Internationally known as a dynamic speaker, Dr. Sahtouris is an evolution biologist, futurist, professor, author and consultant on Living Systems Design. She shows the relevance of biological systems to organizational design in business, government and globalisation. She holds the World Business Academy's Elisabet Sahtouris Chair in Living Economies, is an advisor to EthicalMarkets.com and the Masters in Business program at Schumacher College, also affiliated with the Bainbridge Graduate Institute’s MBA program for sustainable business. Dr. Sahtouris has convened two International Symposia on the Foundations of Science and written about integral cosmologies. Her books include A Walk Through Time: from Stardust to Us, Biology Revisioned, co-authored with Willis Harman, EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution., and Gaia's Dance (forthcoming).
YouTube: Evolutionary Biologist Divulges The Secret To Human Coexisting
Main Features or Principles of Healthy Living Systems
(from cells to organisms, ecosystems to Earth, bodies to businesses)
1. Self-creation (autopoiesis)
2. Complexity (diversity of parts)
3. Embeddedness in larger holons and dependence on
them (holarchy)
4. Self-reflexivity (autognosis/self-knowledge)
5. Self-regulation/maintenance (autonomics)
6. Response abilityto internal and external stress or
other change
7. Input/output exchange of matter/energy/information
with other holons
8. Transformation of matter/energy/information
9. Empowerment/employment of all component parts
10. Communications among all parts
11. Coordination of parts and functions
12. Balance of Interests negotiated among parts, whole,
and embedding holarchy
13. Reciprocity of parts in mutual contribution and
assistance
14. Efficiency balanced by Resilience
15. Conservation of what works well
16. Creative change of what does not work well
In my scientific worldview, the universe is consciousness creating living systems within itself; thus ALL living systems are conscious, intelligent and can learn. This fundamental assumption, for example, permits one to see the transparency implications of features 4 and 10. [For more on the assumptions underlying scientific models of the universe, see the ‘cosmology/science
evolving' section under ‘articles']
