Christopher Heimarck
2-6-2010
Systems Theory

I realized at a certain point, years ago, that there is a lot of power in the idea of a system.  Everything is a system.  Thus, Systems Theory applies to everything.  

There are some things that are apparently all made of one thing.  Like a rock.  But what is happening on the subatomic level?  We really don't know exactly because we don't know everything there is to know about subatomic particles.

So...  the point of that is that a rock changes over a period of time.  It sinks perhaps into the earth and is transformed into another type of rock.  Or perhaps billions of years from now something else happens to it.  Maybe the sun will refuse to shine, as the poets say, or maybe the earth will no longer be coherent as a planet or the universe will end and recycle itself into a new universe.  

So things change.  Everything is part of a system, which in turn is part of a larger system.

And everything is made up of smaller systems.

A system might be said to have four parts:  Input, Output, Data Processing and Feedback.

Is there a mysterious Fifth Element?  Originally that term came from the Four Elements:  Air, Earth, Water, Fire.  And the mysterious Fifth Element.  Is the same true of a system?

I don't know.

The point is:  Study cybernetics.  Study systems.  Study information theory.  Study information security.  What is information?  What is the signal to noise ratio?  To put it simply, it is the ratio of a useful stream of information vs. useless garbage, or noise.

That mafia show on TV was saying this:  Money flows up, shit flows down.  The one movie by David Lynch, Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me, had a character who said, "I know shit from shinola."  Does that means that, inherently, of the elements that exist, gold, as "shinola", is the most inherently valuable?  But to a plant it would be the opposite:  To a plant, shit itself would be the most valuable, because it fertilizes the roots of the plant soak it up as food.  To a human, we consider gold to be valuable in part because it does *not* mix with other elements, in general, it does not rust, but preserves itself potentially for billions of years.  Even silver tarnishes, but gold never rusts, unless it encounters an element like arsenic.  Then it melts.

What is the point?  We need money to survive.  Money, originally, was in the form of gold, centuries ago.  Actually, money originally was simply the idea of something valuable of limited quantity, like units of barley.  So accounting and keeping track of money was the same as keeping track of how many units of, let's say, barley, was being stored somewhere.

What is the point?  Systems.  Information.  Now money is information.  The most current information that you can gather has more financial value than information from a few months ago.  The currentness and actionableness, to get actionable information, is what is useful.  A computer is useful.  So it has monetary value.  If it lost its usefulness, if it broke down, and you didn't want to fix it, or if it couldn't be fixed, then you would throw it away at a proper county place for such things.  It would be garbage.  Everything is either useful, or it is garbage.  Everything is on its way from the shopping center to your home to the garbage heap.  The old man said, "I know shit from shinola."  He knew gold (value) from shit (garbage.)  Yet to a plant, the value would be fertilizer.  Thus it goes, the cycle of nature.  Human beings breathe out carbon dioxide, and breathe in oxygen.  Plants do the opposite, and create oxygen from carbon dioxide.

To the extent that human beings foul up the world (foul up their own nest, like birds who don't know what they're doing) we are acting on rules and desires that are garbage, or garbage-making.  We are making this entire planet into a garbage heap.  Think about all those miles, miles upon miles, of plastic garbage that are floating in the ocean and killing animals out there.

To the extent that we, as humans, think that we're "special" and don't need to worry about the environment and pollution, we just thoughtlessly pollute.  We are dirtying our own home, the planet earth.  Meanwhile, we are spending a lot of money on armaments, preparing for war, in the name of self-defense.

Systems.  Input, output, data processing, feedback.  Everything is a hologram.  Your own home is a hologram.  Each hologram reflects all other holograms.  We are all one, yet we are separate.  You get rid of a lot of stuff.  You want to simplify.  That's great.  Simplify your stuff.  You've gotten your use out of those movies.  Now you want to donate them to the library.  Let someone else get their use out of them.  Before the DVD format becomes totally out of date and no one can use them.  Get rid of your junk.  Simplify.  Keep what you think you need.  Keep what you think your children would like to see.  Keep what you think might be useful to you or your family.  Everything is a hologram.  Generally speaking, a hologram has a head and a tail, a positive point and a negative point.  All holograms mirror each other in some ways.

Find what is your destiny.  Find how you can be useful.  The more useful to human beings you are, the more rewarding your career will be.  My hope is to work with people who are hurting, and help them unburden themselves and talk and not feel that they are alone in the world or without hope in the world.  So I hope to get a Master's of Counseling.  That is just an idea right now.  If there is a will, there will be a way.

Earth is a training ground.  We are learning our lessons.  I believe that.  I believe that we are learning how to be, to be peaceful and fulfilled.  Yet what about the warrior archetype?  Do we still need warriors?  Will we always need warriors?  I don't know that answer to that question.  But there is a difference between right and wrong.  We need to do our best.

Go back to Index