| Key Elements |
| Autonomous agent |
Anything or anyone capable of making its/their own decisions and executing their own actions. |
| System |
A group of autonomous agents that have aligned their actions by means of a shared agreement, coercion or fact of evolution. |
| Organization |
A system that is also an autonomous agent. |
| Participant |
An autonomous agent operating within a system. |
| Part of a system |
A participant within a system that is also an organization |
| Most inclusive part |
A part of an organization in which all parts and participants have mebership rights. |
| Fractal (noun) |
A part of a system that has the same complexity as the whole system, and which shares its defining pattern. |
| Boundary |
A practical definition that distinguishes the parts and participants within a system from those individuals and entities that are not. |
| Agreement |
A shared bond among participants and parts, the adherence to which can be observed. |
| Protocol |
The most compact agreement to which every part and participant must adhere to be recognized as operating within a system. Also called "core system agreement." |
| Purpose |
The motivation for parts and participants to operate within a system, and the reason for the system to exist. Ideally, a purpose is an element of the protocol. |
| Principles |
A description of the parameters that guide the behavior of parts and participants within a system. Ideally, a set of principles is an element of the protocol. |
| Descriptors of Distributed Systems and Organizations |
| Fractal (adj) |
Also called "self-similar across scales." |
| Self-organizing |
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| Self-referential |
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| Autopoietic |
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| Recursive |
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