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The life form of civilizations

Yi Lin (School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, People's Republic of China and Department of Mathematics, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, USA)
Bailey Forrest (Grove City, Pennsylvania, USA)

Kybernetes

ISSN: 0368-492X

Article publication date: 16 March 2010

472

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the mechanism underlying three fascinating problems that have been investigated by many first class scholars in sociology throughout history.

Design/methodology/approach

The thinking logic and figurative method of the general systemic yoyo model, combined with laboratory experiments, are collectively employed to present a brand new methodology for the study of three unsettled problems in the research of civilizations.

Findings

The paper provides novel explanations for such fascinating but unsettled problems as: what factors determine whether a civilization is to live or die? What brings prosperity to a specific geographic region? How does a new emerging or reviving civilization adopt elements of existing or other civilizations to build or reconstruct its own organizational structure?

Originality/value

This paper presents how laws and conclusions developed in systems science in general and the systemic yoyo model in particular can bring forward tangible results in social science with solid scientific merits. Considering the importance of the conclusions drawn in this paper, it is expected that this paper will produce results that can be truly useful for policy makers at national and international levels.

Keywords

Citation

Lin, Y. and Forrest, B. (2010), "The life form of civilizations", Kybernetes, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 357-366. https://doi.org/10.1108/03684921011021525

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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