>
>This was, in fact, my point: by pushing, as Gaines did, the boundaries of
>what we consider a system to the limit, we end up with the kinds of
>degenerate, vacuous cases like that above: just sets!
>
>Let's put it another way. Linguistically, a system is a set of entities
>which have entered into a relation. If that relation is the null relation,
>then it remains only a set, but is it still a system? To do anything
>INTERESTING or USEFUL in systems theory, we have to qualify the kinds of
>relations in SOME way.
>
>
Yes. Good clarification. We need more of this specificity in our ongoing
discussions.
-Mike-