[I think I have been getting his surname wrong for years?!]
Version 1 : Received: 6 August 2024 / Approved: 7 August 2024 / Online: 8 August 2024 (12:22:55 CEST)
How to cite: Gershenson, C. Self-Organizing Systems: What, How, and Why?. Preprints2024, 2024080549. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0549.v1 Gershenson, C. Self-Organizing Systems: What, How, and Why?. Preprints 2024, 2024080549. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0549.v1Copy
Abstract
I present a personal account of self-organizing systems. As such, it is necessarily biased and partial. Nevertheless, it should be useful to motivate useful discussions. The relevant contribution is not my attempts at answering questions (maybe all my answers are wrong), but the steps towards framing relevant questions to better understand self-organization, information, complexity, and emergence. With this aim, I start with a notion and examples of self-organizing systems (what?), continue with their properties and related concepts (how?), and close with applications (why?).
•Understanding natural behavior requires not just new ways of collecting data, but also new theories for interpreting data.
•We suggest a stepwise approach for making experiments and theories more naturalistic without losing interpretability.
•Theories that address natural behavior can look for inspiration in ethology and evolution.
•Ecologically valid theories and experiments that test them should incorporate closed loop interaction with the world.
•A key challenge is to balance developing more ecologically valid theories while keeping aspects of existing concepts.
Toward a neuroscience of natural behaviorAuthor links open overlay panelPaul Cisek, Andrea M. GreenShow moreAdd to MendeleyShareCitehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2024.102859Get rights and contentUnder a Creative Commons licenseopen accessHighlights•Understanding natural behavior requires not just new ways of collecting data, but also new theories for interpreting data.•We suggest a stepwise approach for making experiments and theories more naturalistic without losing interpretability.•Theories that address natural behavior can look for inspiration in ethology and evolution.•Ecologically valid theories and experiments that test them should incorporate closed loop interaction with the world.•A key challenge is to balance developing more ecologically valid theories while keeping aspects of existing concepts.
This article outlines a hypothetical sequence of evolutionary innovations, along the lineage that produced humans, which extended behavioural control from simple feedback loops to sophisticated control of diverse species-typical actions. I begin with basic feedback mechanisms of ancient mobile animals and follow the major niche transitions from aquatic to terrestrial life, the retreat into nocturnality in early mammals, the transition to arboreal life and the return to diurnality. Along the way, I propose a sequence of elaboration and diversification of the behavioural repertoire and associated neuroanatomical substrates. This includes midbrain control of approach versus escape actions, telencephalic control of local versus long-range foraging, detection of affordances by the dorsal pallium, diversified control of nocturnal foraging in the mammalian neocortex and expansion of primate frontal, temporal and parietal cortex to support a wide variety of primate-specific behavioural strategies. The result is a proposed functional architecture consisting of parallel control systems, each dedicated to specifying the affordances for guiding particular species-typical actions, which compete against each other through a hierarchy of selection mechanisms.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
Evolution of behavioural control from chordates to primatesPaul CisekPublished:27 December 2021https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0522AbstractThis article outlines a hypothetical sequence of evolutionary innovations, along the lineage that produced humans, which extended behavioural control from simple feedback loops to sophisticated control of diverse species-typical actions. I begin with basic feedback mechanisms of ancient mobile animals and follow the major niche transitions from aquatic to terrestrial life, the retreat into nocturnality in early mammals, the transition to arboreal life and the return to diurnality. Along the way, I propose a sequence of elaboration and diversification of the behavioural repertoire and associated neuroanatomical substrates. This includes midbrain control of approach versus escape actions, telencephalic control of local versus long-range foraging, detection of affordances by the dorsal pallium, diversified control of nocturnal foraging in the mammalian neocortex and expansion of primate frontal, temporal and parietal cortex to support a wide variety of primate-specific behavioural strategies. The result is a proposed functional architecture consisting of parallel control systems, each dedicated to specifying the affordances for guiding particular species-typical actions, which compete against each other through a hierarchy of selection mechanisms.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
Three new papers refute claims for the assembly theory of molecular complexity being claimed as a new “theory of everything.”
First publicly posited in 2017, assembly theory is a hypothesis concerning the measurability of molecular complexity that claims to characterize life, explain natural selection and evolution, and even to redefine our understanding of time, matter, life and the universe.
However, researchers led by Dr. Hector Zenil from the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences (BMEIS), in collaboration with colleagues from King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, have successfully demonstrated in a paper published in npj Systems Biology, that the same results can be achieved by using traditional statistical algorithms and compression algorithms.
In a second paper just published by PLoS Complex Systems, they have also mathematically proven that assembly theory is an equivalent to Shannon Entropy and therefore not a novel approach to any of those applications and is an implementation of a well-known and popular compression algorithm used behind ZIP compression and image encoding formats such as PNG.
This is the end-September 2024 monthly events mailing from SCiO. There are plenty of events now planned. Click on the flags or group titles below to go to the events that interest you. Please remember that you can attend online events organised by any of the SCiO groups if they are held in a language you speak/understand (and you are a member if it is a member-only meeting). Further details of events may be available by clicking on the event titles below and you can also book each event directly from the Book now text.
Please note that some groups post events and add details quite late, so it is always worth checking the website – also for changes to dates and times. Please click here to see all the events in a browser.
The SCiO AGM was held this last weekend and a video and the minutes of it are available to members – see the bottom of the Home page on the website or click here.
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CSH and the Climate/ Biodiversity Emergencies – Development Event
Tue, Oct 15th, 2024 18:30 – 20:30 GMT+1
The October event is a ‘special’, concluding our exploration of the applicability of Critical Systems Heuristics to understanding and shaping interventions on the climate and biodiversity emergencies. We will be looking at sources of legitimacy, what are the current structures and participants and:
who ought to be representing the interests of those negatively affected?
what ought to be the opportunities for those negatively affected to have agency in decisions?
what opportunities ought there to be for reconciling different worldviews relating to climate and biodiversity systems?
SCiO organises Open Meetings to provide opportunities for practitioners to learn and develop new practice, to build relationships, networks hear about skills, tools, practice and experiences. This virtual meeting will be held on Zoom.
The first session speaker will be Ed Fish, who will talk about “Causation seen through a Sociotechnical Lens”
A second session will be posted as soon as the speaker is confirmed.
SCIO-NL komt elke 2e vrijdag van de maand live bijeen in Vianen (Hagenweg 3c). Er staan geen vaste onderwerpen op de agenda (daarvoor organiseren we specifieke andere meetings), maar de ervaring leert dat er altijd wel een interessant gesprek op gang komt over een systemisch onderwerp. Toegankelijk voor iedereen die de jaarlijkse fee voor de live-bijeenkomsten (€50,-) hiervoor betaald. En voor gasten. Neem contact op via ed@doitogether.nl als je interesse hebt, maar nog geen lid van de club bent.
NL Members + guests; Free; Hagenweg 3c, Vianen, Netherlands; Dutch BOOK NOW
Open SCIO-NL monthly meeting November 2024 (live in Vianen and in Dutch) configuration options
SCIO-NL komt elke 2e vrijdag van de maand live bijeen in Vianen (Hagenweg 3c). Er staan geen vaste onderwerpen op de agenda (daarvoor organiseren we specifieke andere meetings), maar de ervaring leert dat er altijd wel een interessant gesprek op gang komt over een systemisch onderwerp. Toegankelijk voor iedereen die de jaarlijkse fee voor de live-bijeenkomsten (€50,-) hiervoor betaald. En voor gasten. Neem contact op via ed@doitogether.nl als je interesse hebt, maar nog geen lid van de club bent.
NL Members + guests; Free; Hagenweg 3c, Vianen, Netherlands; Dutch; BOOK NOW
We verbreden in deze Deep Dive reeks onze systemische kaders. Waar we in de vorige Deep Dives ons hebben verdiept in het Viable Systems Model laten we nu drie andere benaderingen aan bod komen: De kritische systeembenadering, de systeem dynamische benadering en de strategische optie formuleringsbenadering.
Members only + Guests; 150 euro (werkingskosten), Locn: tbc, Belgium; Dutch BOOK NOW
In an era where the traditional corporate paradigm often views employees merely as cogs in the machinery of profit, Humanizing the Corporation: A Regenerative Leadership Playbook offers a revolutionary perspective. This insightful guide presents seven key principles to help organizations transition toward a more humane and sustainable way of operating. Jan De Visch and Kashmir Birk explain the key ideas of their new book….
Päätöksentekijä käyttää päätöksenteossa tietoisesti tai tietämättään malleja. Kun mallien käyttö on tietoista, päätöksenteko on sujuvampaa ja päätökset johtavat paremmin haluttuihin tavoitteisiin. Mutta mitä nämä mallit ovat, miten niitä syntyy ja luodaan, ja millaisia malleja pystytään käyttämään päätöksenteossa. Esityksessä käydään läpi mallien käytön perusteita. Puhuja: Professori Matti Vilkko, Automaatio- ja konetekniikan yksikön päällikkö, Tampereen yliopisto Online event
“Opening the Box: Systems Thinking for Transformative Conversations” delves into the core principles of systems thinking, offering practical insights to help individuals and organizations navigate complexity. Authored by Jan De Visch, Miguel Pantaleon, Namrata Arora and Tony Korycki, this book promises to be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in understanding and applying systems thinking in their personal and professional lives. This session will feature the book’s authors, sharing their insights and engaging in a transformative conversation, applying the book’s insights.
Michael Frahm spricht in diesem Vortrag über Komplexität und über Konzepte damit umzugehen. Dabei unternimmt er einen Streifzug durch verschiedene Wissensgebiete (Naturwissenschaften, Kybernetik, Komplexitäts Theorie, etc…) und geht der Interpretation von Komplexität und den unterschiedlichen Konzepten verschiedener Akteure mit Komplexität umzugehen nach. Von Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) bis Mike C. Jackson und vielen anderen.
Members only + Guests, FREE, Online event. German; BOOK NOW
Join us for a conversation on living together with uncertainty. It can be deeply unsettling when the ground beneath us keeps shifting. Perhaps it can be comforting to reach for certainty and knowing. However, could there be possibilities present in embracing and “listening” to uncertainty while recognising our interconnectedness? The session is an invitation for reflective practice where we play with stepping out of our knowing and embrace the “ecology of ideas” we can open for each other. There will be a short presentation followed by a space for reflective practice together. …
Ireland Members only + Guests, FREE, Online event; English; BOOK NOW
I’m hoping this podcast, for the BCG Henderson Institute, helps to introduce Critical Systems Thinking to a wider audience of leaders, managers and decision-makers. Martin Reeves asks all the right questions.
“I don’t think systems thinking can ever replace the experience or knowledge of context that a leader or a decision-maker has, but I do think it can help their thinking.”
The IFSR Quarterly 3_2024 – a window into and mirror of the cybersystemic community. Brought to you by the IFSR.orgInternational Federation for Systems Research (IFSR)2,385 followersSeptember 17, 2024
See my post on LinkedIn (replicated below) and join the discussion there:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_rough-draft-systemscomplexitycybernetics-activity-7246779585235664896-64Xz
pdf: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/85zlt0t6ph8qarx7d7gic/2024-09-27-rough-draft-systems-thinking-reading-list-v1.1BT.pdf?rlkey=3rfavacsy4n6sl8j0pyedph1q&st=qagh1418&dl=0
Commentable Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tt8GgQQj4Qw4HnR7DxKeF370o_HlDlpv/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115526108239573817578&rtpof=true&sd=true
How do you get into systems | complexity | cybernetics?
Here’s my rough reading list.
There are a lot of answers to the question, many of them connecting with some kind of disjointing break from ‘normal’ ways of seeing and being. Anything from being bullied at school to being dyslexic. Being in an outsider group. Naively applying thinking from one domain to another. Studying a technical problem long enough to suddenly see it in a completely different light – then either have your breakthrough celebrated or rejected.
It isn’t some mystic thing and it doesn’t require to you break from polite society. But it is one of the richest, weirdest, most diverse and challenging, inspiring and confounding, confronting and validating things you can study.
I’m often asked for a reading list for people interested in the field, and I usually suck my teeth. Some of the books are engaging, insightful, humorous, relevant. Others are dry as old twigs but less likely to kindle a spark.
Really, it depends on you and your context – as David Ing says, it’s better to talk of the thinkers and their individual constellations of interests, history, learning, and personal tendencies than it is to talk of schools and fields and separate places.
And even presenting this reading list, I’d say that I’d recommend Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Ursula K Le Guin, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Star Trek, old 20th Century Sci-Fi and Apartheid-era South African writing, art movies and music more – if you happen to be a bit like me. You’ll find your thing, if you’re interested.
But. The books are there – and many of them are *really good*. Top ones I’d recommend came out this decade
Hoverstadt’s Grammar of Systems
Jackson’s Critical Systems Thinking: A practitioner’s Guide
Opening the box – a slim little thing from SCiO colleagues
Essential Balances by Velitchkov
The attached list is a bit systems-practice focused. It is also too long and incomplete and partial simply for lack of time and energy.
There are *so many* flavours of systems thinking / complexity / cybernetics – do yourself a favour and don’t flog through stuff that doesn’t work for you, find things that bring your mind alive. Start with the articles and skim through.
But do start, because you will find in here the thinking and tools to find better ways of doing things for organisations, societies, the ecosystem, for people – and a lot of fun.
Tip: to save the pdf, hover over the image of the first page and find the rectangle bottom right – click that and it should go full screen. Top right you’ll have a download option, which when clicked will then resolve into a download button… (which might then open in your browser, but at least as a proper pdf you can save).
So… deep breath… what would you recommend? What do you think is missing?
September 4, 2024 – Mark Johnson on Topologies of Prediction: Management, Cybernetics, and Artificial Intelligence
Exploring Haier’s RenDanHeYi and the Viable System Model.
The heart of the 4th industrial revolution in the brain of VSM. Rodrigo Fernández Albornoz
I never promote Metaphorum webinars because they are ‘member-only’ but as they put the videos online – and the details and link etc are not private – I assume it is ok 🙂
Technology is Janus-faced with it having both a good and a dark side, this highlighting the ethics domain. This has implications for the implementation of technology in general. Extending the notion of technology implementation as one form of managed change, these implications extend to how we handle change, especially change in complex situations.
The economy and society are going through one of the greatest transformations in history. It is a paradigmatic mega-change which brings about most risky turbulences. It is no less than a shift from an old to a new world. To master it, a revolutionary new management is needed in order to shift resources in the critical decision zone. For this challenge we have the best solutions ever, amplifying the effectiveness of management by 80fold and speed of change by 100fold.
Complex organisations require coherence to achieve adaptive goals through agency. This presentation introduces Mindset Agency Theory (MAT), a metatheoretical framework designed for modelling and diagnosing agency within culturally diverse populations. MAT, a cybernetic multi-ontology framework, delineates five formative traits defining agency character.
What are the bounds What are the bounds of complexity in living systems? How can synthetic biology and bioengineering be used to interrogate emergent properties or information processing in cells & organisms? Check my conversation with Michael Levin @drmichaellevincomplexity in living systems? How can synthetic biology and bioengineering be used to interrogate emergent properties or information processing in cells & organisms? Check my conversation with Michael Levin
What are the bounds of complexity in living systems? How can synthetic biology and bioengineering be used to interrogate emergent properties or information processing in cells & organisms? Check my conversation with Michael Levin @drmichaellevinhttps://t.co/bF32rWefSo
As part of the Levin lab at Tufts https://www.drmichaellevin.org/: Embodied Minds: understanding diverse intelligence in evolved, designed, and hybrid complex systems And the ‘less formal’
A major challenge when describing the origin of life is to explain “how instructional information control systems emerge naturally and spontaneously from mere molecular dynamics”. So far, no one has clarified how information control emerged ab initio and how primitive control mechanisms in life might have evolved, becoming increasingly refined. Based on recent experimental results showing that chemical computation does not require the presence of life-related chemistry, we elucidate the origin and early evolution of information handling by chemical automata, from information processing (computation) to information storage (memory) and information transmission (communication) and later digital messengers, covering at the same time its syntactic, semantic and pragmatic flavors. In contrast to other theories that assume the existence of initial complex structures, our representation starts from trivial self-replicators whose interaction leads to the arising of more powerful molecular machines. By describing precisely the primordial transitions in chemistry-based computation, our framework is capable of explaining the above-mentioned gaps and can be translated to other models of computation, which allow us to explore biological phenomena at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Being compatible with the free energy principle, we have developed a computational enactivist theoretical framework that could be able to describe from the origin of life to high-level cognition, as if it were a purely constructivist narrative. At the end of our manuscript, we propose some ways to extend our ideas, including experimental validation of our theory (both in vitro and in silico).
tfw you realize that Stanislavski’s method acting system is actually an embodied systems theory, making Marlin Brando the architect of embodied cybernetics
A diagram of Stanislavski‘s system, based on his “Plan of Experiencing” (1935), showing the inner (left) and outer (right) aspects of a role uniting in the pursuit of a character’s overall “supertask” (top) in the drama.[1]
Stanislavski’s system is a systematic approach to training actors that the Russian theatre practitionerKonstantin Stanislavski developed in the first half of the twentieth century. His system cultivates what he calls the “art of experiencing” (with which he contrasts the “art of representation“).[2] It mobilises the actor’s conscious thought and will in order to activate other, less-controllable psychological processes—such as emotional experience and subconscious behaviour—sympathetically and indirectly.[3] In rehearsal, the actor searches for inner motives to justify action and the definition of what the character seeks to achieve at any given moment (a “task”).[4]
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