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On nature, man, and society: A basis for scientific modeling

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Abstract

A physical basis for the modeling of autonomous systems is presented. Namely the thesis is unfolded that irreversible thermodynamics is presently capable of describing nature, man, and society. Four fragments of the theme are presented. The first is a description of how thermodynamics orders all of nature. The second illustrates how the dynamics of fluid fields (mobile atomisms) is developed. The third begins the formulation of a social physics. The fourth provides a primitive notion why all autonomous systems are described by the same formal set of equations of state and change.

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Part I of this paper is the text of the 1975 ALZA Distinguished Lecture of the Biomedical Engineering Society; Part II expands on these remarks.

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Iberall, A.S. On nature, man, and society: A basis for scientific modeling. Ann Biomed Eng 3, 344–385 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02409322

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