FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF LIVING SYSTEMS SCIENCE: GROUPS

摘要

The foundation for developing principles of living systems science for groups evolved from the long history of the natural sciences, from advances in biology and the systems sciences, and recently from Principles of Quantitative Living Systems Science (Simms, 1999). This recent book treats individual organisms from cells to Homo Sapiens. Although the group behaviors of the human species are important to most people, principles of living systems science for groups must apply to all species that exhibit group behaviors. The extant principles of quantitative living systems science treats individuals. Those principles are extended to cover principles for groups. The fundamental principles of groups are: (1) group behaviors are observable and measurable by way of the work done (energy used) in these behaviors, (2) groups have a unique behavioral characteristic which is a capacity to direct energy, (3) a group's capacity to direct energy can be quantified (measured or calculated), (5) a group behavior is a function of the energy available to the group, (6) a group's behavior is a function of group behavioral information, (7) group behavioral information is the ability to cause group work and can be measured by the work it causes, and (8) a group's behavior is a direct function of the group's capacity to direct energy, of the energy available to the group, and of group behavioral information.