A set of physical macroscopic observables for communities
by P. Fraundorf,Â
Monsanto Science Library Reports MSL-8857 (1989) Monsanto Information Services, Saint Louis MO
Abstract: Information theory has been applied successfully, in the fields of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, to studies of the collective behavior or atoms and molecules. A similar information theory approach to the study of our most complicated living systems, communities of individuals, remains an oft touted but elusive goal. It is the thesis of this paper that the key macroscopic observables appropriate to such a theory are the sustained patterns of constrained behavior (i.e. in physical terms: the dynamical states; in biological terms: the niches) associated with individuals, provided that the communities are examined over time scales comparable to or longer than the lifetimes of the individuals making them up. Sustained constraint patterns or niche categories actually observed in human and animal communities generally involve the welfare of eithr an individual, a pair bond, a family, a social hierarchy, a cultural belief system, or a field of specialized literacy. This niche structure is a tangible, in in fact extremely important, physical part of the world we live in. Its explicit recognition provides insight into some themes of popular and traditional culture, puts some old questions from the social and biological sciences into a new light, and provides a set of macroscopic observables which could serve as basis for construction of a physical paradigm.
References
P. Fraundorf (1989) "A set of physical macroscopic observables for communities", Monsanto Science Library Reports MSL-8857 (Monsanto Information Services, Saint Louis MO) PDF.