This book is devoted to the study of human thought, its systemic structure, and the historical development of mathematics both as a product of thought and as a fascinating case analysis. After demonstrating that systems research constitutes the second dimension of modern science, the monograph discusses the yoyo model, a recent ground-breaking deve

Dr. Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest, also known as Yi Lin, holds all his educational degrees (BS, MS, and PhD) in pure mathematics from Northwestern University (China) and Auburn University (USA) and had one year of postdoctoral experience in statistics at Carnegie Mellon University (USA). Currently, he is a guest and specially appointed professor in economics, finance, systems science, and mathematics at several major universities in China, including Huazhong University of Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a tenured professor of mathematics at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (Slippery Rock campus). Since 1993, he has been serving as the president of the International Institute for General Systems Studies, Inc. Along with various professional endeavors he organized, Dr. Forrest has had the honor to mobilize scholars from over 80 countries representing more than 50 different scientific disciplines.
Over the years, he has served on the editorial boards of 11 professional journals, including Kybernetes: The International Journal of Cybernetics, Systems and Management Sciences, Journal of Systems Science and Complexity, International Journal of General Systems, and Advances in Systems Science and Applications. And, he is the editor of the book series entitled "Systems Evaluation, Prediction and Decision-Making", and the editor of the book series "Communications in Cybernetics, Systems Science and Engineering", both published by Taylor and Francis with the former since 2008 and the latter since 2011.

Some of Dr. Forrest's research was funded by the United Nations, the State of Pennsylvania, the National Science Foundation of China, and the German National Research Center for Information Architecture and Software Technology.

Professor Jeffrey Forrest's professional career started in 1984 when his first paper was published. His research interests are mainly in the area of systems research and applications in a wide-ranging number of disciplines of the traditional science, such as mathematical modeling, foundations of mathematics, data analysis, theory and methods of predictions of disastrous natural events, economics and finance, management science, philosophy of science, etc. As of the end of the summer of 2013, he had published over 300 research papers and over 40 monographs and edited special topic volumes by such prestigious publishers as Academic Press, Elsevier, Kluwer Academic, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Wiley, World Scientific, and others. Throughout his career, Dr. Jeffrey Forrest's scientific achievements have been recognized by various professional organizations and academic publishers. In 2001, he was inducted into the honorary fellowship of the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics.

PART 1 Basics 1

1 Where everything starts 1.1 Systems research: The second dimension of knowledge 1.1.1 A brief history 1.1.2 Numbers and systems, what is the difference? 1.1.3 Challenges systems science faces 1.1.4 Intuition and playground of systems research 1.2 The background to the systemic yoyo model 1.2.1 The theoretical foundation 1.2.2 The empirical foundations 1.2.3 The social foundations 1.2.4 Unevenness implies spinning 1.3 Problems addressable by using systems thinking and methodology 1.3.1 Kinds of problems systems researchers address 1.3.2 Is 1+1 really 2? 1.3.3 An example of how modern science resolves problems 1.3.4 New frontiers of knowledge 1.4 Some successful applications of systemic yoyos model 1.4.1 Some recent achievements 1.4.2 How a workplace is seen as a spinning field 1.4.3 Fluids in yoyo fields? 1.5 Organization of this book

2 Elementary properties of systemic yoyos 2.1 Quark structure of systemic yoyo fields 2.1.1 The spin of systemic yoyos 2.1.2 The quark structure of systemic yoyos 2.1.3 The field structure of electrons 2.2 Systemic yoyo fields and their structures 2.2.1 The formation of yoyo fields 2.2.2 Classification of yoyo fields 2.2.3 The Coulomb's law for particle yoyos 2.2.4 The eddy fields of yoyos 2.2.5 Movement of yoyo dipoles in yoyo fields 2.2.5.1 Movement of yoyo dipoles in uniform yoyo fields 2.2.5.2 Movement of yoyo dipoles in uneven yoyo fields 2.2.5.3 The concept of yoyo flux 2.3 States of motion 2.3.1 The first law on state of motion 2.3.2 The second law on state of motion 2.3.3 The third law on state of motion 2.3.4 The fourth law on state of motion 2.3.5 Validity of figurative analysis

PART 2 The mind

3 Human body as a system 3.1 Systems and fundamental properties 3.1.1 Systems: What are they? 3.1.2 Structures and subsystems 3.1.3 Levels 3.2 Looking at human body more traditionally 3.2.1 Basic elements of Chinese traditional medicine 3.2.2 Brief history of Chinese traditional medicine 3.2.3 Modern interest in acupuncture 3.2.4 The meridian system 3.3 System and its environment 3.3.1 Environments 3.3.2 Open systems and close systems 3.3.3 Systems on dynamic sets 3.3.4 Dynamic subsystems 3.3.5 Interactions between systems 3.4 A grand theory about man and nature 3.4.1 Tao Te Ching: The classic 3.4.2 The purpose of Tao Te Ching 3.4.3 Modern systems research in Tao Te Ching 3.4.4 Some final words

4 The four human endowments 4.1 Self-awareness: The first endowment 4.1.1 The origin of self-awareness (self-consciousness) 4.1.2 Existence of core identity 4.1.3 Self-consciousness and selection of thoughts and actions 4.1.4 Self-awareness and cultural emphasis 4.1.5 Maintenance of self-motivation and self-determination 4.2 Imagination: The second endowment 4.2.1 Mechanism over which imagination works and functions 4.2.2 Formation of philosophical values and beliefs 4.2.3 Imagination more important than knowledge? 4.2.4 How imagination reassembles known ideas/facts for innovative uses 4.2.5 Imagination converts adversities, failures, and mistakes into assets 4.3 Conscience: The third endowment 4.3.1 The functionality of conscience 4.3.2 Conscience, behavior, thought and action 4.3.3 How conscience is affected by culture 4.3.4 Is world conscience possible? 4.4 Free will: The fourth endowment 4.4.1 Systemic mechanism of free will 4.4.2 Rational agents and uncertainty 4.4.3 Laws of nature and causal determinacy 4.4.4 Moral responsibility and free will 4.5 A few final words

5 Character and thought 5.1 Human effectiveness 5.1.1 Systemic yoyo model of character 5.1.2 Attraction of character 5.1.3 Laws that govern effectiveness 5.1.4 Difficulty of breaking loose from undesirable habits 5.1.5 Working with desire 5.2 Thoughts and consequences 5.2.1 Formation of thought 5.2.2 Thoughts and desirable outcomes 5.2.3 Controlling, guiding, and directing the mind 5.2.4 Mental creation and physical materialization 5.2.5 Mental inertia 5.3 Desire 5.3.1 Desire in terms of systemic yoyo model 5.3.2 Origin of desire 5.3.3 Power of desire 5.3.4 Desire and extraordinary capability 5.3.5 Artificial installment of desire 5.4 Enthusiasm and state of mind 5.4.1 Systemic mechanism of enthusiasm 5.4.2 Leadership and enthusiasm 5.4.3 Kindling and maintaining the fire of enthusiasm burning 5.4.4 The working of self suggestion 5.4.5 Importance of self control 5.5 Some final comments

PART 3 Mathematics seen as a systemic flow:A case study

6 A brief history of mathematics 6.1 The start 6.1.1 How basics of arithmetic were naturally applied 6.1.2 Mathematics evolves with human society 6.1.3 Birth of modern mathematics 6.2 First crisis in the foundati…