Seven problems that occur in attempts to measure complexity are pointed out as they occur in four proposed measurement techniques. Each example method is an improvement over the previous examples. It turns out, however, that none are up to the challenge of complexity. Apparently, there is no currently available method that truly gets the measure of complexity. There are two reasons. First, the most natural approach, quantitative analysis, is rendered inadequate by the very nature of complexity. Second, the intrinsic magnitude (...) of complexity is still holding at bay attempts to use both quantitative and qualitative methods combined. Further progress in complexity science and in systems science is required. Any method that simplifies will fail because it ignores what complexity is. Techniques of understanding that do not simplify, but rather provide ways for the mind to grasp and work with complexity are more effective in getting its measure. (shrink)

The universe is continuously new due to the roles of seven omnipresent sources of change. These foundational sources of change are here identified and described. While each source of change is unique, they each initiate change in the form of noncoexistent-sequential-difference, which is the core characteristic of change. The occurrence of noncoexistent-sequential-difference, the occurrence of change, initiates the existence of something new. Each unique source of change initiates a unique form of newness. These sources of change, and the different manners (...) in which their change occurs as noncoexistent-sequential-difference, and the forms of newness they initiate, are interrelated due to existential-context, existential-dependency, factor development, and deep-structure. Complex forms of change, such as plate tectonics, biological evolution, the development of culture, and stellar evolution, are based on the seven foundational forms of change together interrelating with diverse other factors. (shrink)

Gao, Barzel, and Barabási attempted to devise a method to identify universal resilience in systems. This target was missed due to simplification in the methodology and to the confounding of the system-functions resilience and robustness. These two system-functions are distinct in both their form and in the roles they play in systems. There are many different kinds of both robustness and resilience. To clarify the difference between robustness and resilience, a short guide is provided consisting of six examples of robustness (...) and six examples of resilience. There is a concluding discussion concerning the manner in which robustness and resilience are confounded in the paper “Universal Resilience Patterns in Complex Networks.” -/- . (shrink)

Ever since George Henry Lewes coined the term emergence, various notions have been associated with emergence that have little or nothing to do with emergence itself. These notions distract from the understanding of emergence to such a degree that very little progress was made in over a century of discussion. Emergence is the coming into existence of patterns-of-material-organization as a consequence of motion. The process of emergence plays major roles in the universe, such as the creation of the hierarchic organization (...) of the material universe from quarks, atoms, and molecules to planets, solar systems, and galaxies. Typical discussions about emergence in the literature are about the distracting notions and not actually about emergence itself. This essay has three primary parts. First is discussion of the intrinsic nature of emergence. The second part explains why the distracting notions are not really about emergence. The third part gives an introduction to methods that can provide understanding of the process of emergence. (shrink)

John Steele interviewed Paul Davies on the subject of time. In that interview Davies stated that time is not a flow, which is correct. His reasoning for that conclusion, however, was flawed, based on a confused version of the flowing river analogy with time. A correct version of the analogy is presented, followed by an analysis of Davies’ argument. A detailed explanation is presented of the intrinsic nature of the type of change that time is. Transdisciplinary methodology based on isomorphies (...) is used to bring forth the nature of temporal change, and reveal why time is not a flow. (shrink)

Emergence is the coming into existence, as a consequence of the motion of matter, of a pattern-of-material-organization that was not there just previously. The occurrence of emergence is universal, occurring in all the subject matters of the sciences from physics to biology to cosmology. The basic form of emergence occurs in every case of emergence, but occurs in modified forms depending on what other factors are playing roles in each case. Emergence is isomorphic because the basic form occurs in every (...) case, giving them their identity as cases of emergence. (shrink)

Lee Smolin wants to convince physicists that time is real. His biggest problem is that he does not know what time is—its intrinsic nature and its basis in the universe. He cannot answer the questions: What is time? Why does time exist? and Why does time have the specific qualities that it has? As a result, in this essay Smolin does not focus very much on time itself. Instead, he focuses on discussion of extraneous issues and unrealistic speculations. He wants (...) to promote temporal naturalism, but does so by contrasting it with timeless naturalism, the block universe view of time, which is an unrealistic fiction. He brings up timeless naturalism, panpsychism, and relationalism, all of which distract from any attempt to show that time is real. This paper clarifies why these extraneous issues have no place in a discussion of the reality of time. Further, Smolin believes there is no such thing as the scientific method, which blocks him from any realistic attempt to understand time. Included here is a description of the scientific method and why that method is required to achieve an understanding of time. (shrink)

Abstract: This paper presents a non-standard approach to emergence that describes the foundational stages of the development of emergence, including the factors that initiate the progressive stages of its development. Observing that emergence is a naturally occurring creative process in the universe, the focus of the paper is a strictly realist analysis of the intrinsic qualities of emergence. Emergence brings things into existence, things such as objects, qualities, relations, and systems. The process of emergence develops, becoming increasingly complex as additional (...) factors come to play roles in the process. The paper describes a diagram of the foundational stages of the development of emergence that shows what additional factors initiate the progressive stages of its development. The diagram displays the origins of factors such as the contact relation and the cause relation, among others. Factors that originate in the stages of the foundational development of emergence play roles in the forms of emergence that occur in highly complex situations like geology, biology, sociology, ecology, and cosmology. Understanding the foundational stages of emergence can enhance understanding in all the disciplines. The paper explains how emergence is a component of science based transdisciplinarity. It presents a new paradigm for understanding the intrinsic nature of emergence. The intention is to make the understanding of emergence useful by way of a strictly realist approach based on observation. The goal is to provide scientists with a practical method for the identification and mapping of emergence in systems of interest. (shrink)

This paper provides the answers to three questions about time. What is time? Why does time occur? And why does time have the specific intrinsic qualities that it has? The answers are based on the recognition that the continuing-existence of space plays the roles in the universe that are normally attributed to time. This recognition is based on objective observation of space itself and objective observation of the continuing-existence of space. The methodology of the observations and the conclusions do not (...) contain speculation—no assumptions, hypotheses, or theories. Objective observation leads to the understanding of the intrinsic nature of space and the continuing-existence of space. Understanding the intrinsic nature of space and its continuing-existence leads to recognition of the roles space and its continuing-existence play in the universe. It then becomes evident that the roles of the continuing-existence of space are the roles of time in the universe. (shrink)

When Bertalanffy advocated a new scientific discipline called general system theory, this generalist mode of understanding was to be based on the isomorphism of laws, principles, and models in the different sciences, and on structural uniformities (isomorphies) in the subject matters of those sciences. There is a conceptual shift in Bertalanffy’s work from the logico-mathematical mode to a deeper more complex understanding. There is a corresponding shift in the understanding of isomorphies from the isomorphy of laws and principles to the (...) isomorphy of qualities of real systems. The recognition of isomorphies in real situations and systems has resulted in the creation of the modern generalist mode of understanding and from there the development of discipline-independent-transdisciplinarity. This paper gives an introduction to this form of transdisciplinarity, and explains how this mode of understanding naturally develops a universal transdisciplinary language. (shrink)

For millennia people have speculated about the nature of time—without success. Time plays a role with all processes and events studied by all the disciplines. It is reported here that the existence of time is a direct consequence of the existence of space. Space exists, and it continues to exist. Space is there, and it continues to be there. Space exists as place, the three-dimensional place that matter can occupy. The three-dimensional extension of spatial-place is measured with a ruler of (...) some kind. Place, three-dimensionality, and extension are intrinsic-qualities of space itself. The continuing-existence of space is a direct consequence of the existence of space. The continuing-existence of space is measured with a clock. Spatial continuing-existence also has intrinsic-qualities. A list of the qualities of the continuing-existence of space appears to be the same as a list of the qualities of time. Seventeen qualities of the continuing-existence of space are compared to the equivalent qualities of time. There is an exact match between the qualities of time and the qualities of spatial continuing-existence. The qualities and roles of the continuing-existence of space fulfill all the known qualities and roles of time. Realizing that spatial continuing-existence is time makes time understandable, and clarifies the relations of time to matter, change, and process. (shrink)