ORDER FROM ORDER Principle
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2381 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
E. SCHRÖDINGER, in his famed work “What is Life?” (1945) established the principle that order (in living systems) is somehow transmittable. He stated that “… the final approach to equilibrium is very slow. It could take anything between hours, years, centuries”. He explained this by the way living systems “feed on negative entropy”, i.e. maintain their organization “by extracting ”order“ from their environment”. He describes this “order” as “entropy, taken with the negative sign,… itself a measure of order”.
This so-called negentropy was a source of controversy for many years, until is became clear that it simply measures the level of complexity (order) in complex systems. The final connection with thermodynamics is through the creation of order by dissipative structuration of energy in far- from- equilibrium systems submitted to giant fluctuations, precisely because of very high energy inputs. (BÉNARD 's instability; PRIGOGINE's thermodynamics of far-away from equilibrium systems).
As proposed by LOTKA with his “world engine” model, the energy provided by the sun is slowly degraded through a “ladder” of systems. Endly, increases of order in some systems must be paid by a correspondingly higher decrease of order in their environment.
SCHRÖDINGER's principle has been extended by H.von FOERSTER, precisely in relation to his principle of “order from noise”. (see above, for critical appraisals)
Its relations with DAWKINS “Selfish Gene” should also be explored. What is transmitted from system to system is not merely order, but better historical structural and functional order.
See also
Operon