SLAVING PRINCIPLE
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3064 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences, Methodology or model |
The control of many variables in a system by an order parameter.
This principle, basic in synergetics, has been introduced by H. HAKEN (1983). It involves an important mathematical formalism which cannot satisfactorily be reproduced here.
This “enslavement” (such a disagreeable language!) results of the final synthesis of multiple constraints between elements in confinement when the number of elements increases and/or the available space is progressively reduced.
The slaving principle reflects somehow the transit from statistical randomness toward global ordering. (H. HAKEN & A. WUNDERLIN, 1990).
Accordingly, HAKEN states that the order parameter is shaped by the interactions between individual elements. Once it “coagulates” in the form of a higher level regulator, it takes the control of the system as a whole. This is a very general phenomenon: for instance in laser light, in clouds rolls, in social amoebas, in fashion fads and in political ideologies.
For some interesting structuring examples, see “Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction”: “B+nard's instability”; “Dictyostelium discoideum”; “Hexagonal space filling”; “Soliton”; “Stigmergy”: “Swarm”.
The slaving principle could be very significiant for sociology.
See also
System (Composite)