The Dynamics of Life model

Bibliographic Data

ID21652078
AuthorsVictor MacGill (0000-0002-9870-6612, Moncrieff Avenue, Britannia Heights Nelson 7010 New Zealand, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume41
Issue2
Pages262-273
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSystems Research and Behavioral Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1092-7026 • E-ISSN: 1099-1743
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sres.2963
OpenAlexW4383877774
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited32

This paper attempts to formulate a generic model of living and social system at all levels with three parts. The first is the Dynamics of Life diagram, which follows flows of energy, matter and information through the system. A rule set controls how the parts co‐operate to maintain internal and external processes. As a system acts, it creates the space for a shadow system that opposes it. Unmanaged entropy is expelled or remains as a toxic element. The second is the Tree of Life that outlines the levels of functioning in a human being from biological to psychological to social. Each level manifests the flows as in the Dynamics of Life diagram. The third explores the processes of living and social systems through time and borrows heavily from Holling and Gunderson's Adaptive Cycle. The three parts present an integrated overview of the functioning of living and social systems

Causal loop diagram · Diagram · Living systems · Mathematical economics · Physics · Social system · System dynamics · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Computer Science · Mathematics · Artificial Intelligence

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