CauseF ♦ Manual

CauseF manual (v. 4.5)

System requirements and installation

Win 10 64-bit. Freeware.

Download causef64setup.zip (10MB) and extract causef64setup.exe. Run the file and follow the prompts.

Please check Disclaimer and legal notices → Digital environments.

Quick start

Click on the shortcut or CauseF_64.exe in the program's install folder and the Main window comes up. Go to Settings and operations → Grid | Spheres | Planets or use the Ctrl+O hotkey within the Main window. This opens the Settings window. To start with the default settings use the Alt+G hotkey to open the Grid window under the Grid tab, Alt+S to open the Spheres window under the Spheres tab, and Alt+P for the Planets window under the Planets tab. You can also open the basic options for the Planets by going to Settings and operations → Planets defaults to define the fast-save file name, the Planets (and Spheres) window size, the initial number of planets, their default colour, and the width of the planets' paths.

Position any of the windows to suit (and perhaps resize them). Their positions etc will be stored.

Contents

Overview
Grid - Key points, Settings window, Grid window
Spheres - Key points, Settings window, Spheres window
Planets - Key points, Settings window, Planets window , Planets defaults window
Contact and bug report
Copyright and credits, history

Overview

CauseF is designed to illustrate the nature of cause and effect relationships in complex, dynamic systems.

Whereas in linear systems there is an identifiable cause pointing to some particular effect, or an effect is observed which can be traced to some particular cause, in complex, dynamic systems such an approach is virtually impossible.

See The mechanics of chaos: a primer for the human mind for the underlying reasons in terms of chaos and its ramifications; and how this relates to human activity systems, The 10 axioms of Society.

Complex dynamic systems are nonlinear. CauseF provides three modules. A Grid where its squares are subject to mutual influences depending on the probabilities inherent in each square; Spheres, where balls are bouncing off each other and the walls with their velocities derived from the collisions defining their subsequent behaviour; and Planets, where spheres (the 'planets') orbit around a centre (the 'sun') under the influence of their respective force fields, with the force fields defined by mass and distance.

In all the modules the elements (squares, balls, planets) are initially defined from the outside by the user, but once the system gets under way what each element will be doing at any given moment is subject to the mutual influences generated by the entire system - the aggregate dynamics of all its elements.