Environmental Biodynamics : A New Science of How the Environment Interacts with Human Health

**Is there a central scientific theory governing how human physiology interacts with the environment?** Our environment exerts a profound effect on our health and well-being. Yet, the rules guiding such interaction between individual human physiology and the environment remain elusive. While various disciplines have emerged studying components and base interactions of each system, no method has successfully predicted the dynamic behavior between these complex systems in real time. __Environmental Biodynamics__ offers a daring new inquiry into our environment and its impact on human health. Moving beyond a reductionist view of human physiology and the environment, this volume proposes a fundamental shift in environmental health science from quantifying structural relationships, such as static measures of environmental factors or momentary health indicators, to studying functional interdependencies in time. Across six chapters, the authors weave together the latest research from biology, environmental science, theoretical physics, mathematics, and philosophy to explore their Biodynamic Interface Theory, which states that complex systems connect primarily through a dynamic, operationally independent interface that regulates the bidirectional interactions between systems over time. Later chapters compare the proposed theory against current practice and provide suggestions for further methods of data collection and computational analysis. Supported by vivid full-color diagrams and a wealth of original data, __Environmental Biodynamics__ is an accessible theoretical guide to this promising new field of environmental health Cover 1 Environmental Biodynamics 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Foreword 10 Preface 14 1 Introduction to Environmental Biodynamics 16 Introduction 16 What to Expect from This Book 19 Aims and Scope of Environmental Biodynamics 20 Complexity and the Need for Precision Environmental Medicine 21 Contrasting Environmental Biodynamics and Other -​Omic Sciences 26 Principles of Environmental Biodynamics 29 Chapter 1 Summary 34 2 The Lens of “Thingness”: Structuralism, Reductionism, and Simplicity 37 How Did We Arrive at the Current Worldview of Health? 37 Structuralism, Reductionism, and Simplicity 39 A Puzzle for You 41 Environmental Biodynamics: Rethinking the Role of Time in Environmental Health Research 46 Incorporating Biodynamics and the Shape of Change into Population Health 50 A Hard Lesson to Learn: Repeated Structural Analyses Do Not Equal a Functional Interpretation (Case Study) 56 Chapter 2 Summary 62 3 The Shape of Change: Complexity, Organization, and Chaos 64 Complexity and Organization 64 The Essentiality of Biodynamic Interfaces 68 The Organization of Interfaces: Determinism, Stochasticity, and Chaos 69 Attractor Reconstruction: The Shape of Change 71 Incorporating Biodynamics and the Shape of Change into Precision Medicine 75 Environmental Biodynamics and Environmental Medicine (Case Studies) 82 Chapter 3 Summary 88 4 The Process of Interdependence: Temporal Dynamics of Biodynamic Interfaces 91 Introduction 91 Models of Interdependence 92 Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions and the “n-​Body Problem” 96 Incorporating Dynamic Interdependence in Environmental Medicine (Case Study) 100 Chapter 4 Summary 106 5 The Geometry of Health: Patterns, Structures, Forms, and Constraints 108 Dimensions of Health and Disease 108 Patterns, Structures, Forms, and Constraints in Biological Systems 109 Discrete and Integrated Assessments of Biological Dimensionality 115 Leveraging Patterns, Structures, Forms, and Constraints in Health Research (Case Study) 120 Chapter 5 Summary 121 6 The Layers of Life: Emergent Complexity and Self-​Organization 125 General Systems Theory as a Unifying Framework 126 Emergent Complexity and Self-​Organization 128 Emergence and Self-​Organization in Environmental Medicine 130 How Does Environmental Biodynamics Fit into Systems Theory? 132 How Does This Perspective Relate to Traditional Structural Views? 135 Implications of Environmental Biodynamics for Environmental Health Sciences 136 Our Verse (Conclusion) 138 Appendix: Operationalizing Environmental Biodynamics 142 The Questions Defining an Environmental Biodynamics Approach 142 Set 1: On the Organization of Systems 143 Set 2: On Constraints and Interdependence 146 Set 3: On Emergence and Self-​Organization 147 Empirical Methods to Study the Organization of Environmental Biodynamics 147 Computational Methods to Study the Organization of Environmental Biodynamics 150 Design and Theoretical Implications 154 Index 158 "Is there a central scientific theory governing how human physiology interacts with the environment? Our environment exerts a profound effect on our health and well-being. Yet, the rules guiding such interaction between individual human physiology and the environment remain elusive. While various disciplines have emerged studying components and base interactions of each system, no method has successfully predicted the dynamic behavior between these complex systems in real time. Environmental Biodynamics offers a daring new inquiry into our environment and its impact on human health. Moving beyond a reductionist view of human physiology and the environment, this volume proposes a fundamental shift in environmental health science from quantifying structural relationships, such as static measures of environmental factors or momentary health indicators, to studying functional interdependencies in time. Across six chapters, the authors weave together the latest research from biology, environmental science, theoretical physics, mathematics, and philosophy to explore their Biodynamic Interface Theory, which states that complex systems connect primarily through a dynamic, operationally independent interface that regulates the bidirectional interactions between systems over time. Later chapters compare the proposed theory against current practice and provide suggestions for further methods of data collection and computational analysis. Supported by vivid full-color diagrams and a wealth of original data, Environmental Biodynamics is an accessible theoretical guide to this promising new field of environmental health." -- Publisher's description "The book provides a new conceptual framework to explain the interaction of complex systems, specifically humans and their environment. It proposes that human physiology and the environment do not “connect” with each other in a direct, unidirectional manner, like a beaker pouring water into a cup. Rather, the authors propose the Biodynamic Interface Conjecture with the central axiom that complex systems cannot interact directly or exist in isolation due to temporally embedded functional interdependencies within and between systems. The authors propose that human physiology and the environment contribute to the formation of an interface, and by doing so they give rise to an intermediary that guides the interaction by letting some influences pass between the systems while restricting others. This proposition counters many structural approaches that assume that complex systems, such as the environment and humans, can transfer information directly between them while remaining discrete entities. Although developed for environmental health sciences, the conjecture has broader implications for the study of complex system interactions across various levels of organization, and the central role of time and temporal dynamics in system-to-system information exchange. This conjecture also argues against causal paradigms that (incorrectly) assume that systems are distinct entities interacting directly and ignore boundary conditions, and organizational levels, and complexity inherent in biological and environmental systems"--Publisher's description 'Environmental Biodynamics' offers a daring new inquiry into our environment and its impact on human health by redefining how we conceptualise interactions between complex systems Environmental Biodynamics offers a daring new inquiry into our environment and its impact on human health by redefining how we conceptualize interactions between complex systems.