HOLONS, ARTIFACTS, AND HEAPS

Subject: HOLONS, ARTIFACTS, AND HEAPS Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:58 am

I wanted to bring up the idea of the "holon" again. A holon is simply a whole/part. The universe is largely made up of whole/parts but there are some subtle differences between the different types of whole/parts. They are called Holons (Individual Holons and Social Holons), Artifacts, and Heaps.

Individual holons are holons with a subjective interior (prehension, awareness, consciousness); they have a defining pattern (code, agency, regime) that emerges spontaneously from within (autopoietic); and they have four drives (agency, communion, eros, agape). Examples of individual holons (or compound individuals) include quarks, atoms, molecules, cells, organisms....

Social holons emerge when individual holons commune; they also have a defining pattern (agency or regime), but they do not have a subjective consciousness; instead, they have distributed or intersubjective consciousness. Examples include galaxies, planets, crystals, ecosystems, families, tribes, communities....

Artifacts are any products made by an individual or social holon. A bird's nest, an anthill, a automobile, a house, a piece of clothing, an airplane, the internet--these are all artifacts. An artifact's defining pattern does not come from itself, but rather is imposed or imprinted on it by the agency or intelligence of an individual or social holon.

A heap is just a random pile. A pile of sand, a water puddle, a rock, a bunch of dead leaves--these are heaps. They have no interior consciousness, they do not follow the twenty tenets, and they have no enduring, defining pattern. And they are not artifacts, because they are not the product of individual or social agency or intelligence.

So Beo, a rock is a heap and therefore doesn't posses consciousness (at least according to holon theory). Smile

_________________
"Enjoy every sandwich" ~ Warren Zevon

Subject: Re: HOLONS, ARTIFACTS, AND HEAPS Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:41 pm

I am in a bit of a heap about this. A individual holon is described as subjective, but then spans a range from galaxies to the guy next door (that seems objective to me). Are we talking about a quality? or a physical attribute? I stumble on both definitions of holons. I completely accept the notions of artifacts and heaps.

Subject: Re: HOLONS, ARTIFACTS, AND HEAPS Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:21 pm

The theory is that individual and social holons are systems (they contain informational states and have the ability of prehension) and posses both objective (exterior) and subjective (interior) aspects.
_________________
"Enjoy every sandwich" ~ Warren Zevon

Subject: Re: HOLONS, ARTIFACTS, AND HEAPS Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:01 pm

I had some free time and thought I'd create a holon symbol.

Here it is...

_________________
"Enjoy every sandwich" ~ Warren Zevon

Joined : 01 Dec 2007 Posts : 15

For those of you interested, there is a science / math branch directly related to these concepts called complexity theory. Here's a link to go exploring. This is actually where I've come from.....I don't know why they're not using the term holon because it is a very useful term in my book.

http://www.calresco.org/

Joined : 01 Dec 2007 Posts : 15

I have a belief that basic Truth tends to express itself over and over at various levels and in various situations. Here's a very hard science example of how the idea of holons works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_structure#Levels_of_protein_structure

Subject: Re: HOLONS, ARTIFACTS, AND HEAPS Fri Dec 07, 2007 12:41 pm