Principles of a quantitative living systems science [James Simms, ISSS 1998 Workshop, July 21/98]

These notes are a rough transcription, prepared as each individual presenter and/or commentator spoke at the ISSS 1998 conference. Gaps and errors have likely occurred. For more accurate citations, please consult the original presenters. These notes have been contributed to the ISSS by David Ing, of the IBM Advanced Business Institute (sabi@systemicbusiness.org).

James Simms

New book: Principles of a Quantitative Living Systems Science

• Part of series with George Klir, published by Plenum Press
• Forward by Jim and Jessie Miller, saying it's not just an application of Living Systems, but it's beyond that.
• It's been what Jim's been trying to do: make a quantitative science like other quantitative sciences.

• comprehensive and fundamental law
• doctrine
• laws or facts of nature ...

• Need for ...
• Statement of principles
• Methods and models
• Identification of fundamental characteristics and measures
• Identify relationships
• Ddefine parameters
• Establish units of measure

• Lack of analytical and predictive capabilities.
• Application of non-living systems concepts such as cybernetics or entropy have had limited success.
• Objective of IGSR (now ISSS) was to be more like hard science.

1. Behaviors of living systems are observable and measurable by the way of the energies are used in the behaviours.
2. Living systems have a unique behavioural characteristic which is a capacity to direct energy
3. A system's capacity to direct energy is a function of structure and organization
4. A system's capacity to direct energy can be quantified
5. A system's behaviour is a function of the energy available to the system.
6. A living system's behavior is a function of behavioral information
7. Behavioural information can be measured by the work it causes.
8. A living system's behaviour is a direct function of the system's capacity to direct energy, to the energy available to the system, and to behavioral information.

• Methodology.
• Living systems behaviours that can be quantified.
• Demonstrate capacity to direct energy.
• Establish units of measure.
• Formalize relationship between living system behavior and it determinants.

• Essential for quant science.
• Provide a precise, invariant language.
• Characteristics are:
• Concept is self-evident, axiomatic, e.g. length because we have 3-d vision; weight, because we have centers in muscles; temperature through sensors.
• Measurement units in terms of invariant physical phenomena, e.g. length by wavelength, not an arm's length.
• Measurement unit must be accepted by consensus.
• In China, every town had its own measure, so no standardization.
• Fundamental unit can not be reduced.
• Math concept of counting is understood (i.e. one unit).

• How did we get the current quantitative sciences?
• Trace back to 10000 B.C., when used measurements.
• Then 1000 B.C., geometry, relationship between lengths.
• Kepler's Law (occurrences) to astronomy, measurement of length and time.
• Now atomic clock is invariant.
• Weight tied to gravity by Newton as mass, prerequisite to Quantitative Mechanical Sciences
• Temperature took a long time to get to quantitative heat sciences.
• Required an abstract concept of energy -- something that can't be observed.
• The idea of charge, but only in this experiment did Milliken get the charge on an electron -- which is something invariant (as the watt-second).
• Quantitative Electrical Science.
• Then what is need to get to living systems?
• It's behavioural information.
• Life has 2 criteria [generally accepted]:
• Reproduction (synthesis of protoplasm)
• Metabolism (all biochemical reactions)
• We know genetic information is.

• A dynamic property.
• Identification of the nature and determinants of these behaviours.
• Look for linkages between behaviours and their determinants.
• Measure

• Observed through the energy used in changing from state to another (i.e. dynamics).
• Animal motion is caused by contractile tissue which is observed by mechanical motion and heat energy.

• Energy associate with behaviour is usually different from the energy available to the system.
• System operates on available energy: reacts as chemical bonds, as amino acids.
• Unique characteristic to convert from one form of energy and convert it to another.
• Effect on the structure of the organism.

• Identification of phenomena ...
• ....
• ...
• ...

• Rosen (former of ISSS) wrote "Fundamentals of measurement and representations of natural system".
• Energy can be measured, therefore behaviours can be measured.

• Metabolic behaviour is rearrangement of biochemical elements during a chemical reaction.
• Can have constructive metabolism or destructive metabolism
• Synthesis of protoplasm converts biochemical energy (ATP) into chemical energy.

• What is the irreducible thing in group behaviour? Need to have a metabolic and reproductive characteristics.
• Sexual reproduction has lots of complex things to work out, that can be used -- need to establish energy measurement.

• Living systems operate on, control, or convert energy on chemical bonds.
• Means has the capacity to direct energy.

• Provides the capability to direct energy.
• In an animal cell, has mitochondria and cytoplasm.
• DNA is essential.
• Each cell has structured organization to rearrange chemicals.
• Enzymes are essential structures, to cause chemical reactions.
• [Structure is used in Jim Miller's definition, as place or geographic].
• [Organization means pattern or form]

• Living systems only use capacity to direct energy, when they have information.
• e.g. enzymes tell DNA that it's time to unwrap.
• Biochemical information in the form of enzymes and hormones cause biochemical reactions.
• Neural information in the form of contractile tissue excitement causes contraction.

• Codons get the amino acids: U, C, A and G.
• Dogma of genetic process: in replication, enzymes unwrap DNA to generate RNA and transfer message, then ribosome causes the synthesis.

• Glycolysis cycle converting sugar to ATP.
• Unwrapping is a form of generating another kind of information.

• Causes contraction of differentiated neurons.

1. Available energy
2. Capacity to direct energy
3. Information

• What is the linkage to determinants? No other characteristics are necessary

• Behaviour:
• Available energies include: solar, heat, chemical and mechanical.
• Capacity to direct energy is what changed
• Information:
• Abstract concept, can't be observed directly, only by the work it causes.
• Units of measure established for biochemical information, genetic information and neural information.

• A quantum of genetic information causes 4 * 10E-20 calories of work to synthesize one molecule of the reference protein.
• [Objection: Can synthesize two amino acids into a di-peptide, but this is not protoplasm, not living matter, it's a simple molecule]
• [Simple protoplasm contains proteins, sugars, ....]

• A quantum of biochemical information causes the utilization of 2* 10E-20 calories of energy in the reference system.

• One unit of neural information causes the production of 18.5 microcalories of energy by a rana pipiens (frog leg) sartorius muscle in a reference unit ...
• Need to know load and temperature, to get the action potential.

• Equation: b = k * e * i
• behaviour = capacity * energy * information
• At the cell level, ... (flowchart)
• For a single cell animal, ... (flowchart)

• Need to go through process: idea --> concept --> hypothesis --> theory --> law, until confidence level is extremely high.
• Look at autonomous animal behaviours: in volition and non-volition.
• Autonomous: Cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive
• Information generated internally to the animal.
• Non-volitional: Thermal environment (shiver if warm-blooded), gravitational responses (know which way is up), light energy responses (if not blind), mechanical environment (i.e. knee jerk)
• Information inside and outside of the body.
• Volitional behaviours: use a lot of information from the outside
• Motoneurons.