Luhmann’s social systems theory explains society as autopoietic reproduction of communication. In our field view, monad couplings appear as communicative energy flows with their own logic. Each communication is an operation that changes the system – this maps well to our operator logic in Hilbert space.
Luhmann models operational closure and observation as operations of the system itself. In our field-based approach, communication becomes interaction in the monad field: operators in Hilbert space model couplings; their quality is captured via IEQ coherence metrics.
This makes it explainable when systems gain stability (resonance patterns) and when they disintegrate (noise/dephasing). “Communication as operation” thus gets an operatoric equivalent: state changes of the field by couplings.
Luhmann’s operational closure says that systems produce their own elements through their own operations.
In the monad field we translate this into channel-based dynamics: communication is a CPTP map on
states (ρ), while couplings act as operators. We can now see when a system stays
coherent despite environmental input: when its internal projections are aligned and external impulses
do not dephase it. This coherence is measured with IEQ.
The system/environment question becomes a topology question: which coupling patterns (VQM) stabilise autopoiesis, which open productive resonance channels, and which produce noise? Luhmann’s theory thus receives a simulation- and measurement-ready frame.
Result: Luhmann’s semantics become computable in XQM/VQM and can be used for organisation design, policy advice and AI moderation.
Luhmann enables us to see society not as a sum of people but as a web of communications. That matches our view: monads are informational units; every communication leaves a trace in the field that can be coupled with other traces. Resonance patterns arise where coherence functions run positive – much like stable social structures.
In our approach these patterns become simulable and measurable (IEQ) and designable through VQM. XDM evaluates them normatively as an ethics of resonance: “good” increases field coherence.
Niklas Luhmann – autopoiesis & meaning systems
These works supply the semantics that we make operatoric in XQM/VQM/IEQ.
Luhmann supplies the sharp view on operations, boundaries and structure formation. While XQM formalises the field and its couplings, Luhmann explains how systems gain stability from communication and process contingency. In our reading, functional subsystems are resonance rooms whose coupling patterns (codes/programmes) produce measurable coherence or dispersion. Autopoiesis corresponds to field-driven feedback: systems survive by selecting successful couplings. This bridges empirical observation and our coherence-oriented ethics (XDM): “good” builds resonance, “bad” systematically triggers disintegration.