"Gödel at the lowest level."

Dissipative structures and Friction flow through, constrain and influence all local systems. (Modified from; System Theory in Community Development by Andy Tamas.)

There are four levels of systems environments. Each system creates it's own boundary, (a rule of Autopoietic systems) therefore each system defines it's own internal and external environment.

* The system under consideration and the internal environment of which it is aware. A person is aware of what they perceive, i.e. respiration, tactile sensation, stomachache.

* The deeper internal environment of which the system is not aware. The bacteria living inside the GI tract is alive, active and unnoticed. People are ecosystems for bacteria.

* The systems external environment of which it is aware. The constant flow of sensations, (matter and energy) that enter perception and rise to the level of cognition. The “real world.”

* The systems distant external environment of which it is not aware. The surprise party inside the house or the ice forming on the wing of a plane.

Energy and matter flows around and through each level in an unpredictable fashion. Each local application can seek out, incorporate, get rid of, exchange matter and energy to meet it’s own goals. (The search for negentropy.) Since each application can act independently their ‘choices’ constrain and influence other local applications as to what matter and energy is available for selection. (See Peyton Manning’s influence in the NFL. An unpredictable cascade through numerous teams.)

At the local, human level the influence of other people over different time scales, (genetic heritage, cultural traditions, previous experience and new experience) provides unlimited opportunities for Friction to develop. That plays a role on the ‘selection’ process and decisions within systems.

This poses a problem with the definition of what a system boundary actually is. To freeze a system with point logic isolates the matter but misses the pattern. The map is not the terrain argument. To focus on the patterns using interval logic means borrowing the entities to focus on the interactions. The water held behind a dam is an example. The matter is continually changing but the pattern remains the same. Finally to remove Friction removes humanity from consideration. There are no people left in the equation.

To deal with this constant state of cross-boundary flow of matter and energy between systems “Bertalanffy coined the German term Fliessgliechgewicht (“flowing balance”) and Nikolai Bernstein “the flowing edge.” We must borrow the entities in order to create and maintain the energy flows through the system. Without energy, there’s no work or life. Without replacing the entities there is no energy source or target. The act of replacement itself requires work. This produces a self-serving need for change in an unfolding and uncertain environment.