Meta

The Greek word meta, as used here, implies another layer of scaling or organization; i.e., where the organization of elements changes from We to I, from a collection to a co-operative unit. It is a key element in the Physics of Information here and embedded into the [Fractal_graph].

The critical elements which define, denote, and sustain a meta-organization are:

• a shared set of values and principles which form the stable base,
• an agreed-upon goal/purpose which form the common-point reached for, and
• a name to contain it all.

Note that with each additional level of scaling, the notion of time is expanded in the direction in which individuals are aggregated into a unit, such that the [Nation-state], for example, operates many magnitudes more slowly than an individuals' lives therein, while (in the other direction) your cells operate at many magnitudes faster. Note also, like the meta-personality of the nation-state (e.g. "America"), the ego or "I" is an [Epiphenomenon]--it effectively exists "nowhere" in time or space -- or at least should be treated as such lest boundary confusions collapse it all into a huge mess. The boundary that creates the I from the We is a very delicate affair, as many a schizophrenic has found.

To the cells of your body, or the neurons in your brain, you are the meta-being (and your Name helps to sustain it). Likewise, the billions of humans on Earth are akin to such self-similar entities within the global body of man, forming an amalgamated personality that is distinct from any one individual (or consider at a smaller scale, the collective personality of America, or Brazil). It is interesting to consider how such meta-individuals interact with each other (how "America", for example, interacts with "China", holding meta-conversations (the arena of geo-politics), consumes, creates, and produces waste like any solitary individual, much akin to a sort of [Fractal] hologram of social/individual consciousness).

See also the [Philosophy_of_biology].

[Category:Terminology]