[Fis] Sustainability Opening Text (Nikhil Joshi)

[Pedro C. Marijuan]

Some parties have reported me that the message was truncated (no figure 
and half the text missing.). So herewith the whole text, and the figure 
too. People willing to read the original message with correct formatting 
should go to the link indicated just below.
Greetings to all--Pedro

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Sustainability through multilevel research: The Lifel, Deep Society 
Build-A-Thon*

Dear FIS Colleagues,

Over the last fifty years or so, we have made significant progress in 
enhancing our theoretical understanding of self-organizing complex 
systems. When it comes to self-organization in complex living systems, 
along with advances in theoretical research, advances in disciplines 
like prebiotic evolution, molecular biology, complexity, linguistics, 
information systems, ecology, bacteriology, soil microbiology, 
sociology, and economics have all contributed to provide deeper insights 
into the processes and organization in living systems at multiple 
different levels.

Having reached here we can ask the questions- can this new science help 
us develop a unified view of our socio-economic and natural systems? Can 
such a view reveal new systemic ways to align economics and ecosystems?

This series of articles [1-3] are a part of the "Lifel Deep Society 
Build-A-Thon" initiative. A research Build-A-Thon that aims to bring 
together domain level researchers, philosophers and theoretical 
researchers, and other problem solvers to build a multilevel model that 
can prove to be useful in enhancing our understanding of the combined 
ecosystem-economics system. This initiative provides exciting new 
opportunities for researchers to both further their own research, while 
also contributing towards addressing the larger problem of 
ecosystem-economics alignment.

The first article [1] reveals an important common multilevel 
organizational pattern in self-organization of living systems that 
proposes that socio-economic organizations could be an extension of a 
larger multilevel organizational pattern in natural self-organization. 
In this paper, two new classes of systems have been defined to capture 
important characteristics of internal organization in living systems 
across multiple levels. An examination of multilevel living systems 
through the lens of these definitions reveals a common multilevel level 
organizational pattern (CMOP) that extends across levels from molecular, 
to ecological and to social self-organization. The outcomes of the 
common multilevel organizational pattern are discussed, with important 
implications and areas for further research.

The second article [2] examines the possibility of organizational and 
role similarities between banks and financial investment networks in 
social self-organization, and networks of subsoil Mycorrhiza and 
gut-bacterial networks in ecosystems. The multilevel model of 
self-organizing living systems developed previously, has been used to 
pose questions and make multilevel organizational comparisons to glean 
new insights into the roots of our banking and financial investment 
networks in self-organizing living systems. Research findings point to 
the possibility that banks and financial investment networks play a role 
in social self-organization that could be in some ways similar to that 
played by Mycorrhiza and gut bacterial networks in the self-organization 
of ecosystems. A multilevel understanding of these systems could help us 
not only understand the roots of financial investment systems in 
self-organizing systems but also help better align financial systems and 
economics with natural ecosystems, and further the agenda of ecological 
sustainability. Some implications, questions and avenues for further 
research have been discussed.

The third article is an extended abstract and presents an overview of 
this initiative [3].

Taken together the two articles [1,2] present a cascading organization 
where autotrophic species arise through the transformation of 
geochemical molecules into biomass. This biomass becomes food for 
heterotrophic species, and leads to the emergence of ecological exchange 
networks between autotrophs and heterotrophs. Further, the emergence of 
sociality in heterotrophic species initially gives rise to kinship based 
social groups like families and extended communities based on shared 
adaptation among multiple family units, followed by non-kinship based 
social groups, and exchange networks of human resources between kinship 
based social groups like families and non-kinship based social groups 
like businesses in our economic system.

Three levels of modulator systems modulate resource flows between 
competing sets of species networks at the three different levels in 
self-organization [2]. Mycorrhiza networks are believed to modulate 
flows of geo-chemicals between competing autotrophic species. Gut 
bacteria are thought to modulate flows of biomass across competing 
ecological networks comprised of autotrophs and heterotrophs. Finally, 
financial investment networks are known to modulate flows of human 
resources across competing networks of families and business 
organizations. This presents a picture of a cascading living 
organization that commences with geochemical cycles and extends to our 
socioeconomic systems, as outlined in Figure 3.

Figure 3: A unified view of ecological and social organizations, using 
CMOPs presented in the previous articles [1,2]. Level 1, involves 
molecular self-organization into autotrophic (and chemoautotrophic) 
living cells. Level 2, involves the self-organization into ecosystem 
networks of exchanges between autotrophic and heterotrophic species. 
Level 3, involves the social self-organization in heterotrophic species 
into networks of exchanges between kinship and non-kinship based social 
groups. The view presents a cascading, and energetically coupled 
organization that spans across three levels. Further, at each level 
there appears to be a modulator system that gives rise to "community 
structure" in exchange networks. It is suggested that the modulator 
systems are Mycorrhiza networks at level 1, gut bacteria at level 2, and 
financial investment networks at level 3. This leads to the question- 
can one think of ways in which self-organization at the three levels 
could be synergized through some kind of a currency exchange? The red 
dotted line in Figure 3 highlights this possibility.

One of the main goals of this series of articles is to pose new 
questions by connecting research from across multiple disciplines. The 
CMOPs are intended serve as a multilevel scaffolding that connects ideas 
and findings from across disciplines to build an initial multilevel 
view, a view that is to be further debated, discussed and developed in 
the course of the Build-A-Thon. Hence the ideas presented here are not 
presented as final words on any research topic but rather intended to 
serve as a bridge to connect research across disciplines and pose 
questions for further research.

This discussion on the FIS network invites your ideas, questions, 
comments, criticisms, suggestions on the multilevel view presented here, 
and three high-level questions arising from this view:

1. Is our social organization in some of its essential elements an 
extension of the larger pattern in the organization of living systems as 
proposed here [1]?

2. Are there important organizational or role similarities between 
modulator systems- Mycorrhiza networks, gut bacterial networks and 
financial investment networks?

3. Are there ways in which these insights could be leveraged to align 
dynamics between ecosystems and economic systems?

A deeper understanding of our socio-economic reality through a 
multilevel view is possible only if we can successfully integrate 
research from across multiple disciplines and different research groups. 
Your inputs will be valuable, and help in this attempt to develop a 
multilevel unified view of social and natural systems through 
collaborative multilevel research.

Both articles [1,2] also present a number of open questions in the 
discussion section. Together these questions cover a large number of 
research domains. Different questions could be in area of interest for 
different people in this group or you may have questions beyond those 
posed in the articles. While it may not possible to debate all these 
questions at once, if one or more questions generate common interest 
from a group of people, they could be taken up for further discussion 
and possibly collaborative development. Hence, your comments, feedback, 
criticisms, further questions in any area would be most helpful both in 
collective assessing areas of interest for this group, as well as 
shaping direction for further collaborative research. I would appreciate 
if you could also point out your own work and references, or work of 
colleagues that are relevant here.

My apologies for loading you with three papers and multiple questions at 
once, and thank you for being patient and bearing with the tedium.

I would like to specially thank Pedro for introducing me to this group, 
encouraging me to post the FIS group, and allowing this post.

Your comments are very much appreciated, and would go a long-way in 
developing these ideas further.

At these times of mindless destruction, and conflict I am reminded of 
the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, a personification of peace, who had made 
France his home.

"/Once you begin to realize your interconnectedness with others, your 
inter-being, you begin to see how your actions affect you and all other 
life. You begin to question your way of living, to look with new eyes at 
the quality of your relationships and the way you work. You begin to 
see, 'I have to earn a living, yes, but I want to earn a living 
mindfully. I want to try to select a vocation not harmful to others and 
to the natural world, one that does not misuse resources."/ Thich Nhat Hanh

Peace for our French Colleagues, Families and Friends.

Thanking you,
Warm regards,

Nikhil Joshi
Lifel.Org
201-TV Industrial Estate, 248-A, S.K. Ahire Marg,
Worli, Mumbai 400 030, India
http://www.Lifel.Org
E-Mail: nikhil.joshi at lifel.org 
<http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis>

References

Copies of the three papers (1-3) below have been uploaded in the DROPBOX 
with the URL in each reference. If you have problems in accessing them 
please email me at: Nikhil.Joshi at lifel.org 
<http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis> ,Thank You.

1. Joshi, N. Multilevel Research, Part II: Exploring natural roots of 
socio-economic organization, Pre-publication copy, for Internal Use Only 
(2015).

2. Joshi, N. Multilevel Research Part III: The roots of money and 
investment systems, could they lie in self-organization of living 
systems? Pre-publication copy, for Internal Use Only (2015)

3. Joshi, N. Science, Organization and Sustainability: A Multilevel 
Approach. In Proceedings of ISIS Summit Vienna 2015- The Information 
Society at the Crossroads; 2015; p. I003. DOI: 
10.3390/isis-summit-vienna-2015-I003

The first two papers [1.2] are pre-publication copies for private use of 
the FIS members and their students. Please do not circulate or upload 
them on any public server. Thank you.

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Pedro C. Marijuán
Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group
Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud
Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Aragón (CIBA)
Avda. San Juan Bosco, 13, planta X
50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Tfno. +34 976 71 3526 (& 6818)
pcmarijuan.iacs at aragon.es
http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/
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