CauseF ♦ Manual

CauseF manual (v. 5.0)

System requirements and installation

Win 10 64-bit. Freeware.

Download causef64-5setup.zip (14MB) and extract causef64-5setup.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 | Bones 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, Alt+P for the Planets window under the Planets tab, or Alt+B for the Bones window under the Bones tab. You can also open the default options for all the modules by going to Settings and operations → Default settings.

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

To make full use of the program check out the various sections of this manual. Please be aware that each module has its own operational framework.

Window sizes

All windows (for Grid, Spheres, Planets, Bones) can be displayed in different sizes and their format and position will be remembered.

Plus:
Grid, Spheres and Planets can also be resized with the mouse.
Spheres and Planets windows: if exited with the Esc key while in full screen mode, the smaller size can only be brought back by going to Main window → Default settings → Select window size → OK.

Contents

Overview
Default settings - Set default options for all modules
Grid - Key points, Settings window, Grid window
Spheres - Key points, Settings window, Spheres window
Planets - Key points, Settings window, Planets window
Bones - Concept, Process, Key points, Settings window, Bones window, Bones properties window, Presets, Tips and hints
Contact and bug report
Copyright and credits, references, 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 four 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 off the walls with their velocities derived from the collisions defining their subsequent behaviour; 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; and Bones, featuring a simulated shape in the form of a cylinder that is subject to force vectors, where those vectors affect the shape in terms of various material properties so that the cylinder starts to resemble a bone.

In all the modules the elements (squares, balls, planets, the initial cylinder) 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.