The Borromean rings are a fascinating example of interconnectedness, where the behavior of individual rings is constrained by the group as a whole. This concept of ‘top-down’ causation is a form of higher-order structure or emergence, often discussed imprecisely. The author delves into mereology, the study of parts and wholes, proposing its inclusion in scientific and mathematical thinking. By decomposing complex systems into parts and their combinations, they introduce Möbius inversion, a method to invert sums on a mereology and derive properties of the parts from observable properties of the whole system. This approach offers valuable insights into biology, genetics, physics, and information theory.
https://abeljansma.nl/2025/01/28/mereoPhysics.html