Meta Organisms

First attempt at trying to define my meaning of Meta Organism

2007-04-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is only a first attempt, and it's not good enough, but I've gotta start somewhere:

When I speak of a Meta Organism, I'm talking about an ongoing human-related phenomenon, which has the following characteristics:

It involves several people
It affects their behavior or thoughts.
People feel like they "belong" to this phenomenon. (is 'belong' the right word here?)
It changes over time, but it is continuously recognized by people as the same.
The phenomenon is independent of any one specific participant (i.e., if any one of the participants were to leave, the process would continue almost unchanged).

Let's see how this works with the Meta Organism "audience wave in a football stadium":

Obviously, it involves quite a few people
It certainly affects their behavior (people keep getting up and down)
People consciously participate in the wave, and they know they are part of it.
The wave seems like one entity, even though it keeps moving across people.
People in the audience can come and go, but the wave would continue. It is not dependent on any single person.

And let's see how this works with "Country":

Again - many people.
People are certainly affected by countries. People who grow up in a country adopt its language, manners, etc.
People who live in a country "belong" to it (as citizens or residents)
A country has an identity: name, symbols, borders. Any of them can change, but as long as they don't change simultaneously, the country is recognized by people as the same.
Countries can outlive people by centuries, so obviously their existence doesn't depend on any single person (not even the president).

I'm not sure the definition is good enough:

Are there things which I don't think are Meta Organisms but who still
answer this definition?
What makes this an "organism" rather than just an organization or system?

Other uses for the term Meta Organism?

2007-04-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

Trying to see if my theory is different from earlier theories, I googled a bit for other people's use of the term "Meta Organism". Do coincidences have some transcendental meaning? Well, if they do, then this is extremely meaningful:

My first stop was this page - a 1998 submission to "ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS", titled "Gaia Brain and the History of Life: a Capitalism/Communism Synthesis". Definitely not the title I was looking for, but I glanced through it.

What immediately caught my attention was a reference to Mitochondria. The Mitochondria are sub-organisms that exist within the cells of multi-cellular organisms, and are crucial to their existence. The prevalent theory among biologists (at least at the time of my writing this) is that the Mitochondria were once independent, living organisms.

The reason that this caught my attention, was that the entire Meta Organism model began to take shape in my mind a few years ago, while watching a BBC program that mentioned this interesting origin of Mitochondria.
I kept skimming through the article, and noticed that it speaks of society as an organism, and then mentions social insects (bees, ants, termites). This was also an interesting point for me, because I have been fascinated with the concept of "the ant colony as a single organism" ever since I first read Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach (over 20 years ago).
The next thing that really sparked my interest was the reference to mental models - a very important part of my Meta Organism theory!
I then noticed that all of the paragraphs that caught my attention cite a book called "The Phenomenon of Science" by Valentin Turchin.
A few clicks later, I learned that Valentin Turchin is a Professor Emeritus of Computer Sciences at the City College of NY, and a member of the editorial board at Principia Cybernetica. The web site I was looking at seemed somehow familiar. It took me a while, but at some point I realized the reason: the page on which I was reading Turchin's bio was on the Principia Cybernetica site -- the exact same resource that Danny mentioned in his comment on my Table of Contents!!

Well, I definitely have some reading to do...

2007-04-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

Right now, this post is more of a "todo list" than a TOC, but it's a start :-)
I keep updating this post as I make progress.

Introduction

About this blog

Table of Contents

Part I -- Before explaining my model - I must explain what I mean when I say "model".

Models and reality (No model truly describes reality. Neither does this one.)

Examples of models

Mental Models
Boundaries

Part II -- Examples of Meta Organisms ("living social structures")

Tribes
Religions
Sciences
Arts
Cities, Countries
Local communities
Communities of interest
Companies and Corporations
Industries
Departments within corporations
Stampedes
People in a rock concert, play, movie, football game, party, etc.
Families
"Wave" in a football stadium
Wikipedia, del.icio.us, Web 2.0 in general

Part III -- So what is a Meta Organism?

A Meta Organism is not the sum of the people in a group.

It's an abstract entity
It is something that "exists" "between" the participants, but it influences (and is influenced by) the participants.

We "host" Meta Orgnisms.

We are "part" of more than one Meta Organism
If the human mind was a CPU, the Meta Organism would have had "agent software" installed in each participating individual.
The Meta Organism "thinks" when it "operates" in the minds of participating individuals.

A Meta Organism has a memory

Memories in the minds of participating individuals
Books
Electronic information
Culture

Meta Organisms require communications between participating individuals

Direct (sound, sight, spoken language)
Indirect (written words, recorded music, paintings, drawings)

Advanced Meta Organisms impose a "Mental Model" on participating individuals
A Meta Organism has structure

The structure is a result of

the relationship between participating individuals
the memory
form of communications

Sub Organisms of the "Containing" Meta-Organism

Each Meta Organism allows (or even encourages) some kinds of Sub Organisms, and destroys Sub Organisms of other kinds.

Meta Organisms have a "personality"

Corporate culture

Meta Organisms can be found within Meta Organisms
Meta Organisms interact with other Meta Organisms
Meta Organisms have a lifespan

It can be minutes, and it can be many hundreds of years

Meta Organisms and Maslow's Pyramid

Meta Organisms exist because they answer human needs

Stampede --> Survival
Wikipedia --> Sense of meaning
Religion --> The entire pyramid

Meta Organisms compete with each other

Will an individual belong to two Meta Organisms that answer the same human need?
Some Meta Organisms are more resistant to the creation of other Meta Organisms (e.g., Religion)

Different people can receive different things from the same Meta Organism

Meta Organisms "reproduce"

Same structure, different memory (so different Meta Organism of same "class")

Do Meta Organisms impose "social values"?

"Right" -> things that help the Meta Organism survive?
"Wrong" -> things that can destroy the Meta Organism?

Part IV -- Countries, Capitalism, Democracy

The two roles of a modern society

Allow the creation of Meta Organisms
Protect individuals from Meta Organisms

Is money the enregy molecule of country-based Meta Organisms?

Bio Organisms store energy using ATP
Meta Organisms in countries store energy using money

Part V -- Internet, Web, Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a biosphere for Meta Organisms of a new kind

Evolution is much quicker here
Communications are much quicker
The resulting Meta Organisms are much more adaptive and intelligent
How do Web 2.0 Meta Organisms relate to the offline world?

The Internet makes existing Meta Organisms more intelligent

Part VI -- Categorizing Meta Organisms

Size
Timescale

Some Meta Organisms operate in a totally different timescale than we do

Relationship with participants / Amount of effect

The "Maslow Relationship" with individual participants

Food
Security
Sense of worth

How much hold does the Meta Organism have on participants?

Can people choose to leave?
Does it exert force on participants?

Do participants know they are participating?
Do participants "identify" themselves with the Meta Organism (e.g., "citizen of", "employee of", "member of community", "resident of", "practice this faith") or do some of them consider themselves outsiders (e.g., "customer", "watching the TV program", "stuck in a traffic jam")
Do participants want to participate? Or are they "stuck" there?
How much influence does the Meta Organism have on the participant's Mental Models? How long does the influence last?
Type of interaction participants have with the Meta Organism (meet with people, communicate via e-mail, user of "products", stay in environment created by the Meta Organism)
Frequency of interaction of each participant with the Meta Organism (daily?, once a year? once in a lifetime? all the time?)

As a system

Inputs (sensors): what does the Meta Organism "sense"?
Outputs: what does the Meta Organism "create"?
Mental Model: what does the Meta Organism "recognize"?

Geography

Does the Meta Organism require physical contact between participants?
Does it "relocate" across different participants?
Does it depend on some physical structure?

Structure (network -- [don't forget reference to Linked by Barabashi])

How many types of participants?
How many connections between participants?
Are there different types of connections?
How stable are the connections?
Does the Menta Model of the Meta Organism define different "Roles" to participants?
Stability of participation (how quickly do individuals leave? join? "churn")

Lifespan

"The living company" by Arie de Gues

Intelligence

"The learning Organization" by Peter Senge

Does it learn?
Does it remember?
Where is the memory stored? (digital? paper? oral?)
Is the memory accurate?
Which participants have access to the memory?
Does it have emotions?
How is its attention focused? (newspapers, TV, memes)
How are "thoughts" propagated?
Does it create new knowledge?
Do its participants know it? Is it aware of itself?

Part VII -- Reciprocity

Meta Organisms have a profound influence on us

Our clothes
Our schedule
Our homes
Our language
Our behavior
Our interests
Our perception (Mental Model)
Our aspirations
Our feelings
Our values
Our knowledge
Our taste

We have influence on the Meta Organisms

Amount of influence determined by structure of Meta Organism

In a country: "Prime Minister" usually has more influence than a cab driver
In an army: "Commander" has almost absolute control on "subordinates"
In Meta Organisms with a memory: influence can last for a very very long time (books, inventions, changes in the structure of the Meta Organism)

The influence is not absolute control
Our influence depends on the time-scale and intelligence of the Meta Organism

Part VIII -- Privacy and Meta Organisms

What is "private" information?

Participants of a Meta Organism will hide "sensitive" information of that Meta Organism from people who do not participate in it. However, they will share it with other members of the same Meta Organism
If Meta Organism A doesn't appreciate Meta Organism B, then people who participate in both A and B will hide this fact from Meta Organism A.

Example: the Meta Organism "USA" doesn't appreciate the Meta Organism "Organized Crime". Citizens of "USA" will not tell other citizens of "USA" (who do not participate in "Organized Crime") about their own participation in "Organized Crime" .

[should link to Danah Boyd. (her thesis? blog?)]

Part IX -- References

Introduction

2007-04-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

I've set up this blog in order to document and discuss a philosophical model I'm developing - a model that tries to explain how social entities are structured, how they evolve and change, and how the reciprocal relationship between humans and society can be analyzed.

I believe this model can serve as a basis for explaining a great deal of what happens to us as human beings. I think it can also serve as a base for much research.

I'm quite busy, and won't be blogging here frequently. But I do keep getting this nagging sensation that I must post my thoughts about this model somewhere, so I'm quite certain I'll keep adding stuff.

Meta Organisms

First attempt at trying to define my meaning of Meta Organism

Other uses for the term Meta Organism?

Table of Contents

Introduction