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A metasystem transition is fundamentally a process of systems formation. A metasystem transition
results in the creation of a new system, and thus new entities which are
stable at a higher level of analysis.
Following the metasystem transition the entities (now subsystems) are under the control of
the new system. The behavior of the whole is constrained by the parts (a
"reductionistic" view), but the behavior of the parts is at the same
time constrained by the whole (a "holistic" view). The control of the
metasystem decreases the freedom of the subsystems: they are constrained,
perhaps not entirely, by the metasystem into certain pathways of activity
(see cite{CAD90}).
The new systemic level has its own attributes, and its own variability.
Thus the total freedom of the overall metasystem now becomes split into
two: that of the parts and that of the whole. How that freedom is
distributed is a crucial question, and has some extremes. While the freedom
of the subsystems is decreased, the overall freedom and adaptivity of the
overall system may increases.
We can identify one limit as an isolated system, in particular an
isolated thermodynamic system. As is well known cite{ROW82}, under these
conditions the thermodynamic system goes to equilibrium, and the
macroscopic properties of the metasystem (pressure, temperature) become
completely stable, and show no variation. Simultaneously, according to the
second law, the statistical entropy, and thus the variation, of the
subsystems (the molecular components) is maximized. Thus under these
conditions the entire freedom of the system is "pushed down" to the
components: maximal stability of the whole is traded for maximal
instability of the parts.
The converse case where the parts become completely constrained occurs in
the case of a machine. The structure of a machine constrains its parts
along deterministic pathways cite{ASR56}.
