Complexity and Information systems

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Message: 9

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 02:00:09 -0000

" James Ramholz " <jramholz

Re: Paradigm shift in qi concept?!?

 

 

Jim,

Have a look at Manaka's work, Chasing the Dragon's Tail.... you may enjoy

his activities in this area. He also looked at information systems and

chaos theory, holographic relationships all quite readable. He saw the TEAM

software in yin/yang theory, 5 elements, open and closed points as very much

being explainable within these quantum areas of scientific thought.

 

How often do you get to look at a contemporary Asain who was a master acup,

a doctor with his own hospital, a surgeon, a man who read the ancient texts

in their orignial language and in several Asian languages, a painter, a

poet, a man of science, a man who treated in clinic, and an inventor. A man

invited to China when the Doors were closed, he met so many amazing

practitioners around the world. He was both the scholar and the clinician;

the man of the ancient ways and the man of the modern scientific approach.

 

Sharon

PS The pulse work of Toyohari with the three levels sounds very familiar.

With the middle pulse being the one that is used to determine method of

treatment and also the pulse that is looked to for change during and after

needling and first for point locating.

 

Sharon:

 

My remark was a reference to those like Kendell, Mann, and medical

acupuncturists who would like to reinterpret all the CM phenomena in

contemporary Western scientific terms. This historical change sounds

similar to the shift from time when demons and spirits were thought

to create disorders to the---then--- " newer " sense of qi whose

imbalance created disorders.

 

In their minds, things like qi and meridians can not be proved

scientifically to exist. So those terms and concepts are becoming

obsolete as such.

 

In the future, I think there will be a better explanation and " fit "

of CM in the Western scientific framework when Complexity Theory

becomes more established in mainstream science. In many cases, they

seem a paraphrase of each other because they are both trying to

describing living systems. In articles and my seminars, I always

like to mention the interesting parallels between the two.

 

For example, in Complexity & Postmodernism (Routledge, 1998)Paul

Cilliers writes: " At least three levels of organization are required

to describe living biological systems (just as three terms are

needed to describe fundamental physical forces) with a degree of

detail and richness that approximates the behavior of real systems.

A minimum of three levels (the task or goal level as a special

kind of boundary constraint, collective variable level, and

component level) is required to provide a complete understanding of

any single level of description.

Patterns at all levels are governed by the dynamics of

collective variables. In this sense, no single level is any more

important or fundamental than any other.

Boundary constraints, at least in complex biological systems,

necessarily mean that the coordination dynamics are context or task

dependent. I take this to be another major distinction between the

usual conception of physical law (as purely syntactic, nonsemantic

statements) and the self-organized, semantically meaningful laws of

biological coordination. Order parameters and their dynamics are

always functionally defined in biological systems. They therefore

exist only as meaningful characteristic quantities, unique and

specific to tasks. " [end quote]

 

Consider how often we find this three-fold symmetry in Chinese

medicine and Taoist philosophy. We have heaven, earth, and man; qi,

jing, and shen; the trigrams of the I Ching; the three yin and three

yang of the Six Qi Theory (Liu qi); and the three jiaos of the body.

When we examine three discrete levels in the pulse diagnosis we can

find and appreciate the complexity and richness of living systems.

By comparison, if we use only one or two levels, we develop a

somewhat perfunctory model that largely ignored the extensive

details found in the Nan Jing and Mai Jing.

 

In biological systems as well as pulses, one level interacts with

the environment, a middle level involves the dynamics and

maintenance of homeostasis, and the third level consists of the

physical constitution of the organism. The parallel to the Nan Jing

and the Dong Han pulse system's use of three depths is clear and

direct.

 

Some biological examples in humans would be gestures and words for

the first level; blood sugar, electrolyte balance, and lung capacity

for the second level; and the chemical composition of bone or how

one molecule's geometry fits like a key into a lock with another

molecule at the third level.

 

As in complexity theory, so in pulses. We can see that properties of

the system as a whole emerge from the interaction of all three

levels, as opposed to viewing the action of the parts as being

imposed by a dominant central source.

 

It's part of the Chinese curse of living in interesting times.

 

 

Jim Ramholz

[Guest guest]

Chinese Medicine , Sharon wrote:

> Have a look at Manaka's work, Chasing the Dragon's Tail.... you

may enjoy his activities in this area. He also looked at

information systems and chaos theory, holographic relationships all

quite readable. He saw the TEAM software in yin/yang theory, 5

elements, open and closed points as very much being explainable

within these quantum areas of scientific thought. >>>

 

 

Sharon:

 

I read Manaka's book shortly after it first came out, and still

refer to it once in a while. Do you know if anyone has continued his

work? No one seems to be talking about this material with his

interest and in the kind of detail that he did.

 

 

 

Jim Ramholz