========================== Late December, 1999 dogboy's "theory of theory" (aka "babbling of a lunatic" )

As far as my strategy goes, I’ve been trying to think of how I have to explain it to you so you can clearly see the whole picture and see how my story fits into it. please... sit back, relax and open your mind. If I can’t convince you that I’m on to something, I’m not.

In order to explain the story, we need to talk about some pretty abstract things... it is about hope, truth, enlightenment and dynamic systems.

So here goes...

A theory is nothing more than a system of beliefs which attempt to explain something based on ideas that are commonly agreed to be true. The more things the theory explain, the more useful it is. I maintain that every single thing has a system to which it is tied, and all systems are tied together into systems of ever increasing magnitude. Anything that affects one system, affects everything else, through what is called “the ripple effect”. The magnitude of the ripple depends on the perspective of the systems affected. The closer two systems are connected, the more likely the ripple will unbalance the other systems tied to it.

I don’t think that many people would argue this. That is why we have to start here. In order to understand how a system works, you have to look at the smaller, composite systems and see how they interact with each other ...as it is this interaction of smaller systems that comprise the larger systems awareness of itself, and how it relates to other larger systems. If a smaller system is unbalanced, larger systems are affected and attempt to compensate by stabilizing itself so not to adversly affect other systems connected to it.

Every person can be viewed as a system. That system is composed of smaller systems that work together. If you start damaging parts of the system, you start to see how it affects the system until an integral part of the system is damaged and the system dies. For example, if you remove the heart, the circulatory system fails. If this part of the system fails, the whole system, in this case the human, dies. Depending on how important this human is to the other systems that are influenced by it, other systems will try to compensate for this loss, or they themselves will fail. If the human was a parent, the offspring will obviously be affected. At that point, other parts of the system, usually the family, try to compensate. If there is no family then you see other parts of the social system come in and try to compensate and try to compensate for the loss by providing what it can. Why? Because if it doesn’t try and protect the smaller elements of its system, it knows that the larger system will eventually fail as well.

In this example, we were just looking at one facet of the influences caused by the removal of one component of a larger system. There are, of course, an infinite number of other ripples that are caused by that loss as well. The size of the ripples are proportional to the influence that this component exerted over the rest of the system. For example, if the individual who died was a government leader, the ramifications of the loss would be greater than if the individual was less “important”.

In this case, we base our notion of “importance” upon the power of which this component (the human leader) has to influence the larger system (the government and therefore the governed). In our example, if the governmental system is relatively strong and stable, the system will compensate by placing its next best leader in place. It does this in order to survive and to minimize the size of the ripples which could upset the balance of the system and lead to fragmentation and destruction of the larger super-system. In most cases the smaller components of this system (the people) see that it is in their best interest to stabilize the system because they see how they are connected to it.

This example, highlights some important points. The most fundamental is that every system, either by “instinct” or self awareness “understands” (at least to a small extent) the basics components necessary for immediate survival, and will divert whatever resources and energy it can to maintain its balance.

Now that you see an example of a system in trouble, you can better understand why systems naturally safeguard them selves against fragmentation and death by attempting to focus their surpluses (of resources and energy) into growth and increased stability. At the global government level, this is what the arms race is all about.... competing systems that are aware that their ability to survive and prosper is rooted in protecting them self from competing systems which are only protecting their systems from the same thing.

The arms race is a great example of a process that is observed in all dynamic systems, namely feedback cycles. A feedback cycle is a process is usually described as a positive or negative depending on how it is viewed with respect to the larger system it occurs in. Feedback cycles, like systems, can be seen all around us. Look at any successful system and it is clear how the larger cycles in motion work.

For example, look at any business and trace it’s history. You will first see the initial idea. That idea was then fueled by capital, which in turn was spent on resources (and organizing those resources) so that it could focus on making more money so that it could reinvest this capital back into the system in order to make even more money. After a few cycles, the people managing the system can assess the efficiency of the cycles. Businesses, are usually evaluated by how much surplus was made that can be used to reinvest back into the system. Those business systems that do not meet the expectations of the investors find that the investors at some point see that the system is not productive and do not reinvest, which effectively destroys the system by cutting off the essential component which powers the system. On the other hand, if the surplus meets or exceeds the expectations of the investors, the investors will most likely reinvest, at least the minimum amount of capital, to ensure the integrity of the system, because they believe that it is in their best interest to do so. The amount of the investment of course depends on the amount of surplus and the goals of the investor.

This business system is understood by just about everyone because it deals with money, which in social systems, is needed by all so that all of the smaller components of the business system, can maintain their respective systems. This relationship is just one of the cycles that you see that links everything in this system together. At the most basic level in this system, it links the individual to a larger system. The individual who wishes to succeed in this system *needs* the money in order to secure and stabilize the things that it needs, like food, clothing and shelter (which are all systems in themselves) and the businesses *need* the individuals in order to make their larger systems work. The amount of money exchanged for services in a free market depends on the needs of both parties and the size of the systems involved.

Those individuals that are in a position to focus their systems, will, and attempt to grow and compete. Those that succeed, grow at a rate that reflects the magnitude and efficiency of their system strategy. These individuals then compete against one another in an attempt to out compete other individuals within that system. This is called in our society “climbing the ladder of success”. It involves individuals positioning themselves in positions of power so that they can then reinvest their energy to make the push to the next level. Because this competition usually occurs within a business entity, these individuals know who is competing for what jobs, etc. and the manager of those people (who has already out competed them and is looking towards the next level), attempts to manage the system in their control to the best of their ability out of self interest. When multiple managers in the same company do this, eventually the one with the best strategy out competes the others and rises to the top. These system managers then compete with managers at the market level where again we see a complex self balancing system built of smaller components. This market system then selects the most efficient of the systems which balanced the need for stability and maximized growth.

It is at this level that the business entity is either out competed and is destroyed or it continues to exist at different degrees of stability and growth. Those that are left are then evaluated and judged. The most valued entities are those with the most surpluses. This is either because a larger organization could acquire that company and use those resources to fuel it’s system, or, the smaller company could acquire other smaller companies and increase its own system.

To add to the complexity, all the systems above are happening simultaneously and that there are an infinite number of other interactions and cycles not discussed here. The point right now, however, is that the system is complex but can be understood as a whole, if you can understand how the smaller systems work and interact, and how they are powered. Simply put, everything is being driven by the self interest of each respective system because there is an inherent awareness in each system that in order to succeed, it must recognize the bigger system of which it is part. The bigger the system, the more awareness of other competing systems and its need to grow.

The business system as a whole has the benefit of being evaluated by currencies which give us global benchmarks to compare the efficiencies and magnitude of different systems. This is critical, as it can be analyzed using mathematics which is considered by all to be the universal language. Everything that I have talked about up to this point was explained by linking concepts that are agreed to be true by generally everyone. Why is this? I have given no concrete proof that what I have said is true. You agree because what I regurgitated is self evident to you. You base your existence, your stability, your income, on this *system*. You have naturally focused your individual system to fit into an infinite number of other systems because it is in your best interest to do so. As we agreed, any system which rejects the larger system in which it finds itself, risks being destroyed by the larger system because it is in the larger system’s best interest to do so.

Some systems, like our global economy, are too big to fight , so you are taught try to connect yourself into it in order to secure your individual system. After that is secured you can then use your resources to strengthen other social networks which include larger systems (listed by increasing magnitude) starting at the “mate level”, to the “family level”, which then expands to incorporate the friends of all the family members, which then expands to the “community level” and so on. We call systems like this our social fabric. Of course, that again was a static description of a system frozen in time... I’m really talking about your cousin’s best friend’s uncle

This example of social systems highlights that a strong “individual system”, networked with other strong “individual systems”, benefits by forming even larger, stronger systems because all components are aware of the common goal, and focus towards that goal, all surpluses to further enhance the feedback cycle. So again, you see that every system, no matter what the size and complexity, always stabilizes itself to the best of its ability and does so by the most efficient methods because of its own self interest to protect the individual components which constitute it, from what it perceives as a competing and separate system. As you have seen, in most cases, it protects itself by linking up to other larger systems or tries to acquire smaller components, or both, depending on the situation. In all cases, though, as we see all around us, systems always try to grow by linking together with other systems. Never do you see a system do things which would diminish their power (for fear of fragmentation and destruction) unless it becomes aware of a larger system that has the power to destroy it. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that any system that has a successful strategy has reason to believe in it’s strategy until it doesn’t work anymore.

This is, of course, very dangerous to any system, simple or complex. A system which creates an exponential feedback cycle, without regards to the larger system that confines it (with limited energy and resources) is doomed to collapse. We see this everywhere in the world where overpopulation caused the local ecosystems, which fueled the feedback cycles in the first place, are overtaxed, and then systematically collapse under the growing demand of the unbalanced system. That is the painful part that no one wants to talk about or see on TV. The poor people and children suffering because they believed in the poorly constructed systems others set up for them to fuel their own self-motivated systems of power. These are the systems that must be analyzed because they failed so miserably. Why did these systems fail? Because they didn’t have the essential components that we have seen which are critical to the success of all healthy systems... mainly an awareness on the part of the system, all the way down to “individual level”. Without any awareness, coherency and resources, the larger artificial systems fragmented the smaller natural systems that were in place, and whatever culture and balance that had existed was destroyed, and the individuals were left an ocean away to wallow in utter misery without the comfort of larger system to embrace them.

Given the state of the world, it is not surprising that all systems, all the way down to individual components, block this misery out because it cannot make sense of what it sees and has no real solution to the problems. It views these dying systems with sympathy because it sees no way of dealing with the dying systems without risking it’s own stability by diverting the surpluses away from the components that fed its initial success. This is the feedback cycle the global systems are now faced with yet they cannot see how to revive the dying systems around them. Given the disparity of wealth and the isolation of the systems, it is easy to take comfort in systems that seem to be working. The more wealthy the system is, the more it tries to fuel its own system to protect itself because, as we have seen, that is the only way it knows to deal with other systems that could destroy its balance.

Even the strongest, most successful systems, with great resources, however, cannot insulate against disturbances such as the ones facing us without it being felt all the way through the system down to the “individual level”. That is the irritant that has been festering deep down in humanity... not just the need to see the larger picture, but the need to see the *largest* picture, and to see how it all fits together into the larger scheme. Even the most successful people, with the greatest self awareness, can lose the drive to fuel their systems if they can’t see where they are going. Look at Michael Jordan’s first retirement. I believe that he basically felt that his system was out of balance and that he was looking for another larger system to embrace. He had reached his initial goal and still had a surplus of resources he wished to invest in another system, to satisfy his desire to grow in a meaningful way. Only he knows for sure as he is the master of his system. His awareness of this, as well as his awareness of the larger systems he interacts with, illustrates what a healthy system, powered by positive feedback cycle, can do if it is focused, and supported by other healthy systems (family, teammates, friends,etc.). That is why we all “want to be like Mike”... he gives us the hope that we also might manage our own systems with such grace. But as he might tell you, the closer you tie yourself into something, the more acute you feel disturbances in links that connect the larger systems together. That is what they meant in Star Wars when they said there was “a disturbance in the Force”. Their “good” system was aware of another “dark” {read:ignorant, non inclusive} system that had the potential to destroy the good system. And yet if they joined it, it would destroy them as well. That “disturbance” is the feeling you get when you know the two systems are inextricably linked but the linkage is inherently dangerous to either system.

That disturbance is what we feel in our collective stomachs today. We are aware that there are other systems out there that are big enough, and dangerous enough, to destroy everything we have. Nobody really wants to admit it, because they have no system that can account for all the misery caused by unbalance. If you have no way to account for it in your system you have no way to understand it. With no understanding there is no solution. If the biggest system we have, which comprises everything we know to be true, can’t deal with the unbalanced system, how are the smallest components supposed to deal with the problem? Without any peaceful way to resolve the issue, the system components default to self-defense mode and attempts to grow without dealing or assimilating with the dangerous intruding system, because it sees the situation as insolvable. At the same time the system is aware that the conflict is inevitable. This causes the feedback cycle to further increase the same way the arms race did.

So if we put everything we learned together about how systems function, and what their tendencies are, the way we need to approach understanding this mess, is to build a system that joins *all* the systems together... surprising? It shouldn’t be. We all agreed at the beginning that everything is connected. Both adults and kids were moved by “circle of life” (Lion King) because the truths were so simple they were self-evident to even the youngest. The problem is that the feeling goes away soon after because, ironically, there was no awareness of a connection between the two systems. More importantly, those more aware of their systems, the ones that are needed by the smaller components for guidance, try not to think that the animals in the movies their children are watching might be extinct in a few years because no one can influence a cycle that is outside of their own system. These things that fall outside of a system, are what economists call an externality... mainly because dead elephant doesn’t sound good to anyone.

As we observed, that is all they are ever trying to do anyway. And you should all see by now that everything likes a healthy system, and when healthy systems interact, the larger system flourishes and feeds the surpluses back to its components, establishing a positive feedback cycle which is in balance with the system. If you can comprehend this, then let us also imagine world peace for the first time. It is no harder to understand that any other concept we discussed once you build a system that incorporates it into the system and encourages its growth. People always envision it as the ultimate goal, yet take absolutely no steps towards it. Why? As always, the answer lies in the fact that it lies outside of the system they created to protect themselves. When you build things that keep things out, you imprison your mind.

The goal then of all components should be to include everything into a single system. Good and Evil. Joy and Hate. Pain and Humor. All people. All animals. All plants. All organisms. Every single thing that exists, live or dead, as well as every idea that has ever been imagined, on the earth and put it together in one big global system. It is only when you have got the last of it together that you can see how the system we created affects world peace. For world peace means just that.... all the systems of the world are joined, and all the components from the ground up are healthy. That is a “10”. Right now, we are about a “4” But now that we let all of our problems “in”, there is nothing more “out”. That means there is no more ignorance. If we see something that is out of balance we can divert resources to it and fix it. And believe it or not, it won’t be as bad as you think. When all the components of a global system are aware of a threat, each individual component can take immediate actions to solve the problem, because it is in systems best interest to do so. We know this is true in every other case so how could you argue that the global system model can’t solve the worlds problems? It does seem to explain a lot of what we see around us. It definitely puts into perspective how all these different systems we see are so out of balance with one another (based on the amounts energy and resource limitations) as well as our abilities to process the wastes associated with fueling these inefficient systems. When viewed like this, it is apparent they were designed only to maximize growth because they were unaware of the total limitations of the global system which was *so* much bigger than them, that the systems contained in it, didn’t even recognize it as a system.

If everyone on the earth saw this system, and started looking to see how they were going to fit in and what it would look like, they might be surprised that when they looked in, that they saw nothing but truth, and that the system has actually been in place all the time... you just didn’t see it because no one ever gave you a “you are here” map that you could read. Well there you go. The Buddha would say you are now enlighten. “Is it what you expected it to be?”

Stop reading and look up for a second. I mean it. Look around you. Why would you expect it to look any different than what you know to be true? The truth is all around you. It has always been there. It will always be there. You know this to be fundamentally true because it is obvious to you. You don’t to have faith in it anymore. It’s real. You can touch it. This is the “ultimate truth” that every religion in the world tried to explain to us in one way or another. They were *all* right. The priests and the Shaman and the monks should all be giving each other high fives right now because we can now see the greater collective good and the possibilities of how we might fit into a larger master plan. The earth is just one of many planets in the our solar system and I don’t have to tell you that there are infinitely more solar systems than grains of sand in all of our oceans combined.

For now, however, lets get the global system balanced first, peak out at “10” on the world peace scale, and then we will better understand the bigger systems that we know are out there. I don’t want to get too far off the subject, so I won’t go that way yet, but the same principles apply. If we get into trouble, our honed and healthy system will just expand to encompass the next system so that we can look at it and understand it and not let it get away from us as bad as the earth did. The answers are all right there in front of you. Just encompass and analyze. Want to understand infinity? Grab it and stick it in your system. Don’t worry, it takes up no room at all. Still can’t see it? It’s because you didn’t see the whole cycle yet. Why? Because you never will... that is what it is... its endless Think of it in terms of a system that keeps becoming aware of larger systems and endlessly encompasses the next larger system. Because there is no beginning and no end, there is no size because there is no reference for you to determine size. Infinity is expressed in symbol form as a twisted circle. This circle, in this case, represents the endless cycle from small to big (or big to small, however, you like and yet somewhere in the “twist”, the big end and the little ends are joined together and they are both the same size... even though we know they can’t be. That’s what confuses us about the whole concept. Infinity has nothing to do with size at all.

Infinity is how time is recycled if you look at it from the perspective of a system. Imagine yourself at your individual system level again and I explained the concept of time to you, told you no starting point, and said to keep track of it. Time is something that we have always seen as a line. From “A” to “B” in a straight long line forever. But since we have to see it at our individual system level, which we can’t just have a huge endless line hanging out all over the place, so we tied it into a circle with a slick braided knot, and then slapped it on our wrist and started the endless cycle of winding and circles, formed by a straight lines which radiate from the center of its system. We have the most precise instruments you could imagine marking the passage of time but none can tell us when the first clock started ticking. Maybe it is just always ticking? Maybe the cycle we see is just sooo much bigger than we ever thought that what we thought were straight, were actually slightly bent and formed a huge cycle, bigger than anything we ever imagined. Well, guess what? we just imagined it. Now its in our system as well as the neat model we made before, which at “no size,” was much smaller and stored well

So again we see that the truth was right in front of us, we have just been not looking at it from the right perspective. We can account time using these very same theorems we explained everything else... our system didn’t account for something that had a scale of that magnitude, but now it does. When we solved that by just encompassing it we saw that size really didn’t matter and that any system that expands its awareness to encompass something it doesn’t understand, it is better off.

So now that you have just been “enlightened” and see the whole system for what it is, you now see how we all need to work together to make the global system healthy again by strengthening the bonds between all the systems and diverting our surpluses to those natural systems that we have taken for granted for so long that they are collapsing the intertwined systems of life which comprise the bio-diversity system of which we are an integral part. There is no avoiding the pain. When you see the damaged we cause to the environment, it will feel like you are walking through your own home after a disaster and you will wipe the tears from eyes as you see the stumps of the largest trees you could imagine and say these were so old and so tall, they must have known that time was actually curved. Who knows? Maybe they could have told us if the curve of time is proportional to the curvature of the earth and it had to due with pie. Can we figure it out by ourselves, theoretically? Sure. But it would have been fun to climb those trees and see for ourselves what the horizon looked like. Each of those trees we now recognize as a towering monument to the larger system. If you have ever had the privilege of walking in an old growth forest you would feel the immensity of the stability involved and wonder how on earth did we ever think it was in our best interest to cut them down.

The theory of course, sheds the true light, so we now are faced with what to do about what we now perceive to be real threat to the global system. Education we have seen usually works wonders. We all need to brush up on our environmental education... and when I say “all”, I mean “all”. Quick, tell me where your water really comes from. Tell me where the electricity really comes from when you flip the switch on your computer. Where did your food come from? How was it grown? When you flush your toilet and throw “out” your garbage, where does it go? Not “out”, that’s for sure. We all need to take a good look at what thought we already understood, it is only when we have everyone thinking in terms of the greater good of the system can we strive for world peace.

Up to now, everything I said we already knew to be true because they were self-evident and rooted in laws that we agree to be true. So if we are going to tackle these ugly things, we will need to coordinate our awareness and use the real world tools we use everyday that solve our other real world problems... namely computers. You laugh, but I’m serious. Computers are the perfect vehicle for this type of job because they communicate everything through math, “the universal language”. If we can quantify the systems and monitor them, we could better understand the cycles at work and show you how the systems are reacting. And I’m not talking about models, I’m talking the real thing in real time... the ultimate tool for networking individual systems to the global network... the internet, what else? Surprising, not at all. It is based on everything we know is real, we can develop it so that it meets the needs of the largest system we can conceive, and be secure in knowing it is infinity expandable to meet our future needs as well. It only makes sense that individuals and larger systems will see it as a larger symbiotic relationship that they need to connect to.

If you still don’t see how it could work, encompass it and analyze it as the system it is and you will see the point at which all these crazy concepts and systems merge and then you will see the importance of a domain name. The name is the interface between our system’s desires and the mathematical universe. That is why I did what I did. Not out of greed, but out of an awareness of a greater system, and the possibilities that it might hold the key to allowing all the smaller components to become aware of this enlightenment and give them a framework to build the perfect, all encompassing system because I see the solution to the problem is global enlightenment.

See how the system works? I looked at everything in the system and saw how to teach you how to see the self-evident truths inherent in the greater system. Every time a system becomes aware of a greater system there is a natural drive to connect in with it. Once it is harmoniously tied in, the smaller component sees that anything not working in harmony with the larger system, is against it, the smaller system will do what it did the last time if was faced with a problem. Encompass it into the system and either bend it to suit the needs of the larger collective good or destroy it. The smaller component will also see that the easiest way to change the bigger system is to enlighten all the other systems which comprise the larger entity, so that the greater system can realize its full potential by balancing the smaller systems proportionally. There

And it was only within this framework that I have been able to come to peace with myself for not understanding how to solve the problems I saw all around me. I did what all systems do when confronted with a terribly fractured and unbalanced system... I tried to ignore it. That has caused me so much anguish that only now is it able to be released in a productive way. A way that makes me feel good about what I see, because I see everything so clearly now. Everything based in truth and laid bare in front of me. And I know this feeling has the possibility of lasting for the first time because everything is telling me I am right and that all the truths I thought I heard in Bob Marley, in my heroes, in my teachers, and friends and families are in fact self evident truths and I don’t have to have blind faith anymore that these systems I rely on are failing me. When I looked at all the problems and then looked to the biggest system I could imagine I saw, as everyone before me, no way to solve the problem because I could not really see how it was connected but when I looked at that terrible system square in the eye, I saw for the first time that the only things that were there were all the poor systems that slipped through the cracks of the larger systems that we created. I saw how all the systems were dying because no one ever looked to really to take the time to see why these parts of our systems didn’t work, we just threw them out like everything else, because we were motivated by self interest and were just plain unaware.

At that moment I learned what I had been taught over and over again in real life but never understood... you have to face your fears if you want to overcome them and you better do it sooner, rather than later, because it will only be worse. There are times when entire systems need to redefine themselves to reflect what they know to be true. I maintain that time is long overdue, on the eve of the next millennium and in the shadow of Y2K, we as a collective, logical super-system can now see that our strategies were not wrong, we just needed to embrace the larger system.