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duced into signals that activate the insect's muscles—representation—caus-
ing it to take action when necessary to maintain optimal dispersal over the
surface of the water where the water striders are situated. Consciousness
of what one perceives or conscious decision making to take action are not
necessary elements of what Rob calls “representation”; this part of the loop
requires only that perception be transformed into triggers for action. A wa-
ter strider is an entity, and a particular group of water striders inhabiting
a specifi c territory can be seen as an entity as well.
11
Contrariwise, a plastic
bottle fl oating down the same stream does not qualify as an entity even
though it can be made to perform actions, because it has no PRA loop.
Ecologists study the relations among heterogeneous entities (and non-
entities) that constitute systems that are distinct and reliant on a particular
set of dynamic relations among their elements. The overall pattern of these
relations is what distinguishes a particular ecosystem. The more energy
that moves through the system, the more niches there are. Energy-rich eco-
systems typically exhibit greater biodiversity. While an ecosystem (such as
a swamp) may survive without some of its usual constituents (e.g., frogs),
there is a tipping point at which an ecosystem ceases to exist as an entity
because a critical level of loss or change in energy fl ow is reached, destroy-
ing the pattern of relations that make up the dynamic whole. An ecosystem
with energy roaring through it can effl oresce. In terms of interactive sys-
tems, energy can be understood as processing and information, including
human agency and—perhaps—fl ows from the natural world.
An understanding of nested entities and complex relations among
them can help us cultivate what James Lovelock would call a “Gaian” per-
spective (Lovelock 1979). In that view, it's entities all the way down—and
up. Even genomes have such entities in hierarchy—transposons, jumping
genes, chromosomes, etc. We can understand the concept of Gaia (Earth
Mother in Greek mythology) as the nested entities that make up the whole
earth and its biome. In Gaia, there are systems within systems at work—
both technological and human. Some are structurally constrained, some ex-
hibit chaotic dynamics, and some produce
emergence
.
simple rules, emergent outcomes
I remember a day back in
the early 1990s when I was at Esalen Institute with a gathering of VR types
that had been arranged by Terence McKenna. I had known him for some
11. Consider how many words we have for such entities: schools, fl ocks, mobs, etc.
