A-Series: Foundations
The A-Series contains the foundational works that define Meaning System Science and establish its scope. These monographs describe how interpretation operates across people, organizations, and systems, and why familiar forms of disagreement and confusion appear so consistently.
Rather than focusing on communication styles, leadership traits, or individual intent, the A-Series examines the conditions under which interpretation remains compatible across roles, settings, and time.
Foundational Monographs
Why modern organizations keep solving the wrong problems.
What actually determines whether people understand each other at work.
A3 · The Scientific Lineage of Meaning
The discoveries that shaped how humans decide what is real.
What keeps systems together as they change.
How to stop guessing what’s really going on.
A6 · The General Theory of Interpretation
Why meaning is not as subjective as it appears.
A7 · Forces & Dynamics of Interpretation
Why understanding fails even when everyone has the same information.
A-Series: Foundations
Institute Charter
Meaning System Science
Scientific Lineage of Meaning
Physics of Becoming
Proportionism
General Theory of Interpretation
Forces & Dynamics of Interpretation
B-Series: Transformation Science
Emergence of Transformation Science
Practice of Transformation Science
Restoration of Meaning
Temporal Behavior of Meaning Systems
C-Series: Meaning-System Governance
AI as a Meaning System
Science as a Meaning System
Pop Culture as Meaning Systems
Discipline
Transformation Management
Transformation Breakdown Signatures
LDP-1.0
3E Standard™
3E Method™
Interpretation Field Studies
Institute
About the Institute
Research Programs
Responsible Use of AI
Research Library
Official Terminology
Citation Guidelines
Essential Reading
The Charter of the Transformation Management Institute
Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery, 1766.
© The Trustees of the Science Museum, London.
Featured with Meaning System Science as shared interpretation: observation organized by explanation, where evidence becomes decisive through structure, authority, and constraint.
Monograph A2
Meaning System Science
October 2025
This paper explains what determines whether people can understand each other well enough to work together. It shows why “more communication” can increase confusion instead of producing clarity. Read this if issues get talked about but never resolved.
Hilma af Klint, The Swan (No. 17, Group IX/SU), 1915.
© The Hilma af Klint Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Featured with The Scientific Lineage of Meaning as converging inheritance: separate forms approach, mirror, and resolve into a shared coherence without losing distinction.
Monograph A3
The Scientific Lineage of Meaning
October 2025
This paper traces the discoveries that shaped how humans decide what counts as real, true, and credible. It shows why many fields explained parts of meaning, but left the full problem unsolved. Read this if you want to know why “meaning” is everywhere, yet still hard to explain.
Monograph A4
The Physics of Becoming
October 2025
This paper explains why systems transform in ways that surprise the people inside them. It shows what shifts first when coordination starts failing during change. Read this if activity increases but direction becomes unclear.
Donald Judd, Untitled (Stack), 1967.
© Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Featured with Proportionism as relational order: repeated units and measured spacing show how stability can arise from consistent ratios rather than explanation.
Monograph A5
Proportionism
October 2025
This paper explains why confident explanations collapse in complex situations. It shows how people draw conclusions from partial access without realizing what they are missing. Read this if smart people keep reaching incompatible answers from the same situation.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, The Beautyful Ones, 2012.
© Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro.
Featured with The General Theory of Interpretation as layered context: a figure situated inside overlapping cues, where meaning follows environment, framing, and constraint.
Monograph A6
The General Theory of Interpretation
October 2025
This paper challenges the idea that meaning is whatever each person decides it is. It shows that interpretation follows repeatable patterns that shape disagreement long before opinions form. Read this if you’ve noticed the same arguments reappear across people, teams, or domains.
Julie Mehretu, Repetitions, 2001.
© Julie Mehretu / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Featured with Forces & Dynamics of Interpretation as layered motion: repeated marks and directional density show how pressure and timing shape outcomes before resolution appears.
Monograph A7
Forces & Dynamics of Interpretation
January 2026
This paper explains why shared information does not produce shared understanding. It shows how pressure, handoffs, and timing shape what people commit to before problems are fully visible. Read this if teams agree on the facts but still act at cross-purposes.