HISTORICAL DIMENSION in systems
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1553 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
Any nonlinear irreversible system has its own history. This is a consequence, in I. PRIGOGINE words of: “…symmetry breaking dissipative structures in which the system has the ”choice“ between various possibilities. The type of initial fluctuations determines the specific dissipative structure which will be realized. Once realized this dissipative structure is stable against the type of fluctuations considered. Succesions of instabilities of this type may occur, involving a kind of primitive memory or, so to say, a historical dimension. The present structure of the system can only be understood in terms of the succession of instabilities through which it was originated” (1973, p.71). Thus, wide fluctuations and the resulting bifurcations: “… introduce in a sense ”history“ in physics” (1978, p.46).
This is also explained in the following way by G. NICOLIS; “A bifurcation is really a moment when a decision is taken as… the system is confronted with multiple choices. It thus becomes sensible to random effects that, by way of statistical fluctuations, will finally favour one of the accessible states. Once chanelled on one specific branch of states, the system will follow a course closely determined by this critical choice. In some sense, it then becomes a historical object, which will forever keep the record of former events that prevailed at the successive bifurcation points encountered. In sum, in addition to deterministic elements, concepts like randomness and history play a primordial role in evolution” (1984, p.12).
NICOLIS calls this “the insertion of time within matter” (Ibid).