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A NEW BOOK:

Global Insanity:  How Homo sapiens lost touch with reality while transforming the world

 

Written/Edited by: James A. Coffman & Donald C. Mikulecky
2012, ISBN 9781938158049 (160 pages), Emergent Publications

The Global Economy that sustains the civilized world is destroying the biosphere. As a result, civilization, like the Titanic, is on a collision course with disaster. But changing course via the body politic appears to be well nigh impossible, given that much of the populace lives in denial. Why is that? And how did we get into such a fix?

In this essay, biologists James Coffman and Donald Mikulecky argue that the reductionist model of the world developed by Western civilization misrepresents life, undermining our ability to regulate and adapt to the accelerating anthropogenic transformation of the world entrained by that very model. An alternative worldview is presented that better accounts for both the relational nature of living systems and the developmental phenomenology that constrains their evolution. Development of any complex system reinforces specific dependencies while eliminating alternatives, reducing the diversity that affords adaptive degrees of freedom: the more developed a system is, the less potential it has to change its way of being. Hence, in the evolution of life most species become extinct.

This perspective reveals the limits that complexity places on knowledge and technology, bringing to light our hubristically dysfunctional relationship with the natural world and increasingly tenuous connection to reality. The inescapable conclusion is that, barring a cultural metamorphosis that breaks free of deeply entrenched mental frames that made us what we are, continued development of the Global Economy will lead inexorably to the collapse of civilization.

Coffman and Mikulecky take on the pillars of Enlightenment science—determinism, conservation and the continuum—and leave them in rubble. They see the scientific wisdom of the 20th Century departing ever further from reality, casting society into a breach of deep cognitive dissonance, a.k.a., insanity!
Robert E. Ulanowicz
Department of Biology, University of Florida

Hooked on growth and headed for collapse. It is a depressing story. But Coffman and Mikulecky offer hope in focusing on the rebirth that will follow. And more importantly, they provide the intellectual tools for comprehending the broad sweep of what is taking place. A 21st Century analysis for a 21st Century problem.
John McCrone
Science writer and author of Going Inside: A Tour Around a Single Moment of Consciousness

This is a very current critique. The authors assemble input from most of the unfolding perspectives in science—self-organization, complexity, development, emergence, Aristotelian causal analysis, and internalism/semiotics... to suggest ways of formulating our cultural and social problems in hopes of generating a rational standpoint for confronting them.
Stan Salthe
Professor Emeritus, Biology, City University of New York and Visiting Scientist in Biological Sciences Binghamton University

CLICK HERE TO ORDER:  


THE CHAPTER THAT LED TO THE NEW BOOK:

Even more than life itself: beyond complexity(word file)

0r view on line


COME TO MY  BLOG AND TALK TO ME

ALSO

WE ARE HAVING NEW DISCUSSIONS TRYING TO CREATE A RELATIONAL THEORY THAT BUILDS ON ROSEN'S WORK

COME JOIN US IN THIS EXCITING NEW DISCUSSION: SIMPLY e-mail ME AT mikuleck@vcu .edu AND YOU WILL BE ADDED TO THE LIST SO YOU CAN OBSERVE AND/OR JOIN IN


 EXCITING!

A  BOOK BY A. H. LOUIE:

MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF: A SYNTHETIC CONTINUATION IN RELATIONAL BIOLOGY

A. H. Louie’s More Than Life Itself is an exploratory journey in relational biology, a study of life in terms of the organization of entailment relations in living systems. This book represents a synergy of the mathematical theories of categories, lattices, and modelling, and the result is a synthetic biology that provides a characterization of life. Biology extends physics. Life is not a specialization of mechanism, but an expansive generalization of it. Organisms and machines share some common features, but organisms are not machines. Life is defined by a relational closure that places it beyond the reach of physicochemical and mechanistic dogma, outside the reductionistic universe, and into the realm of impredicativity. Function dictates structure. Complexity brings forth living beings.


 A Whole Volume  full of new work by Rosen's Students, Colleagues, Critics and others

System Theory and Biocomplexity (Commemorative Issue, Robert Rosen)
Chemistry and Biodiversity: Volume 4. Issue 10 October 2007

MY PAPERS: 

EDITORIAL: ROSEN, HIS STUDENTS AND HIS COLLEAGUES:  A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

CAUSALITY AND COMPLEXITY: THE MYTH OF OBJECTIVITY IN SCIENCE


MY WORK AND RELATED ITEMS

 CHAPTERS:

COMPLEXITY SCIENCE AS AN ASPECT OF THE COMPLEXITY OF SCIENCE

in

Worldviews, Science and us

pp 30 - 53

Calos Gershenson, Diedrik Aerts and Bruce Edmonds, Editors

World Scientific 2007

The circle that never ends: Can complexity be made simple?

appearing  in "Complexity in Chemistry, Biology, and Ecology", D. Bonchev and D. H. Rouvray, Eds., KLUWER Academic, New York, 2005.


LECTURES:

TEACHING SCIENCE THAT MATTERS: REFRAMING THE QUESTION IN SCIENCE

DOWNLOAD PPT

 

WHY DO WE BELIEVE WHAT WE DO

 

LECTURE AT VCU CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF BIOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY

OCTOBER 9 2006

ROBERT ROSEN AND GEORGE LAKOFF: THE ROLE OF CAUSALITY IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS

DOWNLOAD POWER POINT PRESENTATION

RELATIONAL SYSTEMS THEORY AN APPROACH TO COMPLEXITY

DOWNLOAD POWER POINT PRESENTATION

 

REDUCTIONISM AND COMPLEXITY: CONTINUUM OR DICHOTOMY?

Download the Power Point Presentation


NEW LECTURE:

Don't look at the whole organism: Framing the question in science

Download the power point presentation


NEW PAPERS:

Why do people behave religiously?

Prepared for NEI
Second International Conference August 13, 2003
Steve Kercel, University of New England
Endogenous Systems Research Group
Don Mikulecky, Virginia Commonwealth University
Center for the Study of Biological Complexity

Published in Evolution and Cognition vol 10:98-113.

 

Download the ppt presentation



 MORE   

MURKYWATERS             MY CV  

LINK TO THE VCU CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF BIOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY

Talk Given February 4, 2003: The world is complex:  How to distinguish complexity from complication

Download ppt version

Talk Given February 20, 2003:  

Functional Components as a basis for complex system description: Some examples and discussion

 dOWNLOAD PPT VERSION

 

Talk Given March 13, 2003: 

download ppt version


NEW RELATIONAL MODEL OF THE CELL


  FOR STUDENTS 


A RELATIONAL SYSTEMS THEORY MODEL OF A BUSINESS   This was done for the fellows of the Institute  for the Study of Coherence and Emergence (ISCE).  


A TUTORIAL ON NETWORKS AS AN INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL SYSTEMS THEORY

(Under Construction)


OTHER WORK AND RELATED ITEMS

These may be of interest to some:
They appeared in  Elsevier's "Computers and Chemistry" vol 25, 2001, all authored by D. C. Mikulecky

1.  Research Review:

Network Thermodynamics and complexity: A transition to relational systems theory. pp 369-391.

2. Methodological Review:

The emergence of complexity: science coming of age or science growing old? pp 341-348

3. Feature Article:

Robert Rosen(1934-1998): A snapshot of biology's Newton. pp 317-327


TWO SEMINARS GIVEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

IF THE WHOLE WORLD IS COMPLEX, WHY BOTHER?   (University talk) download

THE COMPLEXITY OF SCIENCE AND THE SCIENCE OF COMPLEXITY: HOW TO SURVIVE IN A SELF-REFERENTIAL WORLD     (Talk to the Public)   download


REVIEW OF ROSEN'S NEW BOOK "ESSAYS ON LIFE ITSELF"Columbia University Press (Due out in November,1999)

EPISTEMOLOGY AND ROSEN’S MODELING RELATION
W. B. Dress

ROSEN IN CYBERSPACE........A HYPERTEXT INTERPRETATION OF ROSEN'S WORKS WITH APPLICATIONS (Under construction)

DEFINITION OF COMPLEXITY

DEFINITION OF COMPLEXITY TRANSLATED INTO ROMANIAN

ISSS PAPER -ROBERT ROSEN: THE WELL POSED QUESTION AND
ITS ANSWER-WHY ARE ORGANISMS DIFFERENT FROM MACHINES?

For the Belorussian language translation by Martha Ruszkowski: http://blog.1800flowers.com/international/robert-rosen-be/

ABSTRACT FOR THE 43RD ISSS MEETING: "ROBERT ROSEN: THE WELL POSED QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER-WHY ARE ORGANISMS DIFFERENT FROM MACHINES?"

SEMINAR: NETWORKS IN NATURE: SOME THOUGHTS ON TIME, SPACE AND THE EMERGENCE OF LIVING SYSTEMS

Steve Kercel's Feb. 1 Seminar:"Endogenous causes and bizarre effects" 


STUDENTS LOOK HERE!!!!!!!

HONORS MODULES 

 
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

COURSE: COMPLEXITY, SEMIOTICS, AND MODELING LIVING SYSTEMS (FALL 1998)

GRADUATE SEMINAR, SUMMER 1999: THE ROLE OF THE MIND IN MEASUREMENT AND PERCEPTION: AN APPLICATION OF ROSEN'S MODELING RELATION

MORE STUFF!!!!!!

  TAPED INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT ROSEN

NOTICE: ROBERT ROSEN PASSED AWAY ON DECEMBER 29, 1998

WE WILL MISS HIM VERY MUCH!

TWO CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE COMMEMORATIVE  HELD AT VCU ON FEBRUARY 17, 1999:

ALOUISIUS LOUIEA ROSEN REQUIEM

WILLIAM DRESS: EPISTEMOLOGY AND ROSEN'S MODELING RELATION


SEMINAR "HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT TO MEASURE? SCIENCE, COMPLEXITY, AND THE LAW OF THE INSTRUMENT"

The Murkywaters Discussions:

Come see Professor Murkywaters expound on complexity and related topics to two of his best students! A self-teaching module(in progress)


Talk to me: mikuleck@hsc.vcu.edu

THIS SITE IS AN EDUCATIONAL SITE.   PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME ANY CLINICAL QUESTIONS.  I AM NOT A PHYSICIAN.


MY CURRICULUM VITAE:

Personal Data, Education, and Professional Experience

Courses Currently Taught


My Interests:


My Book:

Application of Network Thermodynamics to Problems in Biomedical Engineering, NYU Press, NY, 1993, ISBN 0-8147-5490-2


Professional Organizations:

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

  • Region 3 Professional Activities Operation committee, Technical Policy Chair
  • Region 3 PACE Technical Policy Issues Coordinator
  • USAB Technical Policy Council, Research Development Policy Committee, Region 3 Representative

Community and other interests:

Charter member Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)

Former Member:  Mathews Chapter of the LionsClub

  • 2007 2008 2009 Awarded Council of Governor's Service Award
  • Named '"Lion of the Year"  for 2006-2007 by Mathews Lions Club

Artistic Activities:

Member Mathews Art Group:

    Corresponding Secretary 2003

    Webmaster

    Newsletter Editor

    President 2005-2007

The Gallery, Mathews VA...Permanent Exhibit

Rapahannock Art League

Past Member Virginia Watercolor Society

Arts in the Park ( 4 shows, 1995,96,97,99)

Arts in the Hospital, Medical College of Virginia (2 shows)

St. Mary's Hospital Show December 1998 - January 1999

Featured Artist of the Month - Mathews Art Group, The Gallery, March 2000, April 2003, May 2007

Bank of America Mathews, VA March 2000, October 2003, 2007

Chesapeake Bank Mathews, VA September 2002, 2007

Miscellaneous other shows

HONORABLE MENTION IN THE 2003 AND 2007 MATHEWS MARKET DAYS JURIED COMPETITIONS


Number of visits from March 1, 1996 to September 1, 2009 = 103,345

Number of visits since September 1,   2009  =   

Person Responsible for this page: mikuleck@hsc.vcu.edu

GO TO:

Complexity Group Home Page

Department of Physiology Home Page

VCU HONORS PROGRAM

This page does not reflect an official position of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Last Update: 12/01/12

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