SELF-SIMPLIFICATION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2988 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
This is an evolutionary process postulated by H. PATTEE, as indispensable to complement mutation by random search and subsequent selection, which must be considered in his opinion as quite an insufficient explanation for evolution (1972, p.39).
PATTEE sees self-simplification as a jump from one level of complexity to the next higher one, more or less akin to SIMON's Hora and Tempus metaphor.
It implies self-description through a code, i. e. “… a new hierarchical level of (self) description which selectively ignores the trapped details at the lower level” (p.39).
Self-simplification could result, through the steering power of such a code, from the appearance at the higher levels of specific (i.e. constrained) networks of interrelations between very numerous elements. In this way composite systems could conceivably produce complex systems, as for example in the social phase of the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.
It could also possibly correspond to N. ELDREDGE and S. GOULD concept of punctuated evolution, as well as to biological ordering through genetic codes and social order through values and norms.