Composition Relationship
When we talk about implementation, it is important to keep in mind the main relationships within systems, known as the “part-whole” relationship—also referred to as composition or assembly relationships.
Engineers often refer to this as a system breakdown. The key aspect of systems is system breakdowns. The levels of this breakdown are what we call system levels. A system constructor is highly skilled at breaking down any subject area into system levels, depending on different contexts (subjects of interest).
These breakdowns are created by the attention of a person in a role, or by a team; nothing is physically broken apart in the real world! If we use our attention to break down an elephant into its trunk, ears, legs, tail, and so on, it does not mean we have physically separated these parts from the body. We have, for some purpose[1], identified these parts of the elephant with our attention! Moreover, we have identified the entire elephant as a part of the physical world with our attention! After all, it was the elephant itself that we needed. We can go further and identify a group of elephants, and then the savanna, where other animals live alongside elephants. In this way, we use our attention to distinguish several system levels.
The main approach to breakdowns is either from part to whole or from whole to part, relative to the 4D dimension. In 3D, things are more or less clear: the wing and fuselage are parts of an airplane, the fuel pump is part of the engine, which in turn is part of the airplane. If we accept that all systems exist not just in physical space, but in space-time, then the entire discussion about different states of a system or its various roles becomes a discussion about parts in time. For example, an egg is simply a part of a butterfly in time—while the butterfly is in the “egg” stage, there is no other “butterfly” occupying the egg’s place in the physical world.
Thus, the states of a system or its roles can be treated as separate objects, and they can be given distinct names. A butterfly in the “egg” stage is called an “egg.” John Smith, while ill, is called a “patient.” Here, “patient” is simply a role or state of John Smith.
Dividing a system into parts—especially when it comes to time—is a complex skill. It needs to be practiced. You will need to start by understanding the composition relationship. Unfortunately, intuition often fails us here. Systems thinking is counterintuitive, so sometimes the help of an instructor is needed. In addition, it is important to practice by solving educational problems. We will identify system levels in Section 5, but in this section, try to identify a subsystem, a sub-subsystem, and a supersystem within a system.
For certain purposes, for example, to eat the elephant piece by piece. ↩︎