A note about form:

In this case form follows content, and the structure of this article is an example of the concepts about which it purports to be. It is a three-dimensional hypertext object projected onto two-dimensional hard copy. The material in the (hyper)text boxes should be regarded as hypertext links. The "content" of the text in the boxes consists of the writings I have read that have informed this article; they are therefore the "context" of my content. However they are also part of my argument, as the authors I have included make their points admirably and don't need me to paraphrase them. Therefore, although the reader may chose to "click" into the box or not, either at the time (in the place) the box appears, or at any other time/place, it is my hope that the reader will read the hyperlinks. For those who choose not to read the hyper(text) boxes as they go along, I apologize if my connections seem tenuous.

A note about the content:

This article presupposes a layperson's working knowledge of contemporary physics. For those seeking a beginner's guide to these matters may I suggest, Heinz Pagels, The Cosmic Code; Gary Zukov, The Dancing Wu Li Masters; Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond; Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics.

The Social Theory of Science And Technology
Dr. Stanley Aronowitz
Spring 1998, CUNY

Table of Contents Illustration

Part One: Describing the Field Introduction Autopoiesis and Structural Coupling Structural Coupling as Conservation; Conservation as "Adaptation" The Nature of "Restraint" and the Necessity of "Noise" Noise As The Perception of an Element Across the Boundaries of Logical Type The WhenWhere Where a Part Is Equal to a Whole Time can only have meaning to an individual, not to a category Is the Notion of "Being as Process" Which Informs Quantum Field Theory and Autopoietic Systems an Appropriate Meme Use For Analyzing Culture?

Part Two: The Shape of the Future, Considering Some Metaphors Introduction The Issue of Whether the Future Exists in Equilibrium Determined Time vs. Dynamic Time The Decoherent Phase Space and Transactional Supercausality Quantum Jumps Between Quantum Histories

Part Three: Some Tentative Conclusions Bibliography