{ "model": { "rank": 6210, "code": "thing-system-group", "model_id": "vr.tr.system-group", "name": "system", "purpose": "a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Society, people and institutions", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "SOC", "domain": "SOC.ORG", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/system-group/", "tier": 2, "score": 62, "payload": { "layer": "wordnet", "aliases": [ "reticulum", "neural network", "neural net", "reticular formation", "RF", "reticular activating system", "RAS", "accentual system", "prosodic system", "consonant system", "consonantal system", "morphophonemic system", "phonemic system", "phonological system", "phonologic system", "syllabicity", "tense system", "tone system", "tonal system", "vowel system", "vocalism", "language system", "feudalism", "feudal system", "patriarchy", "patriarchate", "matriarchy", "matriarchate", "meritocracy", "judiciary", "judicature", "judicatory", "judicial system", "capitalism", "capitalist economy", "venture capitalism", "industrialism", "market economy", "free enterprise", "private enterprise" ], "aliasCount": 91, "merged": 62, "knownIn": 0, "facets": { "substance": "social", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert", "mobility": "not-applicable", "scale": "not-applicable", "affordances": [ "observable" ] }, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "noun.group", "senseRank": 1, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "oewn:2024", "synset": "oewn-08452398-n", "ili": "i81450", "license": "CC BY 4.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T18:08:38Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-SYSTEM-GROUP", "registryId": "vr.tr.system-group", "name": "system", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "SOC.ORG" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/system-group/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.system-group", "name": "system", "purpose": "Let an agent explain system as a general concept, relay how systems theory describes elements, relations, boundaries and emergence with attribution, describe the networks the registry aliases name, and distinguish the general sense from specific systems, from methods and procedures and from the aliases as hyponyms.", "definition": "In the WordNet sense, a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole, the general notion of a system as studied in systems theory; the registry aliases name particular systems and networks from WordNet, such as a reticulum or network, a neural network or neural net, and the reticular formation or reticular activating system of the brainstem, which are specific kinds rather than synonyms.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a general concept.", "affordances": [ "explain the concept", "relay systems theory", "describe named systems", "distinguish related senses" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Elements and relations", "Boundaries", "Emergence", "Aliases are hyponyms" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; a set of related parts.", "visual_identification": [ "Interrelated elements forming a whole", "Reticulum, neural network, reticular formation, reticular activating system", "A method is a procedure; a specific system is an instance; the aliases are hyponyms" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "WordNet hypernym", "typical_range": "group, grouping", "unit": "note", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "general systems theory", "typical_range": "Ludwig von Bertalanffy, 1940s-1960s", "unit": "note", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "reticular activating system", "typical_range": "brainstem arousal network", "unit": "note", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "physical and biological systems", "social and technical systems", "networks such as reticula", "neural networks biological and artificial", "brain systems such as the reticular formation" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "group", "why": "in WordNet terms" }, { "relation": "is studied by", "target": "systems theory", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is exemplified by", "target": "reticular formation", "why": "a brain system" }, { "relation": "is exemplified by", "target": "neural network", "why": "a network system" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "WordNet", "value_or_pattern": "oewn-00031563-n", "note": "a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 for engineered systems" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Vagueness of the concept", "Treating hyponyms as synonyms", "Confusing biological and artificial neural networks" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a system is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a system in the general sense, and how does it differ from a method, a specific system and the named hyponyms?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about the concept, a field, a network or brain anatomy?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "examples", "name": "Examples", "description": "Named systems.", "findings": [ { "id": "examples-finding", "name": "Examples", "description": "Examples.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are a reticulum, neural networks, the reticular formation and the reticular activating system?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific system?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "theory", "name": "Theory", "description": "Systems theory.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "concepts", "name": "Concepts", "description": "Concepts.", "findings": [ { "id": "concepts-finding", "name": "Concepts", "description": "Concepts.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are elements, relations, boundaries, feedback and emergence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "schools", "name": "Schools", "description": "Schools.", "findings": [ { "id": "schools-finding", "name": "Schools", "description": "Schools.", "questions": [ { "text": "What did von Bertalanffy, Wiener and later systems thinkers propose, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "fields", "name": "Fields", "description": "Applications.", "rationale": "Application.", "layers": [ { "id": "engineering", "name": "Engineering", "description": "Systems engineering.", "findings": [ { "id": "engineering-finding", "name": "Engineering", "description": "Engineering.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is the system concept used in engineering and computing?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits systems engineering?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "brain", "name": "Brain", "description": "Brain systems.", "findings": [ { "id": "brain-finding", "name": "Brain", "description": "Brain.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does the reticular activating system do in arousal?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits reticular formation?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Language.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "senses", "name": "Senses", "description": "Other senses.", "findings": [ { "id": "senses-finding", "name": "Senses", "description": "Senses.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do the senses of system as method and as structure differ?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits method?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "networks", "name": "Networks", "description": "Networks.", "findings": [ { "id": "networks-finding", "name": "Networks", "description": "Networks.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are artificial neural networks related to biological ones?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits artificial neural network?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should the named systems be linked as separate entries?", "How should systems theory sources be linked?", "The registry aliases are hyponyms and should be recorded as kinds" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organisation or institution", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched.", "facetsInferred": false, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a system, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole", "characteristics": { "substance": "social", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: reticulum, neural network, neural net, reticular formation, RF, reticular activating system, RAS, accentual system, prosodic system, consonant system, consonantal system, morphophonemic system.", "62 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a system, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a social arrangement between people", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. Recognised by name, register entry and the people acting in its name, and those change while it stays the same body." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "reticulum", "neural network", "neural net", "reticular formation", "RF", "reticular activating system", "RAS", "accentual system", "prosodic system", "consonant system", "consonantal system", "morphophonemic system" ] } ], "standing": "62 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one system from another, and a system from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a system sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a system from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a system passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a system between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a system, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a system is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "people-and-responsibility", "name": "People, roles and responsibility", "description": "Who stands in what relation to a system.", "rationale": "Social things are defined by the relations people hold to them, and those relations change without the thing changing.", "layers": [ { "id": "roles-and-parties", "name": "Roles and parties", "description": "The roles that exist around a system and who fills them.", "findings": [ { "id": "role-assignments", "name": "Role assignments and their validity", "description": "Who holds which role over a system, from when, and on whose authority.", "questions": [ { "id": "role-assignments-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a role over a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a role over a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a role over a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "ownership-and-accountability", "name": "Ownership and accountability", "description": "Who answers for a system and who may decide about it.", "findings": [ { "id": "accountability", "name": "Accountability and decision rights", "description": "Where responsibility for a system sits when something goes wrong.", "questions": [ { "id": "accountability-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes responsibility for a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about responsibility for a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once responsibility for a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "legal-identity", "name": "Legal identity and mandate", "description": "What system is in law and what it exists to do.", "rationale": "Legal identity survives changes of name, address, staff and premises, which is exactly why it must be recorded separately from all of them.", "layers": [ { "id": "registration", "name": "Legal form and registration", "description": "Form, register, identifiers and jurisdiction.", "findings": [ { "id": "registration-record", "name": "Registration and identifiers", "description": "What names this body unambiguously in law.", "questions": [ { "id": "registration-record-q01", "text": "What legal form does system take, in which register, under which identifier?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "registration-record-q02", "text": "What survives a rename, a merger or a move of premises, and what does not?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mandate", "name": "Mandate and governing instrument", "description": "The purpose it is bound to and the document that binds it.", "findings": [ { "id": "mandate-record", "name": "Mandate and its source", "description": "What it may do, and the instrument that says so.", "questions": [ { "id": "mandate-record-q01", "text": "What is the mandate of system, and which founding or governing instrument grants it?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "mandate-record-q02", "text": "What lies outside the mandate, and what should an agent do when asked for it?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "governance-and-membership", "name": "Governance, membership and decision rights", "description": "Who decides in system and who belongs to it.", "rationale": "Authority inside an organisation is held by roles, not people, and an agent needs to know which role can commit it.", "layers": [ { "id": "decision-rights", "name": "Decision rights", "description": "Bodies, offices and what each may bind.", "findings": [ { "id": "authority-map", "name": "Who may bind the organisation", "description": "The offices that can commit it and their limits.", "questions": [ { "id": "authority-map-q01", "text": "Which bodies or offices of system may take which decisions, and up to what limit?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "authority-map-q02", "text": "What evidence shows that a given person currently holds that office?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "membership", "name": "Membership and affiliation", "description": "Who counts as part of it and on what terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "membership-rules", "name": "Membership and its evidence", "description": "Classes of member, how membership starts and ends.", "questions": [ { "id": "membership-rules-q01", "text": "What kinds of membership or affiliation does system have, and how does each begin and end?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "membership-rules-q02", "text": "What may a member do in its name, and what may they not?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a system came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a system and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a system is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a system, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a system, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a system is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }