When Can we Call a System Self-organizing?

Carlos Gershenson; Francis Heylighen

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arXiv · nlin/0303020

When Can we Call a System Self-organizing?

Carlos Gershenson·Francis Heylighen

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Abstract

We do not attempt to provide yet another definition of selforganization, but explore the conditions under which we can model a system as self-organizing. These involve the dynamics of entropy, and the purpose, aspects, and description level chosen by an observer. We show how, changing the level or "graining" of description, the same system can appear selforganizing or self-disorganizing. We discuss ontological issues we face when studying self-organizing systems, and analyse when designing and controlling artificial self-organizing systems is useful. We conclude that self-organization is a way of observing systems, not an absolute class of systems.

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nlin.AO cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.stat-mech cs.CC

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Carlos Gershenson, Francis Heylighen. 2003-06-11. When Can we Call a System Self-organizing?. https://arxiv.org/abs/nlin/0303020

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