Every business is a specific combination of elements from all three realms. This means that every business is anchored in all three realms at the same time. However, the relevance of individual aspects and elements varies considerably depending on the business idea and concept. A complete description of a business concept always uses all four perspectives and the three realms together. Moreover, each perspective can be differentiated into the three realms. which are presented below.
The basic elements of the realms are distinguished in the functional capability perspective
That elements differ depending on the realm they belong to we have discussed already in more detail when we introduced the realms. The distinction between the realms in terms of functionality, in order to identify the relevant elements, results directly from the basic elements identified in the introduction of the realms. At the 1st realm, it is the concrete physical objects and the required energy that actually implement the task and thus ensure the physical creation of the solution. For the 2nd realm, it is the actual actors as subjective, individual persons with their specific personal characteristics, abilities, knowledge, experience and beliefs formed by the neural structures in their individual brains. At the virtual realm, the elements from which business concepts are built are abstract concepts, data, and algorithms.
Interfaces also differ depending on the realm
There are two basic types of interfaces: those that only represent mappings and thus structure the elements involved, and those that allow exchange between elements, i.e., interaction.
On the first, physical plane, a distinction has to be made between arrangements and connections (analogous to assignments in mapping) and flows (exchange). This raises simple questions such as whether there is a physical connection between elements at all, how permanent it is, and what physical properties this connection h
as. For many connections, there is also the question of what throughput the connection enables or actually uses. On the one hand, this can take the form of material flows. A pipeline used by a public utility to deliver drinking water has a specific diameter and is operated at a specific pressure. This sets clear physical limits on how much drinking water can be transported and sold through such a pipeline. The possibilities of the utility's business concept are limited by the existing networks. On the other hand, the throughput of an interface can also affect energy flows or simply force transmission.
In addition to the aforementioned physical interfaces, there are also interfaces to the other planes of existence. These are formed by sensory interfaces to the neural networks of the actors and mappings to concepts such as the mapping between an object in the physical world and the term "chair."
The two types of interfaces are also present at the actor plane:
- Assignments between the actors - their relationships with each other and assignments to elements in the 2nd and 3rd planes.
- Exchange interfaces between actors and their environment. These are nothing more than the senses with which people perceive their environment (primarily sight and hearing, but also touch and smell) or can influence it (speech and motor skills). Communication is nothing else but the use of these interfaces.
The two types of interfaces are analogous in the third, virtual plane:
- Assignments between elements of the virtual level (ideas/concepts, data and algorithms) and to elements of the 1st and 3rd plane.
- Data interfaces through which an exchange between elements can take place. These data interfaces can exist both within the level between data and algorithms as well as to the other levels.
Many business concepts that are considered new are simply based on the fact that they create new interfaces or deliberately prevent the creation of interfaces. In other words, the mere existence or, above all, non-existence of an interface can have a decisive influence on the success of a business concept. The effect can go in both directions. On the one hand, an interface can be absolutely necessary in order to create value at all. A smartphone without interfaces to people (e.g. loudspeakers, microphones and display) could not even fulfill its basic function of making phone calls. One of the most important innovations of the iPhone when it was launched in 2007 was an interface innovation: namely the introduction of the multi-touch screen as a central and flexible operating interface to the user.
On the other hand, the existence of an interface can also have an extremely negative effect and completely destroy the value creation aimed for with a business concept. A freely accessible interface, e.g. in the virtual level to a file, is exactly what the music and film industry has been fighting against for years in order to be able to market access to data (music/video files) for money. The same applies to news and documents such as books and magazines (text files), which are hidden behind a paywall. In other words, data only has commercial value if you have exclusive access to it!
Each plane uses completely different evaluation principles
From the perspective of evaluation, the three levels also function according to three completely different principles.
This time let's start with the evaluation in the plane of actors. Evaluations by actors are purely associative, according to the basic structures of this plane of neural networks that are present in the individual case. The evaluation in social networks is also associative, based on the individuals involved and their position in the social network. When evaluating on this level, only the actually perceived (associated) value counts in relation to the other associations linked to it. This is a purely individual subjective value of each actor, which can also vary depending on the situation. Since the situation in which the signal is received, the moment and context of the situation in which the perception takes place, is inevitably part of the association linked to the signal. The evaluation is the result of a whole chain of individual steps. A perceived value can only arise if the actor is in a situation in which he is confronted with the need to evaluate.
In practice, this means that the actor must be or has been exposed to certain signals in an interaction with his environment or himself. Only experienced interactions can be evaluated (experience). They must then actually perceive these interaction signals. If the signals are so small that they cannot be perceived, or if they are so distracted that their lack of attention prevents them from perceiving them, then no evaluation takes place (perception). The evaluation itself then results solely from the associations or chains of associations generated by the signals in the actor's neural network (association). The evaluations triggered by the associations fall into four categories: the effects on the momentary satisfaction generated (Satisfaction), the effects on the long-term satisfaction (Happiness), and the effects on the position of the actor in the social groups relevant to him in the form of recognition in the group (Recognition) or reputation in the group (Reputation). Which of these four categories actually comes into play in an individual case, and to what extent, is itself a question of situational association. If we take the first letters of the English terms in this chain of associations, we get the term that can be used as a memory bridge for the perceived value: EPASHRR or EPASHR2 ≈ EPASHRsquare.
At the plane of the actors, "more" is not always seen as positive or reinforcing, but can turn into the exact opposite when certain thresholds are crossed. This is often due to the individual's need to stand out from the crowd or to gain recognition. In addition, there are fast and slow fatigue effects that can have a massive impact on the evaluation, and much more. Exactly how the evaluation of an individual or a group works and the implications of this are extremely diverse and will be discussed in more detail in a separate article.
The evaluation in the virtual plane is completely different. Here, a strictly linear quantity principle applies. More is more, or larger amounts of data usually represent a greater value. The laws of mathematics apply. In addition, a valuation results only from the linkage with the first and third planes. In other words, there is no inherent evaluation in the virtual plane, but the evaluation of the state and a change in the virtual plane takes place through the meaning that is assigned to this state or its change in the context of the linkages in the other planes.
At the physical plane, the logic of the evaluation follows from the context. Here it is often the other way around compared to the virtual plane. As a basic principle of physical evaluation, a "less" represents a "more" in the evaluation. Using less material or energy has a higher value because it represents a corresponding gain in efficiency. This applies both to the amount of material and energy bound up in an element and to the amount required to use an element (material wear, "energy consumption" in the sense of the laws of thermodynamics). A further factor for evaluation at the physical level are additional, more qualitative "technical" properties. These can be conductivity or load-bearing capacity. Or the qualitative aspects such as speed, reliability, flexibility, and confidentiality that are relevant in the example of message transmission presented at the beginning. Which properties are relevant and how they are evaluated depends on the functional context. A higher functional performance usually represents a higher value.
Let's take the issue of confidentiality to illustrate the problem of context in evaluation: Protection against access to a message has a completely different value for A and B, who want to communicate in confidence, than it does for C, who wants to eavesdrop. And it is only the context in which you put this sentence that determines whether you think protection against access to the message is good or bad. If you see yourself in the position of A and B (communication between a doctor and his patients, two business partners, or a dissident with a member of the press), you will have different associations than someone who usually sees himself in position C as an eavesdropper (police trying to prove a crime). And if you look at the whole thing not as a participant but as an observer D, then the context can lead to different assessments of the same situation by D himself.
Time means something different on every plane
The fourth perspective, time, also differs significantly between the levels.
In the physical plane, actual physical time is regarded as a strictly directed continuum in the space-time structure. And this strict orientation means that a further aspect is of outstanding importance in this perspective and plane, namely the aspect of path dependency. The sequence of events very often has a very significant meaning for future development.
Time at the actor plane is purely subjective and individual for each actor. The perception of time is usually very different between two people or even depends on their specific situation. A skier skiing down a slope with high concentration has a completely different perception of time than a spectator standing at the edge of the slope watching the skier go by. Organizations also have very different perspectives on time. For example, an organization that operates a physical infrastructure (such as an electrical grid or water supply) has a sense of time that is shaped by the life expectancy and rate of change of the networks it operates. This is measured in terms of years and decades. The perception of what is an appropriate speed of decision making, for example, is correspondingly slow. In the editorial offices of a daily newspaper, for example, where the next issue must be ready with all the necessary decisions by the editorial deadline every day, the perception of time is completely different and much faster and more tightly timed. And the speed of decision making in the newsroom is dramatically slower than the speed of decision making in the stock market. Here, every second or even a fraction of a second can count, for example in automated high-speed trading.
Time in the virtual plane is completely different, as it is strictly clocked and therefore operates according to its own rules. Time in the virtual plane is independent of real physical time. It can move forward or backward, fast or slow. It can stand still and even be reset to a starting point. Ultimately, time in the virtual plane can be manipulated at will. Because of clocking, time in the virtual plane runs in jumps and exists only in the sequence of clocking from one clock step to the next. All states in between have to be interpolated. Events that occur between cycles are therefore lost and cannot be observed. Only the interfaces to elements of the actor and physical planes are subject to the time valid in the other planes.
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