See Emergent Meta talk.
There is a phenomenon at work in the living world and in the conceptual world that was not introduced to me until I studied the work of Stafford Beer. Beer rather casually refers to meta-concepts, meta-languages, and meta-systems. His thinking is integral to the recursive nature of his Viable System Model.
After reading what little of Edgar Morin's writing that is available in English, I became acquainted with what I called, "going meta"--solving the problem by enlarging its context in a particular way. Seeing the system(s) that several problems are encompassed within.
"Going meta" is akin to the idea that some problems cannot be solved using the same logic that caused them. It is a particular kind of "out of the box" thinking.
It seems that this feat of seeing encompassing systems , this "going meta", may be a feat of abduction rather than induction or deduction. It is an improvisational move that requires some degree of courage, experience, and luck.
Beer also introduced me to the work of Ross Ashby and in particular to "Ashby's Law" and the related Conant-Ashby theorem. Which suggests the now obvious idea that a good model must have as many options available to the problem solver as the problem space has.
Models represent aspects of systems. Models are constructed with concepts in languages. If there are indeed meta concepts and meta languages and meta systems then there are also meta models. I love models. They are so useful. So now we can ask what is the nature of a good meta model?
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Having some education in subatomic physics, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and sociology it was natural to see a particular type of relationship between each of these in sequences.
Each requires the prior system for its own existence.
Each next "level" or meta-system arises from, emerges spontaneously from, the interactions of the prior, smaller, faster systems.
One senses a pattern of progressively slower dynamics. Each slower moving emergent system can count on the faster dynamics that pre-exists.
The style of behavior between meta-levels is very different that the style of behavior with the levels. The parts (two systems are in a meta relationship, and the mechanics (between these systems) are entirely different. As is true of any set of objects and the relationships that connect them as interactions (processes).
If by some feat of magic a lower level were to cease to exist or function, all the subsequent, slower levels would also cease to exist as they are made up of the subsystems.
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**Nesting**--include other entire systems within
**Recursive**--self-similar across the included including systems
**Emerging**--newly forming or formed from the interactions of the included parts (which may be systems themselves)
**Meta**--
**Systems**--sets of interacting agents
**Complexity**--exponential increase in choices
**Chaos**--psychologically a feeling of choicelessness, no model, no pattern apparent