The Universal & Atomic Elements of Organization
A falsifiable scientific theory proposing that the same irreducible structures organize both thought and reality — from the quantum to the social scale.
O-Theory proposes that four irreducible structures — Distinctions, Systems, Relationships and Perspectives (DSRP) — form the universal grammar of organization. Rather than being merely useful ways of thinking, these structures are hypothesized to be the atomic elements from which every organized phenomenon emerges, whether in cognition, biology, physics, mathematics, society, or the cosmos.
| D | S | R | P |
| Distinctions | Systems | Relationships | Perspectives |
| Identity ↔ Other | Part ↔ Whole | Action ↔ Reaction | Point ↔ View |
| D := (i ↔ o) | S := (p ↔ w) | R := (a ↔ r) | P := (ṗ ↔ v) |
This is a living scientific evidence compendium: an open, continually evolving collection of independent empirical research, formal theory, mathematical proofs, cross-disciplinary analyses, applications, critiques, and proposed falsifications. Every entry is included because it supports, refines, challenges, or attempts to falsify the theory.
Scientific theories are strengthened not only by evidence that confirms their predictions, but also by surviving attempts to falsify them. This compendium brings both together: independent evidence from researchers who were not testing DSRP and proposed counterexamples evaluated against the formal theory.
One counterexample is enough to falsify O-Theory. Until then, the question remains: do the same four structures organize everything from quantum systems to human thought?
Independent convergence is one of the strongest forms of scientific evidence because researchers arrive at the same conclusion while investigating different questions for different reasons.
The number is not the point. Researchers in different fields, studying different questions with different methods, repeatedly arrived at the same structural predictions—almost always without testing DSRP or using its language.
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This compendium began as the peer-reviewed literature review “A Literature Review of the Universal and Atomic Elements of Complex Cognition,” published in the Journal of Systems Thinking with 109 studies. That paper is the peer-reviewed foundation. What you see here is its living, continuously updated version . New studies are checked before they are added, and the collection now holds and keeps growing. Open any card to see what the researchers found, why it bears on DSRP, and where the original review discusses it, the fuller account.
The collection is updated continuously, so the citation carries the date you consulted it rather than a study count — the count changes weekly, and putting it in the reference would make the same collection look like a different work to everyone who cites it. To cite a single claim or study, use its own address: every one has a permanent link.
This is the adversarial half of the compendium. Where the evidence track asks what converges on DSRP, this one asks what would end it: a single organized phenomenon whose structure needs a fifth pattern, a ninth element, or a fifth structural dynamic. It holds written up from candidates across territories, and resolutions — the general answers those cases settle against. Every case is published whether it held or failed, including the ones still open.
Cite this rather than the evidence collection when the point is what survived attack. The two are separate works with separate addresses: one asks what converges on the theory, the other asks what would end it, and a reference to the first does not support a claim about the second. Case and resolution numbers change when the record is revised, so cite a case by its own permanent link rather than by number.
This collection is meant to keep growing. Send us a study, paper, book or critique that bears on DSRP, whether it supports the theory or cuts against it, and we will read it and decide whether it belongs.
Authors Liuhong Yang, Xuesong Pei, Jinsong Sun, Jing Shao, Hui Deng, Liangliang Hou
Year 2026
Publisher Journal of Archaeological Science
Kind of work article
Discipline Archaeology
Applied false
Read it at the publisher 10.1016/j.jas.2026.106518
To reveal dietary variations among the past populations on the eve of proto-state formation in the Hetao region, this study conducted AMS-14C dating and stable isotope analysis on human and faunal bones from the Zhaishan site, Shaanxi, China. Results show that most humans with direct AMS-14C dating (4084-3575 cal BP) subsisted primarily on millet-based food with inter-individual variability in animal protein consumption. Individuals from the highest-status tombs accessed more animal protein. Occupants of other burial types consumed fewer animal protein. The marginalized groups in ash pits almost had no access to animal protein. Subadults consumed consistently high levels of animal protein, whereas adult consumption patterns correlated positively with social status. Meanwhile, adult males consumed more animal protein than females. These dietary disparities shed light on social stratification and a trend toward the rise of male-biased inequality, providing direct evidence for sociopolitical complexity on the eve of proto-state formation in the Hetao region.
To investigate dietary variation among populations at the Zhaishan site prior to Chinese proto-state formation in the Hetao region.
Human and faunal bone samples from the Zhaishan site, Shaanxi, China; 7 human bones dated by AMS-14C and 146 samples analyzed for stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes.
AMS-14C radiocarbon dating combined with stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen, compared across burial types, age classes, and sexes.
Isotope analysis showed that individuals in the highest-status tombs consumed the most animal protein, occupants of other burial types consumed progressively less, and individuals in marginalized ash-pit burials had almost no access to animal protein, with adult males also consuming more animal protein than adult females.
The findings describe a nested social system of ranked burial groups distinguished by sharply different diets, with social status functioning as the relationship that determines access to animal protein.
Patterns it shows D, S, R
Added 2026-09-26
How to cite this Liuhong Yang, Xuesong Pei, Jinsong Sun, Jing Shao, Hui Deng, Liangliang Hou (2026). Social complexity and hierarchy in the Hetao region on the eve of Chinese proto-state formation by isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science.