Research Programs
The Institute maintains three research programs with defined analytic dependencies. Each program addresses a distinct class of scientific questions, specifies its own object of analysis, and follows an independent publication pathway.
System Existence Theory (SET) establishes when a candidate unit qualifies as a system at a stated boundary. The General Theory of Interpretation (GTOI) governs how interpretation operates over admissible objects. Transformation Science examines coordinated change as a transformation attempt once systemhood and interpretation are already admissible.
General Theory of Interpretation (GTOI)
The General Theory of Interpretation examines interpretation as a system: how people, institutions, and automated environments determine what is occurring when information is incomplete, mediated, or contested.
GTOI governs interpretive admissibility, claim formation, boundary relevance for interpretation, and interpretive responsibility. It operates over admissible objects and does not establish existence conditions.
This program publishes Meaning System Science (MSS), including the Institute’s interpretation canon, official terminology, applied research, and technical standards for meaning-system reliability.
→ View the Canon Overview
→ View the Domain of Interpretation
→ View the Official Terminology
Transformation Science
Transformation Science examines coordinated change attempts as a distinct class of time-extended events under constraint. It treats the transformation attempt as its primary object of analysis and specifies when coordinated change can be analyzed as a coherent attempt rather than as a collection of initiatives or activities.
The program analyzes attempt trajectories, failure modes, and termination states without prescribing methods, roles, or governance actions.
Transformation Science presumes System Existence Theory and the General Theory of Interpretation. It does not establish systemhood and it does not model interpretive mechanisms.
→ View the Program Overview
→ View the Transformation Breakdown Signatures
→ See Transformation Management
System Existence Theory (SET)
System Existence Theory specifies conditions under which a candidate unit qualifies as a system at a stated boundary. It addresses a prior question to system modeling and evaluation: whether systemhood holds before behavioral, functional, or performance claims are formed.
SET establishes systemhood conditions including systemic separability, continuity, and unit identity. Its definitions are governed within the SET corpus and are not derived from interpretive or managerial frameworks.
SET does not address behavior, function, optimization, meaning, or interpretation.
→ View the Program Overview
→ View the Theory in Context
