Posted by
Prof David West on
Jan 13, 2018; 11:37am
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/self-organization-tp7591120p7591122.html
Hi Nick,
My opinion -
We, observing human beings, perceive "organization"- some sort of order, structure, pattern, etc. Some of us might ask, "from whence that organization?" At least three possibilities occur to us: 1) it is an illusion, like seeing a horsey or a ducky in the clouds; 2) "God" did it; and 3) "it simply happened." Number three has two forms: a) "pure chance" or b) "necessary consequence from resolution of active forces in context."
West-Eberhardt is conflating "self-organization" and "emergence" (both of which are not defined terms - see Eric Smith's comments) and describing the kind of perceived structures that emerge when cellular automata execute ("respond individually to local conditions according to simple, shared decision rules."). Unfortunately this usage simply pushes the question of "whence the organization" backward a step to become "whence the rules." The answer to this new question is, in our experience, a programmer; and therefore, becomes a type 2) answer to the question of from whence the organization.
Many, probably most, proponents of self-organization are stating an answer of form 3b) organization is nothing more than the necessary resolution of forces, i.e. laws of physics as expressed in chemistry, in context. Further, both organization and context are concurrently organized with each being a reflection of the other.
"Self organization" is not a 'term'. It is,simultaneously, nothing more than a shorthand reference to a process and a metaphorical argument against, primarily, the "God did it" explanation and, to a far lesser extent, to the "illusion" explanation.
dave west
On Fri, Jan 12, 2018, at 11:50 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
Hi, everybody,
The term “self-organizing” has always seemed a mis-nomer, almost an oxymoron. In that connection, I took an interest in the following quote from Mary Jane West-Eberhardt’s enormous, DEVELOPMENTAL PLASTICITY AND EVOLUTION. (p. 59, bottom of column one)
Extreme modular flexibility is found in the mechanisms sometimes called self-organizing (refs to Kauffman, Gerhart and Kirschner) In seolf organization, the phenotype does not really organize itself. Rather, organization is highly flexible and locally responsive because a large number of modular subunits respond individually to local conditions according to simple, shared decision rules.
I wonder what you complexity folks think about this as a general and comprehensive characterization of the phenomena you have called “self-organizing”?
Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
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