Interaction
Interaction is ongoing causal exchange between an adaptive system and other components or its environment.
Why the concept is needed
A system can have an internal history without acquiring any new information from outside that history. Interaction identifies the relation through which one component or an environment can alter another component's state.
In Connection Theory v4.6, interaction is the first stage in the current four-stage formation sequence:
Interaction → Feedback → Connection → Organization
The sequence is a proposed derivation, not a claim that every real system must be described by one unique microscopic mechanism.
What interaction explains
Interaction explains how:
- components can affect one another;
- open systems can exchange matter, energy, information, or influence with an environment;
- a system can acquire information not contained in an isolated instantaneous state.
Examples include synaptic transmission, exchange across a cell membrane, and message-passing between artificial agents.
What interaction does not explain
Interaction alone does not explain why some encounters alter later behaviour while most leave no durable influence.
That is the explanatory boundary that motivates Feedback.
Status
The current definition follows Connection Theory v4.6. The four-stage derivation gives a stated reason for introducing the concept; it is not presented as having already survived a complete independent adversarial validation programme.