Event sequence

In the popular literature, an event sequence is a blend of two distinct concepts and, as such, its detailed comprehension depends upon the context in which it is used.

Developmental paradigm
In 1979, a mathematical sequence termed a developmental paradigm was defined. Developmental paradigms are mathematical sequences, which can be of different types. Using various language-forms or electronic devices, each member of such a sequence "represents" an ordinary language description, image or digitized collection of human sensory information. In general, there is no specific requirement that the content of each member of the sequence be restricted.

Developmental paradigms are used as a basic building block for the General Grand Unification Model (GGU-model). For this model, each member of a developmental paradigm represents a physical-system at a particular moment during its development. The notion of "moment" refers to the position the member takes within the sequence. The moment can, but need not, correspond to ordinary observer time.

Each sequential member is assumed to possess the property termed as specific information. Intuitively and operationally, specific information can be thought of as a property that allows, at each moment, the physical-system depiction to be constructed. For the GGU-model representation for the development of a physical-system within a universe, this depiction is constructed using subparticles as fundamental objects coupled with various physical-laws and scientific physical theories. Technically, significant processes within the GGU-model are applied to developmental paradigms that are expressed in various forms. The GGU-model and all of its constituents should be considered as analogue in character in that they mimic behavior.

The technical event sequence
Technically, a developmental paradigm is required in order to obtain an event sequence. For the GGU-model, the term event means an actual physical occurrence. The term sequence is used to indicate that each event corresponds to a specific depiction as represented by a member of a developmental paradigm. Thus, an event sequence represents an actual ordered collection of physical occurrences where each member of the event sequence corresponds to the specific member of a developmental paradigm that depicts the event. The event sequence is in a one-to-one correspondence with the developmental paradigm. This does not mean, in general, that the correspondence is order preserving. Intuitively, order preserving means that if a developmental paradigm member A comes immediately "after" developmental paradigms member B, then, usually in observer time, the A-event comes immediately "after" the B-event, and conversely. It is possible that in observer time the time-behavior of the physical occurrences could appear to be in suspended animation or even move backwards in time. The order preserving aspect is required if it is assumed that the arrow of time is always forward.

Popular literature event sequences
In Herrmann (2002, p. 90), due to the required correspondence, the term event sequence is expanded to include the original developmental paradigm and the corresponding event sequence definitions. This is an often-used technical procedure that suppresses certain aspects of a concept under the view that individuals will understand its varied meaning depending upon the context. This is a standard process in actual communication. For example, when it is stated that for the GGU-model a consequence operator S is applied to a compressed version of an event sequence d this means that S is actually being applied to the developmental paradigm d that represents the event sequence in this analogue model. The process being represented by S is said to yield an event sequence, although, technically, the result obtained is a developmental paradigm. In using the term event sequence in two contexts, the one-to-one correspondence is being suppressed. In this interpretation, the mathematical operator S represents, in general, the collection of all physical processes, that yield the step-by-step physical events that comprise the development of a physical-system. Using mathematical operators to represent such processes is a standard approach within mathematical modeling and the GGU-model is a mathematical model.