WorldBuilders: A Systems Approach

Through experience, observation, experimentation and even belief, I have come to understand what some of my ancestors who lived on this continent long ago knew: that all things are connected. As Vine DeLoria puts it: "The universe is a unity." Far from being a metaphysical philosophy, we call this perceptional reality a "system" in science. Systemic thinking realizes that all things are connected. Every process has multiple inputs that, when introduced into the system, not only affect the system dynamics, but can feed back into the inputs themselves further changing the system.   Western European & American industrial revolutionary thinking is limited to that of an assembly line: start-middle-end. Practical, linear and teleological. But indigenous and other cultures always knew that the universe works in cycles—from planetary rotation making the sun seem to rise and set to revolutions and axial tilts causing the progression of seasons to the natural cycles of life, water, nitrogen, circulation, weather, plate tectonics, etc. Even little things can influence a system, and those part not considered "practical" may indeed be very important and influential. Systems-thinking can also be applied to chaotic systems of culture, economics, politics, sociology and psychology, not to predict outcomes, but to help notice the complexities of multiple inputs.   My approach to worldbuilding takes a systems-theory view. I view all things connected through the transfer and transformation of energy: starting with physical energy. Thus, my theory of worldbuilding starts with what I consider the fundamental building block of the entire universe—stars—and works either up or down from that point.   In this series, we will demonstrate the building of worlds, starting with the local star. It may seem that this is just necessary for hard science fiction, but even magical fanstasy, historical, punk-genre, and even modern "slice of life" worlds can benefit by looking at your universe as the flow of energy in a system. Readers might also think that this approach could be too complex, cumbersome, and unnecesary. But these articles will attempt to help the worldbuilder by setting up simple building blocks that will enable them to grow their worlds and avoid the contradictions that can occur by just jumping in without forethought. We'll keep Occom's and Einstein's razor axiom in mind: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."