has addressed the worldwide relapse of ethnocentric and bellicose nationalism and its effects on democracy, human rights, the rule of law and international relations, with particular attention on the implications for peace and security. Building on his experience as a peace and conflict studies scholar and practitioner, Anastasiou has served and contributed to numerous civil society organizations engaged in peacebuilding initiatives, facilitation and mediation. Professor Anastasiou has been an invited lecturer for the “Great Decisions” series of the World Affairs Council, as well as for The International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State, among others. He has also served as an invited consultant to the U.S. Department of State on issues pertinent to the Eastern Mediterranean.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Harry Anastasiou]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

File:Harry Anastasiou.jpg

2026-04-27T07:42:48Z

Laouris:

Mini Symposium 2026 04 29 Harry Anastasiou

2026-04-27T07:41:17Z

Laouris: Created and populated page

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= AndreasNicolaides.jpg
| name=[[Harry Anastasiou]]
| title=Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World
| date=Apr 8, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/XXXXX}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World</span>

==Abstract==
The trajectory from modernity to postmodernity, spanning from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century to the contemporary digital era, has been characterized by techno-scientific advances which structurally intertwined the local, the national, the international and the global into tightly interlinked socio-technical systems. These developments created powerful novel phenomena and historical dynamics that can no longer be contained or managed unilaterally by individuals, communities or nation-states. Across domains, the major structures and processes shaping our world increasingly disclose systemic interconnections, interdependencies, and feedback loops, where linear causality breaks down, effects fold back into causes, and space and time appear to implode. Developments in science, technology, industry, finance, energy, communications, politics, ideology, culture, and security unfold within complex, co-evolving global systems, producing patterns that are emergent, non-linear, and often unintended. At the same time, these expanding interconnectivities also collide with traditional nationalism and ethnocentrism precisely as nationalist paradigms reassert themselves at the forefront of history and geopolitics. This creates a growing mismatch between the scale at which problems emerge and the scale at which governance and decision-making remain organized. Within this globalizing techno-systemic landscape human beings find themselves in a precarious situation, as emerging concentrations of economic, technological, and informational power eclipse both citizen agency and the capacity of traditional institutions of democratic representation. This condition raises a set of pressing systemic questions: How can human agency be re-constituted at a scale commensurate with global interconnections and interdependencies? What does this imply for democratic governance, peace, and justice in complex societies? And how can the interdisciplinary tools of systems science—drawing on concepts such as emergence, feedback, adaptation, and participatory design, among others—be mobilized to render our complex and conflicted world more intelligible and to support strategic forms of collective action capable of reinforcing human agency?

{{#ev:vimeo|XXXX |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Harry Anastasiou is professor of International Peace and Conflict Studies and former Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at Portland State University, USA. He has taught, published and lectured widely on nationalism, ethnic conflict, tech-nationalism, multi-dimensional peacebuilding, and international peace and conflict issues. In his lectures and publications he has addressed the worldwide relapse of ethnocentric and bellicose nationalism and its effects on democracy, human rights, the rule of law and international relations, with particular attention on the implications for peace and security. Building on his experience as a peace and conflict studies scholar and practitioner, Anastasiou has served and contributed to numerous civil society organizations engaged in peacebuilding initiatives, facilitation and mediation. Professor Anastasiou has been an invited lecturer for the “Great Decisions” series of the World Affairs Council, as well as for The International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State, among others. He has also served as an invited consultant to the U.S. Department of State on issues pertinent to the Eastern Mediterranean.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Harry Anastasiou]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

File:Barbara Widhalm Profile.jpg

2026-04-27T07:39:02Z

Laouris:

Mini Symposium 2026 05 27 Barbara Widhalm,

2026-04-27T07:38:46Z

Laouris: Created and populated page

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Barbara_Widhalm_Profile.jpg
| name=[[Barbara Widhalm]]
| title=The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between
| date=May 27, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/XXXX}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between</span>

==Abstract==
Our relationship lives in the space between us. It doesn’t live in me or in you or even in the dialogue between the two of us. It lives in the space we live together and that space is sacred space.
—Martin Buber

More than ever, the world needs spaces where people cultivate trust to connect across differences, to listen for what’s at the “heart of the matter” in the group, and to attune to a mutual, caring field.

In this mini symposium, I will invite dialog on holding space in academic and non-academic settings. Together, we will consider:

· What does holding space mean in our communities of practice?
· How can holding space support bridge-building, self-organizing, and co-creative capacities?
· What’s your special sauce in holding space?

My interest in holding space is grounded in my transdisciplinary framework for designing collaborative learning experiences as living systems, as well as in my praxis of nurturing affective intelligence in groups.

The importance of tending to space has been theorized in the transformative learning and adult learning literature, in the healing and therapeutic arts, in ritual design, as well as in systemic group facilitation practices (such as approaches developed by the International Bateson Institute, Center for Systems Awareness, the Art of Hosting, and Universidade Biocêntrica).

In our discussion, I will introduce several space-holding qualities I have identified. I will then offer examples from my teaching practice, including a module in an asynchronous community college course, called the We-Ro’s Journey (elevating the hero’s journey to a collective We).

As part of our shared exploration, I will invite some co-creative experiential group processes, as well.

{{#ev:vimeo|xxxx |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Barbara Widhalm is an adult educator committed to teaching students with multiple barriers to learning and to facilitating cohort-based adult education graduate programs.

Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, she serves as faculty at Peralta Community College District in Oakland, CA (Humanities, Critical Thinking, Learning Resources) and at St. Mary’s College of California (Bachelors Completion Program in Leadership Studies, Master of Leadership Studies).

Her teaching philosophy blends transformative learning theory, ecological design, living systems awareness, and affective intelligence. Her research focuses on designing collaborative learning communities that foster collective wisdom in hybrid, face-to-face, and online formats. In her dissertation research, she developed a framework for designing learning experiences as self-organizing living systems, inspired by the principles of living systems as articulated by Fritjof Capra. Her Journal of Sustainability Education article “Educators as Architects of Living Systems” has been cited widely, including in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Barbara current research interest focuses on the art of holding space and fostering affective intelligence in learning communities (see ISSS Proceedings 2025).

She holds a doctorate in Transformative Learning, a Masters in Community and Regional Planning and pursued undergraduate studies in languages, ecology, and environmental economics in Austria and Russia. Barbara has benefited from multiple systemic facilitation styles, including the practice of Freirean culture circles and the affective intelligence approach as articulated by the Universidade Biocêntrica in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Originally from Vienna, Austria, she also operates a small Austrian community bakery and enjoys hosting collaborative dialog cafés.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Barbara Widhalm]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 8 Andreas Nicolaides

2026-04-27T07:35:41Z

Laouris: Laouris moved page Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 8 Andreas Nicolaides to Mini Symposium 2026 04 08 Andreas Nicolaides: Alphabetic ordering

#REDIRECT [[Mini Symposium 2026 04 08 Andreas Nicolaides]]

Mini Symposium 2026 04 08 Andreas Nicolaides

2026-04-27T07:35:41Z

Laouris: Laouris moved page Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 8 Andreas Nicolaides to Mini Symposium 2026 04 08 Andreas Nicolaides: Alphabetic ordering

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= AndreasNicolaides.jpg
| name=[[Andreas Nicolaides]]
| title=Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis
| date=Apr 8, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1181357175}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis</span>

==Abstract==
Darwin’s On the Origin of Species left unresolved the problem named in its title: how new species arise. The Modern Synthesis, though uniting Mendelian genetics with natural selection, has produced no coherent theory of speciation. Instead, evolutionary biology has accumulated a patchwork of mechanisms, often treating anomalies—such as long periods of evolutionary stasis, apparently sudden transformations, reticulated phylogenies (branching complicated by cross-lineage gene flow), and recurrent hybridisation (interbreeding between distinct lineages)—as exceptions rather than signals of a deeper order.

This presentation introduces the Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis: the claim that speciation is not the incidental by-product of auxiliary processes linked to natural selection, but is structured by higher-order regulatory systems, encoded in the germline, that govern the mode and tempo of evolution. These are not fixed typological essences but dynamic, multi-scale architectures intrinsic to life’s organisation. Framed within the broader perspective of Genomic Essentialism, the hypothesis advances the view that biological organisation is driven by genomic programmes that are constitutive of life itself, rather than by emergent properties alone.

Four systemic functions illustrate this architecture:

#Initiators: timers and triggers that delimit and precipitate transformation, including tandem-repeat turnover, germline resets, hybridisation, duplication, and viral invasion.
# Generators: mechanisms that expand and rewire genomic material, such as bursts of transposons, endogenous retroviruses, segmental duplications, retrocopying, and 3-D architectural change.
# Coordinators: processes that synchronise transformations across populations, including viral and symbiotic dynamics and germline programmes that align thresholds.
# Stabilisers: systems that preserve lineage coherence, such as centromeric divergence with drive suppression, piRNA surveillance, inversions, supergenes, imprinting, and incompatibility complexes.

These functions do not direct development itself but transform the regulatory logic that structures it. In this sense, the system constitutes a meta-programme: a higher-order genomic architecture that converts existing developmental programmes into novel ones, linking organisms across space and time. Crucially, they also resolve the anomalies: stasis reflects stability maintained by stabilisers, sudden transformations occur when initiators cross thresholds, reticulated histories arise from coordinating processes across lineages, and hybrid dysfunction stems from divergence in stabilising systems.

On this basis, the hypothesis yields distinctive predictions: genomic turnover should track clade-specific tempos of speciation; bursts of mobile elements and duplications should cluster around radiation events; shared viral or symbiotic agents should generate concordant genomic change; and hybrid dysfunction should correlate with divergence in coherence-preserving systems. Evolutionary anomalies, on this view, are not noise but signatures of a genomic meta-programme in action.

{{#ev:vimeo|1181357175 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Andreas Nicolaides studied Medicine at Manchester University (1982) and Philosophy at London University (2024). He is currently employed part-time at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as a Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon and is affiliated with Hull York Medical School as an Honorary Senior Lecturer.

He has had a lifelong interest in evolutionary theory, which he has pursued independently of his clinical work. This has led him to advance a systems biology approach to the anomalies of speciation at the molecular level. Through this, he has developed the idea of Genomic Essentialism, based on the Constitutive Genomic Programmes hypothesis: systems-level regulatory architectures encoded in all genomes that direct both the reliable unfolding of embryonic development and the patterned transformation of species.
This project has firm foundations in the naturalised teleology of Aristotle, which recognised the purposiveness of organisms but lacked a mechanism to parallel that of natural selection. By showing how genomic programmes act through well-recognised regulatory pathways, Genomic Essentialism supports an internalist explanation of life’s organisation that subsumes, rather than denies, the externalism of natural selection.

Dr Nicolaides draws on sources from classical philosophy, evolutionary theory, and molecular biology to argue that life’s anomalies — such as episodic bursts in the fossil record, synchrony in molecular evolution, and the peculiar molecular logic observed in the germline — only make sense when understood as parts of an integrated programme. His work aims to bring together systems science, genomics, and philosophy in order to offer a unifying account of life’s organisation.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Andreas Nicolaides]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 04 22 - Kevin Dye

2026-04-23T10:30:49Z

Laouris: /* Abstract */

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Kevin Dye Portrait in MIT Sloan School Red Bow Tie.jpg
| name=[[Kevin Dye]]
| title=Generative AI in Modeling
| date=Apr 22, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1185665004}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Generative AI in Modeling"</span>

==Abstract==
Examples of the use of Large Language Models to support and simulate Structured Deliberations will be presented. This includes the production of [[Interpretive Structural Models]], [[Causal Loop Diagrams]], [[Text Visualization]], and [[Conversation Analysis]]. A current application case study, hosted by the [[ISSS]] (SIG: Systemic Dialogue]], [[IFSR]], [[Club of Rome]], [[Global Agoras]] and [[Future Worlds Center]] called Reimaging Our World will focus the discussion.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1185665004 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Kevin designs and facilitates interdisciplinary, stakeholder-based, structured deliberations regarding policy, planning and design of collaborative initiatives. Over a 40 year career he completed projects in: a Global Disease Elimination Program with the World Health Organization; rapprochement through Economic Integration and Education Reform with Turkish and Greek Cypriots; Economic Development for Peace initiatives in Northern Ireland and Mexico; Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era in the Middle East for the UN Democracy Fund; launching new scientific fields in Green Chemistry, Patient Safety, and Regulatory Science with the US Food & Drug Administration; projecting the Future of Energy Efficiency for the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.; Sustainable Coastal Tourism in Cyprus and Denmark; R&D Strategic Planning in the Pharmaceutical sector, Mental Health services on the Internet; the Future of Autonomous Systems and Integration of Electronic and Cyber-warfare for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories. He co-founded two software companies in Decision Support Systems and led the introduction of Computer Aided Engineering and Knowledge Based Systems in Otis Elevator. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was sponsored as a Sloan Visiting Fellow at MIT.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Kevin Dye]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 04 22 - Kevin Dye

2026-04-23T10:20:51Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Kevin Dye Portrait in MIT Sloan School Red Bow Tie.jpg
| name=[[Kevin Dye]]
| title=Generative AI in Modeling
| date=Apr 22, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1185665004}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Generative AI in Modeling"</span>

==Abstract==
Examples of the use of Large Language Models to support and simulate Structured Deliberations will be presented. This includes the production of Interpretive Structural Models, Causal Loop Diagrams, Text Visualization, and Conversation Analysis. A current application case study, hosted by the ISSS and Future Worlds Center called Reimaging Our World will focus the discussion.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1185665004 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Kevin designs and facilitates interdisciplinary, stakeholder-based, structured deliberations regarding policy, planning and design of collaborative initiatives. Over a 40 year career he completed projects in: a Global Disease Elimination Program with the World Health Organization; rapprochement through Economic Integration and Education Reform with Turkish and Greek Cypriots; Economic Development for Peace initiatives in Northern Ireland and Mexico; Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era in the Middle East for the UN Democracy Fund; launching new scientific fields in Green Chemistry, Patient Safety, and Regulatory Science with the US Food & Drug Administration; projecting the Future of Energy Efficiency for the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.; Sustainable Coastal Tourism in Cyprus and Denmark; R&D Strategic Planning in the Pharmaceutical sector, Mental Health services on the Internet; the Future of Autonomous Systems and Integration of Electronic and Cyber-warfare for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories. He co-founded two software companies in Decision Support Systems and led the introduction of Computer Aided Engineering and Knowledge Based Systems in Otis Elevator. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was sponsored as a Sloan Visiting Fellow at MIT.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Kevin Dye]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 04 22 - Kevin Dye

2026-04-23T10:19:48Z

Laouris: Created and populated page

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= ZaidKhan.png
| name=[[Zaid Khan]]
| title=Generative AI in Modeling
| date=Mar 25, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1185665004}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Generative AI in Modeling"</span>

==Abstract==
Examples of the use of Large Language Models to support and simulate Structured Deliberations will be presented. This includes the production of Interpretive Structural Models, Causal Loop Diagrams, Text Visualization, and Conversation Analysis. A current application case study, hosted by the ISSS and Future Worlds Center called Reimaging Our World will focus the discussion.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1185665004 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
Kevin designs and facilitates interdisciplinary, stakeholder-based, structured deliberations regarding policy, planning and design of collaborative initiatives. Over a 40 year career he completed projects in: a Global Disease Elimination Program with the World Health Organization; rapprochement through Economic Integration and Education Reform with Turkish and Greek Cypriots; Economic Development for Peace initiatives in Northern Ireland and Mexico; Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era in the Middle East for the UN Democracy Fund; launching new scientific fields in Green Chemistry, Patient Safety, and Regulatory Science with the US Food & Drug Administration; projecting the Future of Energy Efficiency for the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.; Sustainable Coastal Tourism in Cyprus and Denmark; R&D Strategic Planning in the Pharmaceutical sector, Mental Health services on the Internet; the Future of Autonomous Systems and Integration of Electronic and Cyber-warfare for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories. He co-founded two software companies in Decision Support Systems and led the introduction of Computer Aided Engineering and Knowledge Based Systems in Otis Elevator. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was sponsored as a Sloan Visiting Fellow at MIT.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Kevin Dye]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 1 - Charles Hall and Timothy McWhirter

2026-04-13T17:01:04Z

Laouris: edited title, photo and PDF

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Hall_McWhirter.png
| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]
| title= Energy and Evolution: A Systems Approach
| date=Apr 1, 2026
| presentation= Webinar_Hall_and_McWhirter_ISSS_Final.pdf
| link=https://vimeo.com/1179359909}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Energy and Evolution: A Systems Approach </span>

==Abstract==
Some scientists have argued that evolutionary biology is poised for a third major synthesis. In the first synthesis, Darwin conceptualized and presented evidence for his evolutionary theory. The second used genetic mechanisms to explain how evolution worked. The third is based on energy. In the wake of Boltzmann’s work, a thermodynamic school of evolutionary theory has emerged, offering a number of principles alleged to guide evolutionary development. These include the principle of maximum energy flux, the maximum power principle, the minimum entropy production principle, the maximum entropy production principle, the constructal law, the maximum efficiency principle, and the equal fitness paradigm. Collectively, these principles have sometimes been described as contradictory, disunited, local, and as referring to apples and oranges. So far, different scientists have championed their principle of choice and argued that it is more “accurate” or more “general” than the other principles. In some cases, scientists have used straw man arguments that portray the other principles inaccurately. This has undermined our ability to understand the relations among these principles. The thesis of this book project is that many of these principles are fundamentally related and interdependent, and we can develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary process if we view this process from a systems perspective, as a property that emerges from the interaction of many different parts. Part of the reason for the different optimality principles scientists have developed is that they focus on different parts of the process: the maximization of power, the production of entropy, the persistence of biodiversity, the evolution of design, etc. These principles provide an ability to predict, and in some cases, explain phenomena in these different parts of the evolutionary process. This book seeks to bring the interaction among these parts of the process into clearer focus by accurately describing the relations among these optimality principles and how they can evolve over time. In the process, we hope to provide a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the role of energy in evolutionary development, which is like listening to only the cellos in Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy when focusing exclusively on one optimality principle. This systems theory of thermodynamic evolution should help to provide a fundamental component of the third major synthesis of evolutionary biology. (383 words)

{{#ev:vimeo| 1179359909 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
[[Charles Hall]] received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina from the great systems ecologist Howard Odum. He has been a research scientist at Brookhaven and Oak Ridge National Laboratories and at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and professor at Cornell University, University of Montana, and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He is the author of 14 books and more than 340 peer-reviewed papers, many in our “best” journals. In his mid-career, he turned his main interests from systems analysis and modeling of the energetics of natural ecosystems to increasingly, human-dominated “economic” systems. He is especially well known within the scientific community for initiating and developing (with colleagues) the concepts of EROI (Energy Return on Investment) and BioPhysical Economics. He is the recipient of many academic awards including the Hubbert Award from the American Society for the Study of Peak Oil and the Lifetime Achievement award from the International Society of BioPhysical Economics. (159 words)

[[Timothy McWhirter]] received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Florida State University. While in graduate school, he published a paper that described the empirical evidence in the contemporary sciences that supported Nietzsche’s principle of the will to power. In 2012, he published a paper on Nietzsche’s critique of morality that described how the will to power appeared to be similar, in important respects, to the maximum power principle developed by H. T. Odum. This was the first published paper that discussed the relation between these two principles. A decade later, he received an email from the ecologist Charles A. S. Hall, who was astonished that he was quoted by a philosopher about the maximum power principle. Since then, they have worked together on a number of projects: the book Maximum Power and its Philosophical Roots, McWhirter as the author and Hall as the editor; they coauthored the paper Maximum Power in Evolution, Ecology, and Economics; and they worked together on a chapter entitled The Equal Fitness Paradigm: a thermodynamic synthesis in evolutionary biology. Their next project is ambitious. They intend to write a book that outlines a systems theory of thermodynamic evolution, which explains the relations between all the different optimality principles that have been described by scientists in the thermodynamic school of evolution. (217 words)

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Charles Hall]]
[[Category: Videos by Timothy McWhirter]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

File:Webinar Hall and McWhirter ISSS Final.pdf

2026-04-13T17:00:39Z

Laouris:

File:Hall McWhirter.png

2026-04-13T16:59:45Z

Laouris:

Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 1 - Charles Hall and Timothy McWhirter

2026-04-09T18:05:36Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Timothy_McWhirter.jpg
| photo= Charles_A_S_Hall.jpg
| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]
| title=The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach
| date=Apr 1, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1179359909}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach"</span>

==Abstract==
Some scientists have argued that evolutionary biology is poised for a third major synthesis. In the first synthesis, Darwin conceptualized and presented evidence for his evolutionary theory. The second used genetic mechanisms to explain how evolution worked. The third is based on energy. In the wake of Boltzmann’s work, a thermodynamic school of evolutionary theory has emerged, offering a number of principles alleged to guide evolutionary development. These include the principle of maximum energy flux, the maximum power principle, the minimum entropy production principle, the maximum entropy production principle, the constructal law, the maximum efficiency principle, and the equal fitness paradigm. Collectively, these principles have sometimes been described as contradictory, disunited, local, and as referring to apples and oranges. So far, different scientists have championed their principle of choice and argued that it is more “accurate” or more “general” than the other principles. In some cases, scientists have used straw man arguments that portray the other principles inaccurately. This has undermined our ability to understand the relations among these principles. The thesis of this book project is that many of these principles are fundamentally related and interdependent, and we can develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary process if we view this process from a systems perspective, as a property that emerges from the interaction of many different parts. Part of the reason for the different optimality principles scientists have developed is that they focus on different parts of the process: the maximization of power, the production of entropy, the persistence of biodiversity, the evolution of design, etc. These principles provide an ability to predict, and in some cases, explain phenomena in these different parts of the evolutionary process. This book seeks to bring the interaction among these parts of the process into clearer focus by accurately describing the relations among these optimality principles and how they can evolve over time. In the process, we hope to provide a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the role of energy in evolutionary development, which is like listening to only the cellos in Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy when focusing exclusively on one optimality principle. This systems theory of thermodynamic evolution should help to provide a fundamental component of the third major synthesis of evolutionary biology. (383 words)

{{#ev:vimeo| 1179359909 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
[[Charles Hall]] received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina from the great systems ecologist Howard Odum. He has been a research scientist at Brookhaven and Oak Ridge National Laboratories and at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and professor at Cornell University, University of Montana, and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He is the author of 14 books and more than 340 peer-reviewed papers, many in our “best” journals. In his mid-career, he turned his main interests from systems analysis and modeling of the energetics of natural ecosystems to increasingly, human-dominated “economic” systems. He is especially well known within the scientific community for initiating and developing (with colleagues) the concepts of EROI (Energy Return on Investment) and BioPhysical Economics. He is the recipient of many academic awards including the Hubbert Award from the American Society for the Study of Peak Oil and the Lifetime Achievement award from the International Society of BioPhysical Economics. (159 words)

[[Timothy McWhirter]] received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Florida State University. While in graduate school, he published a paper that described the empirical evidence in the contemporary sciences that supported Nietzsche’s principle of the will to power. In 2012, he published a paper on Nietzsche’s critique of morality that described how the will to power appeared to be similar, in important respects, to the maximum power principle developed by H. T. Odum. This was the first published paper that discussed the relation between these two principles. A decade later, he received an email from the ecologist Charles A. S. Hall, who was astonished that he was quoted by a philosopher about the maximum power principle. Since then, they have worked together on a number of projects: the book Maximum Power and its Philosophical Roots, McWhirter as the author and Hall as the editor; they coauthored the paper Maximum Power in Evolution, Ecology, and Economics; and they worked together on a chapter entitled The Equal Fitness Paradigm: a thermodynamic synthesis in evolutionary biology. Their next project is ambitious. They intend to write a book that outlines a systems theory of thermodynamic evolution, which explains the relations between all the different optimality principles that have been described by scientists in the thermodynamic school of evolution. (217 words)

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Charles Hall]]
[[Category: Videos by Timothy McWhirter]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 1 - Charles Hall and Timothy McWhirter

2026-04-09T18:04:56Z

Laouris:

{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Timothy_McWhirter.jpg
| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]
| title=The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach
| date=Apr 1, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1179359909}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach"</span>

==Abstract==
Some scientists have argued that evolutionary biology is poised for a third major synthesis. In the first synthesis, Darwin conceptualized and presented evidence for his evolutionary theory. The second used genetic mechanisms to explain how evolution worked. The third is based on energy. In the wake of Boltzmann’s work, a thermodynamic school of evolutionary theory has emerged, offering a number of principles alleged to guide evolutionary development. These include the principle of maximum energy flux, the maximum power principle, the minimum entropy production principle, the maximum entropy production principle, the constructal law, the maximum efficiency principle, and the equal fitness paradigm. Collectively, these principles have sometimes been described as contradictory, disunited, local, and as referring to apples and oranges. So far, different scientists have championed their principle of choice and argued that it is more “accurate” or more “general” than the other principles. In some cases, scientists have used straw man arguments that portray the other principles inaccurately. This has undermined our ability to understand the relations among these principles. The thesis of this book project is that many of these principles are fundamentally related and interdependent, and we can develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary process if we view this process from a systems perspective, as a property that emerges from the interaction of many different parts. Part of the reason for the different optimality principles scientists have developed is that they focus on different parts of the process: the maximization of power, the production of entropy, the persistence of biodiversity, the evolution of design, etc. These principles provide an ability to predict, and in some cases, explain phenomena in these different parts of the evolutionary process. This book seeks to bring the interaction among these parts of the process into clearer focus by accurately describing the relations among these optimality principles and how they can evolve over time. In the process, we hope to provide a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the role of energy in evolutionary development, which is like listening to only the cellos in Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy when focusing exclusively on one optimality principle. This systems theory of thermodynamic evolution should help to provide a fundamental component of the third major synthesis of evolutionary biology. (383 words)

{{#ev:vimeo| 1179359909 |600|left|}}

<div style="clear: both"></div>

==Short Bio==
[[Charles Hall]] received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina from the great systems ecologist Howard Odum. He has been a research scientist at Brookhaven and Oak Ridge National Laboratories and at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and professor at Cornell University, University of Montana, and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He is the author of 14 books and more than 340 peer-reviewed papers, many in our “best” journals. In his mid-career, he turned his main interests from systems analysis and modeling of the energetics of natural ecosystems to increasingly, human-dominated “economic” systems. He is especially well known within the scientific community for initiating and developing (with colleagues) the concepts of EROI (Energy Return on Investment) and BioPhysical Economics. He is the recipient of many academic awards including the Hubbert Award from the American Society for the Study of Peak Oil and the Lifetime Achievement award from the International Society of BioPhysical Economics. (159 words)

[[Timothy McWhirter]] received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Florida State University. While in graduate school, he published a paper that described the empirical evidence in the contemporary sciences that supported Nietzsche’s principle of the will to power. In 2012, he published a paper on Nietzsche’s critique of morality that described how the will to power appeared to be similar, in important respects, to the maximum power principle developed by H. T. Odum. This was the first published paper that discussed the relation between these two principles. A decade later, he received an email from the ecologist Charles A. S. Hall, who was astonished that he was quoted by a philosopher about the maximum power principle. Since then, they have worked together on a number of projects: the book Maximum Power and its Philosophical Roots, McWhirter as the author and Hall as the editor; they coauthored the paper Maximum Power in Evolution, Ecology, and Economics; and they worked together on a chapter entitled The Equal Fitness Paradigm: a thermodynamic synthesis in evolutionary biology. Their next project is ambitious. They intend to write a book that outlines a systems theory of thermodynamic evolution, which explains the relations between all the different optimality principles that have been described by scientists in the thermodynamic school of evolution. (217 words)

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Charles Hall]]
[[Category: Videos by Timothy McWhirter]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]