[Fis] _ Re: _ Re: _ Towards a 3φ integrative medicine

[Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov]

Dear Colleagues,

the link to the PDF version of my thesis has changed:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39020576/Towards%20a%203%CF%86%20integrative%20medicine.pdf

For most browsers also the link to the text version at FIS should be
readable with small exceptions:
http://listas.unizar.es/pipermail/fis/2016-May/000955.html.

It is called "*[Fis] _ Towards a 3φ integrative medicine*" and began on
Saturday, May 14th.

Best wuishes,

Plamen





On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 7:03 AM, Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov <
plamen.l.simeo...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> for those whose email systems do not support special characters like Greek
> letters (s. first concept explained in note 1), I have placed a PDF version
> of my opening on the cloud:
> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39020576/Plamen-Intro.pdf.
> Please let me know if you register other problems in the communication.
>
> Best,
>
> Plamen
>
>
> 
>
>
> On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 9:49 AM, Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov <
> plamen.l.simeo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>>
>>
>> My contribution will finalize the discussion on phenomenology in the
>> domains of biology, mathematics, cyber/biosemiotics and physics by the
>> previous speakers (Maxine, Lou, Sœren and Alex) with a “challenging topic”
>> in *3φ integrative medicine*. *You may wish to skip the small font text
>> notes following each underscored phrase like the one below.*
>>
>>
>>
>> *Note 1:* Although this term is often used as synonym for holistic
>> healing (s. ref. list A), its meaning in this context with the prefix 3φ
>> goes much “deeper” into the disciplines’ integration leaving no room for
>> speculations by mainstream scientists. The concept is a linguistic choice
>> of mine for the intended merge of the complexity sciences *ph*ysics and
>> *ph*ysiology with *ph*enomenology for application in modern medicine
>> along the line of integral biomathics (s. ref. list B).
>>
>>
>>
>> It is rooted in the last presentation of Alex Hankey, since it naturally
>> provides the link from physics to physiology and medicine, and thus to an
>> anthropocentric domain implying a leading part of phenomenological studies.
>> To begin, I compiled a précis of Alex’ thesis about self-organized
>> criticality (s. ref. list C) from his paper “A New Approach to Biology and
>> Medicine” -- the download link to it was distributed in a previous email of
>> him -- and extended it with my reflections including some questions I hope
>> you will resonate on.
>>
>>
>> I am curious of your opinion about how to apply the scientific method,
>> and in particular mathematics and information science, to study illness and
>> recovery as complex phenomena.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Alex Hankey: self-organized criticality and regulation in living systems*
>>
>>
>>
>> *There is a continuous growth and change at the end of a phase transition
>> in an organism, i.e. at its critical point, which is the end point of phase
>> equilibrium.*
>>
>>
>>
>> *Both endo and exo, genetics and epigenetics are important for life.*
>>
>>
>>
>> *Self-organized criticality* is a characteristic state of a system at
>> its critical point generated by self-organization during a long transient
>> period at the complexity edge between order/stability/predictability and
>> disorder/chaos/unpredictability.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Regulation of growth, form and function as a balance between health and
>> illness.* The role of regulation and homeostasis in maintaining the
>> structure and function of living systems is critical. Every deviation from
>> a regulated state of being leads to imbalances, failures and subsystem
>> dysfunction that is usually transitory, but could also become
>> life-threatening, if the organism cannot find a way to restore quickly to a
>> balanced, healthy state. Living beings are robust and fault-tolerant with
>> respect to hazards; they possess multiple alternative pathways for
>> supplying and maintaining their existential functions. However, some state
>> transitions in response to severe harms can become practically
>> irreversible, because of the deep evolutionary interlocking between the
>> participating entities and processes. Sometimes the normal functioning of
>> the organism cannot be easily restored by its natural repair processes,
>> especially when adversities reoccur frequently, and the organism fails ill.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Synchronicity of action and information between the building blocks of a
>> living system.* There is a need for every physiological function to be
>> correctly coordinated with all other “peer” functions. Information flows
>> within a living system interconnect all physiological functions and organs
>> at multiple levels into a single mesh of regulatory interconnections.
>> Multiple feedback-control loops enable the cross-functional interlocking of
>> both healthy and ill state changes of the organism.
>> Adjacent/peripheral/secondary homeostasis 

Re: [Fis] Towards a 3φ integrative medicine

[Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov]

One more thing on the example with the heart failure. If you go to a
cardiologist with the same problem, s/he will prescribe a series of
exampinations related to your heart only (checking your blood pressure, EEG
& EMG tests incl. 24h recording and physical performance tests,  etc.).
Rarely you can expect a blood sample analysis related to some kidney or
liver failure, or a cervical examination because of a possible supply
shortage of the vertebral artery (in case you have reported accompanying
headaches) because of a grown bone spur with the first examination.
Finally, depending on all these tests you will usually obtain a pill
prescription to keep yopur blood pressure low for the rest of your life and
some advise to avoid salty and spicy food. Period. If you at some point in
time give up to find out and fix the real cause(s) for this "simple" heart
failure, it is your problem, and not the one of the physician or the
insurance company.

Now let's turn to the giraffe and the okapi and see how they have managed
to develop a strong heart with the evolution:
http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2016-news/Cavener5-2016
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/genes-reveal-clues-to-giraffes-long-neck/.
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160517/ncomms11519/full/ncomms11519.html

Thus, science can still give important clues to solving problems, incl.
what is a bonus or threat, but it is not the only source. The central issue
is the integration of knowledge and sign(al)s about the operation and
interaction of whole body systems, I think.

Best,

Plamen


On Wed, May 18, 2016 at 8:56 AM, Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov <
plamen.l.simeo...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> This is an interesting question, Karl. Without giving a full account, I
> think there can be said the following.
> It is usually not the (chemical) nature of a substrate or the availability
> of an external source that makes it a poison, but its ratio.
> Small amounts are harmless, larger amounts are dangerous. But there is no
> general recipe to detect harms.
> If you stay for 15 minutes on the sun (UV light) this will stimulate the
> production of vitamin D in your body which in turn will stimulate the
> strengthening of your bones. But if you stay longer, there is a danger of a
> sunstroke or melanoma. Our brains simply do not obtain all these alarming
> signals from damaging the (skin) cells to the production and cumulation of
> toxic substances. We have specific organs to sense color, smell and taste,
> but not radiation.
>
> The problem with contemporary (allopathic) medicine is that it is
> basically symptomatic and the diagnosis is usually reductionistic,
> detecting one source of damage related to the failed organ (heart, kidney,
> liver, etc.) associated with the ailment; so is the therapy, until a second
> or a third failure are detected and medicated sequentially and
> independently from each other. Yet, in most cases, the failures are
> occurring at the same time in multiple organs and systems, but we do not
> have the information about that to act, or the information comes too late
> and on an isolated place, covering the other alarm signals under the
> threshold of detection by the organism.
>
> However, if you go to a TCM practitioner with the complaint of e.g. heart
> palpitations as a symptom of restlessness after examining your pulse and
> tongue, you will obtain three medications (herbs): one for lowering the
> blood pressure, one for detoxifying the kidneys and one for detoxifying the
> liver. In addition to that you may become an acupuncture session for
> regulating the “qi/chi flow" inside the body - a substance which is a
> complete mystery for science - and a prescription of what to eat and how to
> sleep.
>
> So, decrypting the body sign(al)s in their multiplicity as result of the
> interaction of systems and organs is the clue. Regarding human bodies as
> licked buckets that need to be repaired from multiple punches is probably a
> good metaphor.
>
> Best,
>
> Plamen
>
>
> 
>
>
> On Wed, May 18, 2016 at 12:44 AM, Karl Javorszky  > wrote:
>
>> Just a small detail on the information density of food (air, water,
>> sensory input, etc.) in medicine:
>>
>> The DNA has a high informational value for the organism. Can it be said
>> that poison has also an informational value?
>>
>> Can the de-constructive effect of a substance quantified based on the
>> same semiotic system of references as the constructive effect of a
>> substance can be referred to in that same system of references?
>>
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>>
>
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Re: [Fis] Towards a 3φ integrative medicine

[Rafael Capurro]

Karl,
I think that the semiotic system of references or the 'world' in which 
an organism is embedded is indeed a condition of possibility for the in- 
or de-formational value for the organism (forms are transmitted 'as' 
messages). What is poison or what healthy for an organism depends on 
this context, they are second-order categories. In the case of us, 
humans, this context is not 'just' biological but also cultural, so that 
the 'information density' of food depends also on this culturally 
changing context. We eat also with our 'minds,' i.e. with our 
pre-conceptions of what is 'good' or 'bad' for us, in a given society, 
today: in a globalized and digitalized informational world.
I recommend you the books by Andoni Luis Aduriz, two star chef of the 
restaurant Mugaritz in the Pais Vasco

https://www.mugaritz.com/es/andoni-luis-aduriz/libros/c-2-22/
particularly the one written together with Daniel Innerarity: Cocinar, 
comer, convivir, Barcelona 2012 (other books also in English)
I/we had the privilege to meet Andoni personally last week and taste the 
magnificent food he and his team produces.

best
Rafael


Just a small detail on the information density of food (air, water, 
sensory input, etc.) in medicine:


The DNA has a high informational value for the organism. Can it be 
said that poison has also an informational value?


Can the de-constructive effect of a substance quantified based on the 
same semiotic system of references as the constructive effect of a 
substance can be referred to in that same system of references?




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--
Prof.em. Dr. Rafael Capurro
Hochschule der Medien (HdM), Stuttgart, Germany
Capurro Fiek Foundation for Information Ethics 
(http://www.capurro-fiek-foundation.org)
Distinguished Researcher at the African Centre of Excellence for Information 
Ethics (ACEIE), Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria, 
South Africa.
Chair, International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE) (http://icie.zkm.de)
Editor in Chief, International Review of Information Ethics (IRIE) 
(http://www.i-r-i-e.net)
Postal Address: Redtenbacherstr. 9, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
E-Mail: raf...@capurro.de
Voice: + 49 - 721 - 98 22 9 - 22 (Fax: -21)
Homepage: www.capurro.de

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