EMERGENCE BY RANDOM FLUCTUATIONS
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1061 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
Any composite system, while endowed with dynamic stability at its own macrolevel (as being in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium), may undergo random fluctuations at a microlevel.
Such fluctuations may become amplified, by positive feedbacks and grow to the point of creating higher level macrostructures within the system. Endly, they may be stabilized by negative feedbacks.
The global result is a new global behavior, that was not initially predictable. In J.de ROSNAY words: “Each random fluctuation is a possibility of new organisation, implying a kind of information. When amplified by a positive feedback, any fluctuation becomes a random variety generator, base of any evolution” (1975, p.226).
It seems that emergence of a higher level of complexity is possible only in composite systems, wherein the elements possess initially a considerable degree of autonomy and are all quite similar. Their ordering by structurating fluctuations which become fixed seems to be the basic process of organization of heterogeneous social systems, i.e. complex systems. If such is the case, what ROSNAY calls “evolution” should be better named “complexification” or “integration of complex systems”.