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.
Kossack, 2026, Master of Fine Arts thesis, Department of Film and Media Arts, Syracuse University (SURFACE repository) — Arts & Humanities
Patterns: Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives
Applies Cabrera's DSRP theory by name as the analytic lens for understanding satire as a cognitive phenomenon that restructures an audience's mental models.
Kossack argues that satire works by engaging preexisting mental models and then “subverting and reorganizing them to generate new meaning.” Satire challenges familiar distinctions, systems, relationships, and perspectives, allowing audiences to reconsider assumptions and perceive meanings they may not have noticed before. He further proposes that humor and absurdity can reduce instinctive rejection of difficult material, creating space for empathy, reflection, and more complex critical thought.
Kossack explored the relationship between satire and systems thinking, using DSRP as a framework for understanding how satire works as a cognitive process. He analyzed well-known satirical films and three of his own films to examine how storytelling, writing, directing, cinematography, and visual design can challenge and reorganize audiences’ existing mental models.
In this thesis, I explore the relationship between satire and systems thinking, drawing on the DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives) theory of Systems Thinking developed by Dr. Derek Cabrera as a lens through which to examine satire as both a creative and cognitive phenomenon. In my view, satire functions not merely as a tonal mode of storytelling but as a deliberate cognitive engagement that operates on the audience's preexisting mental models, subverting and reorganizing them to generate new meaning. Referencing well-known satirical works of cinema, including Dr. Strangelove and Brazil, I aim to articulate how satire uses humor and absurdity to bypass instinctual rejection of difficult subject matter, creating space for empathetic and critical reflection. I then apply this framework to three of my own films, Perfect Family of the Brighter Tomorrow (2024), Don't Drink Coffee (2025), and Man of the Moment (2026), examining how writing, directing, cinematography, and mise-en-scene function in concert to produce satirical meaning around the themes of wealth, class, generations, privilege, and power.
These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.