Building on systems as structured possibility spaces and stability as persistence of admissible cuts, we now examine interaction between systems. Interaction does not cause outcomes, nor does it impose teleology. It reorganises the landscape of admissibility across overlapping systems, shaping what each allows without guaranteeing specific actualisations.
Overlapping Possibility Spaces
When two or more systems interact, their structured possibility spaces intersect. Each system continues to define its own admissible cuts, but the intersection produces a relational domain where only mutually compatible cuts are admissible across systems.
This does not imply determinism. Each system maintains its relational structure, and actualisation remains perspectival. Interaction is a mutual shaping of possibility, not a cause-effect relation.
Relational Effects of Interaction
Interactions can produce various relational effects:
Constraining: Some cuts that were admissible within one system may be inadmissible in the intersection.
Enabling: Certain cuts may become relevant or observable only through the intersection with another system.
Buffering: Systems may maintain autonomy in other parts of their possibility spaces, allowing coexistence despite interaction.
These effects describe structural reorganisation of admissibility, not causal influence.
Examples
Networked Systems: Two conceptual networks may intersect when collaborators communicate. Some distinctions remain coherent only in the context of both networks; others remain isolated.
Ecosystem Overlap: Two ecosystems interacting via shared resources or species allow certain interactions while excluding others. Actualised interactions occur in the admissible overlap but do not necessitate specific outcomes.
Technological Systems: Software platforms interfacing with one another define compatible operations. Each platform retains its own structure, and interoperability emerges from the intersection of admissible actions.
Implications
Understanding interaction in terms of admissibility emphasises possibility management over causation. Systems remain autonomous in defining what is allowed; the relational domain shapes what cuts can co-exist without assuming directed outcomes.
The next post, Limits and Horizons of Admissibility, will explore the boundaries of what systems allow and what is structurally impossible within and across interacting systems.
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