~~~~~Conclusion
When we look at social situations we must be quite clear about the differences between these and those simpler systems typically studied in the physical sciences. In the latter it is usual to concentrate upon equilibrium solutions and to seek out point or cyclic attractors - labelling any situation incapable of being stated in such linear and reductionist terms as 'unscientific' and ignoring it. In such 'science' data points found outside the 'box' of predetermined expectations are actually discarded, and treated as 'experimental error' - making this a self-fulfilling and closed worldview. Physical sciences, typically, look here for one 'formula' at a time, one isolated problem at a time. Most work in the current psychological and sociological sciences tries to 'ape' this sort of technique, either discarding all the 'complexity' to look at a narrow aspect, or using statistical techniques to look at the undifferented whole - in both cases compressing the system to a single parameter (and arguing endlessly between themselves about which one to use !). But this behaviour is throwing out the 'baby' with the 'bathwater'.
Non-equilibrium systems, like society, are not comprised of single formulae, they are fractal and have diverse structure on many scales. They are composed of many autonomous elements, each operating with many different values. In the dynamics of these situations we get strange attractors, not point or cyclic ones - a society existing in such a limited attractor would be a 'dead' or 'dying' society ! In real societies we cannot predict 'exactly', solutions are nonlinear, there is a sensitivity to initial conditions, i.e. to history. There exists heterogeneity, multiple interacting dynamics, these systems are often non-deterministic - dependent upon 'random' events (like the recent tsunami). For such systems a new type of science is required, needing a new set of valuation techniques, a metascience of interconnected reality and values, which we pursue further here.
http://www.calresco.org/wp/attrsoc.htm
