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 Shingo Tanaka, Masatoshi Saiki, Yukie Takemura
Year 2026
Publisher Japan Journal of Nursing Science
Kind of work article
Discipline Medicine
Secondary disciplines Psychology
Applied false
Read it at the publisher 10.1111/jjns.70075
Aim: Effective discharge planning requires ward nurses to understand the circumstances of receiving facilities. Perspective-taking—the active cognitive process of imagining another party's situation—may play a central role in promoting interfacility collaboration. This study examined a theoretical process model that positions perspective-taking, nurses' boundary-crossing experiences, and their collaborative practice in discharge planning. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with acute care nurses in Japan in 2021. Perspective-taking and collaborative practice in discharge planning were measured using validated scales. Boundary-crossing experiences, encompassing other-facility experience and interaction opportunities with external professionals, were assessed using newly developed measures. Structural equation modeling was employed to evaluate the fit of the proposed theoretical model. Results: Data from 416 respondents were analyzed. Perspective-taking was significantly associated with collaborative practice in discharge planning (p < 0.05). Both other-facility experience and interaction opportunities were significantly associated with perspective-taking (p < 0.05). The theoretical process model met the criteria for good fit (comparative fit index = 0.93; root mean square error of approximation = 0.07; standardized root mean square residual = 0.05). Conclusions: The results indicate that ward nurses' boundary-crossing experiences are positively associated with perspective-taking, and perspective-taking supports collaborative practice in discharge planning. Providing nurses with diverse facility experiences and external interactions could promote interfacility collaboration.
To test a process model linking nurses' boundary-crossing experiences, perspective-taking, and collaborative practice in discharge planning.
416 acute care nurses in Japan
Cross-sectional online survey in 2021 using validated scales and newly developed boundary-crossing measures, analyzed with structural equation modeling.
Both other-facility experience and interaction opportunities were positively associated with perspective-taking, which in turn was associated with collaborative practice in discharge planning, and the model fit well (CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.07, SRMR = 0.05).
Taking the vantage point of a receiving facility mediates between crossing institutional boundaries and coordinated action across the relationship between two care settings.
Patterns it shows R, P
Added 2026-09-29
How to cite this Shingo Tanaka, Masatoshi Saiki, Yukie Takemura (2026). Relationship Between Perspective-Taking, Boundary-Crossing Experiences, and Collaborative Practice in Discharge Planning Among Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study. Japan Journal of Nursing Science.