Living Systems

1
Living Systems

• Author James Grier Miller
• ??? taeho kim
• thkim_at_cosmos.kaist.ac.kr

2
Content

• How to construct this presentation
• Author
• Details
• System and this book
• Remarks

3
How to construct this presentation

• Importance to catch the point
• ( big book read only preface, first, last
  chapter, index)
• Reference web documents
• Many not familiar terms try to understand
  without losing point
• - help of my friend who is familiar computer and
  biology
• Restrict the interest range( scope to The Living
  Systems Theory)

4
Author

• Pioneer of systems science
• Ph.D. in psychology
• Behavioral science
• Describing all the sciences of life, biological
  and social

5
Details

• Introduction of General Theory of Living Systems
• Apply that theory from cell to supranational
  system ( simple to complex)
• Cell, organ, organism, group, organization,
  society, supranational system

6
General Theory of Living Systems

• General Theory of Living systems
• - How all living systems "work," about how they
  maintain themselves and how they develop and
  change
• A system is defined as a set of interacting units
  with relationships among them
• a whole emerge out of the interaction of the
  components comprising the system

7
Living Systems

• Open, self-organizing systems that have the
  special characteristics of life and interact with
  their environment.
• Information and material-energy exchanges
• Same essential twenty subsystems (or processes)
• If the processing of material-energy and
  information ends, life also ends

8
Living Systems (Cont)

• The defining characteristic of life is the
  ability to maintain, for a significant period, a
  steady state in which the entropy (or disorder)
  within the system is significantly lower than its
  non-living surroundings.

9
System and This book

• Definition of System
• The properties ( or behavior) of a system
• From simple to complex living system
• General system Mechanism
• System view of some concepts (life, death)

10
Reference

• Living Systems, Miller, 1978, McGraw-hill
• Article written by Elaine Parent about living
  systems
• (http//www.newciv.org/ISSS_Primer/asem14ep.html)
  
• Article about Miller
• (http//www.isss.org/lumJGM.htm)