OVERVIEW Overview of Concepts & Ideas Introduction CONCEPTS Evolution & Selection Nonlinearity Self-Organization TERMS Adaptation Agent Complexity Emergence Feedback Fitness Landscapes Internal Models Multi-Agent Computer Models Nested Hierarchies Randomness & Chance RECOMMENDED READING				CORE CONCEPTS: SELF-ORGANIZATION AND HIDDEN ORDER The concept of self-organization is really about hidden order that is all around us. It is a fundamental construct in the sciences of complexity, but it is often misunderstood. This is because many people assume that a system behaves in an orderly or organized manner because "something" or "someone" causes it to be orderly. However, most phenomena in life, such as atoms and molecules, cells in the body, or companies in an economy, are actually complex systems that are made up of made up of many, many independent but interacting parts or agents. These parts interact with each other and with the environment in various ways— including random or chance interactions. Over time, the interactions of the parts may be looked at and patterns—order—discerned in the overall system. Take, for example, an ordinary day in New York, or any city in the world. People buy breakfast, drink coffee, put gas in their cars, and generally go about their business. How did all of the different kinds of food "show up?" Who knew how much coffee or gasoline to buy for everyone in the city? And so on… Is there a central planning group that figured all of this out? Obviously not. Magic? Unlikely. A city is in fact a complex system and the various kinds of decentralized interactions (e.g., feedback loops) of the parts (i.e., people, things) lead to the emergence of patterns and order with any centrally controlling mechanism. The dynamics of self-organization are effective at allowing people get a wide range of food and services. Also, self-organizing processes are quite powerful and often long lasting. Consider, for example, how a city survives even catastrophes such as major fires or earthquakes that cause serious loss of life and major structural damage. Many scientists have been documenting how self-organization is found at all levels of nature, from the quantum and sub-atomic levels through our social and ecological levels to the very large-scale structures of galaxy clusters in the universe. Several of the books in the reference section provide excellent discussions of self-organization in natural and social systems, such as Stuart Kauffman's At Home in the Universe. Previous | Overview | Concepts | Terms | Next
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