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.
Rodriguez J, Journal of Systems Thinking 2(1):1-16, 2022
To better understand how Cornell handled the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to map the university's response and interaction with the virus. I completed an economics course in undergrad at Cornell on the economics of higher education which spurred my interest in mapping Cornell's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of the mapping comes from prerequisite knowledge I acquired from the course. The backwards economics and administrative deadweight loss that occurs as a result of academic organizational madness is very intriguing so I wanted to map how exactly Cornell was so effective in their response strategy. Initially, dealing with the ramifications of an unprecedented global health crisis in the Spring 2020 proved to be a difficult and chaotic endeavor for university administration. University leadership had to provide directions to stakeholders throughout the Ithaca community to ensure that students returned home safely without causing an outbreak in the community. Additionally, given that the faculty and staff are populated with many older individuals, there was a genuine need to ensure de-densifying of the Cornell campus. After the chaos, it was discovered that Cornell's handling of the pandemic was uniquely effective among large research universities. The university's handling of the pandemic was featured on various new outlets as a result. In the Fall 2020 semester, in-person and hybrid instructions resumed, bringing the campus back despite the presence of a life-threatening virus. Despite this, the campus managed to remain open throughout the 2020-2021 school year which cannot be said for many other colleges and universities. Therefore, Cornell's handling of the pandemic provides the perfect opportunity for a map to better understand how the university used channels to ensure safety while under semi-normal operations.
Cornell's handling proved uniquely effective among large research universities — the campus stayed open all year — and the map traces the channels that kept the community safe under semi-normal operations.
A systems map of one university's pandemic response, built with Cabrera's Agent-Based Approach. A worked application on a live case, with no comparison against institutions that handled it differently.