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The Twenty Subsystems

To quote the book "Science For All Americans" by the American Association for the Advancement of Science:
Any collection of things that have some influence on one another can be thought of as a system. [...] Thinking of a collection of things as a system draws our attention to what needs to be included among the parts to make sense of it, to how its parts interact with one another, and to how the system as a whole relates to other systems. Thinking in terms of systems implies that each part is fully understandable only in relation to the rest of the system.

[...]

Any part of a system may itself be considered as a system - a subsystem - with its own internal parts and interactions. [...] Similarly, any system is likely to be part of a larger system that it influences and that influences it.
There are eight "levels of organization" addressed within Living Systems Theory. They are nested inside of one another, from small to large:

1. Cells
2. Organs
3. Organisms
4. Groups
5. Organizations
6. Communities
7. Societies
8. Supranational Systems

Living Systems Theory catalogs the processes vital to each of these systems into twenty "subsystems":

Content Stage Name and Meaning Symbol
Subsystems Which Process
Material-Energy
 Input Stage 1. Ingestor: brings material-energy into the system
Throughput Stage 2. Distributor: distributes material-energy for use throughout the system
3. Converter: converts material-energy into suitable form for use by the system
4. Producer: synthesizes material-energy for use within the system
5. M-E Storage: stores material-energy used by the system
6. Motor: handles mobility of various parts of the system
7. Supporter: provides physical support to the system
Output Stage 8. Extruder: handles material-energy discharged by the system
Subsystems Which Process
Information
 Input Stage 9. Input Transducer: brings information into the system
Throughput Stage 10. Internal Transducer: receives and converts information brought into the system
11. Channel & Net: distributes information throughout the system
12. Decoder: prepares information for use by the system
13. Timer: maintains the appropriate spatial/temporal relationships
14. Associator: maintains appropriate relationships between information sources
15. Memory: stores information for system use
16. Decider: makes decisions about various system operations
17. Encoder: converts information to needed usable form
Output Stage 18. Transducer: handles information output of system
Subsystems Which Process
Material-Energy and Information
 Throughput Stage 19. Reproducer: carries on reproductive function
20. Function Boundary: protects system from outside influences

When using the symbols to map out a level of organization, several types of arrows can be used to show different kinds of exchanges or "flows" between subsystems:

Transmission Symbol
Matter
Energy
Information

Pathological Situations

There are eight processes that can be damaging or fatal to a living system:

1. Lacks of matter or energy inputs
2. Excesses of mater or energy inputs
3. Inputs of inappropriate forms of matter or energy
4. Lack of information inputs
5. Excesses of information inputs
6. Inputs of maladaptive information in the template (e.g.: "genetic damage")
7. Abnormalities in internal matter or energy processes
8. Abnormalities in internal information processes


References:

• The Living Systems Theory of James Grier Miller by Elaine Parent
• The Appropriateness of Using The Living Systems Theory as a Diagnostic Tool by Winchell Chung
• Ten Ways to Use Living Systems Theory by Lane Tracy