s in a gravity field
Physics The many self-organizing phenomena in
physics include
phase transitions and
spontaneous symmetry breaking such as
spontaneous magnetization and
crystal growth in
classical physics, and the
laser,
superconductivity and
Bose–Einstein condensation in
quantum physics. Self-organization is found in
self-organized criticality in
dynamical systems, in
tribology, in
spin foam systems, and in
loop quantum gravity, in
plasma, in river basins and deltas, in dendritic solidification (snow flakes), in capillary
imbibition and in turbulent structure. Self-organization in
chemistry includes drying-induced self-assembly,
molecular self-assembly,
reaction–diffusion systems and
oscillating reactions,
autocatalytic networks,
liquid crystals,
grid complexes,
colloidal crystals,
self-assembled monolayers,
micelles, microphase separation of block
copolymers, and
Langmuir–Blodgett films.
Biology (boids in Blender), an example of self-organization in biology Self-organization in
biology can be observed in spontaneous
folding of proteins and other biomacromolecules,
self-assembly of
lipid bilayer membranes,
pattern formation and
morphogenesis in
developmental biology, the coordination of human movement,
eusocial behavior in
insects (
bees,
ants,
termites) and
mammals, and
flocking behavior in birds and fish. The mathematical biologist
Stuart Kauffman and other
structuralists have suggested that self-organization may play roles alongside
natural selection in three areas of
evolutionary biology, namely
population dynamics,
molecular evolution, and
morphogenesis. However, this does not take into account the essential role of
energy in driving biochemical reactions in cells. The systems of reactions in any cell are
self-catalyzing, but not simply self-organizing, as they are
thermodynamically open systems relying on a continuous input of energy. Self-organization is not an alternative to natural selection, but it constrains what evolution can do and provides mechanisms such as the self-assembly of membranes which evolution then exploits. The evolution of order in living systems and the generation of order in certain non-living systems was proposed to obey a common fundamental principal called “the Darwinian dynamic” that was formulated by first considering how microscopic order is generated in simple non-biological systems that are far from
thermodynamic equilibrium. Consideration was then extended to short, replicating
RNA molecules assumed to be similar to the earliest forms of life in the
RNA world. It was shown that the underlying order-generating processes of self-organization in the non-biological systems and in replicating RNA are basically similar.
Cosmology In his 1995 conference paper "Cosmology as a problem in critical phenomena"
Lee Smolin said that several cosmological objects or phenomena, such as
spiral galaxies,
galaxy formation processes in general,
early structure formation,
quantum gravity and the
large scale structure of the universe might be the result of or have involved certain degree of self-organization. He argues that self-organized systems are often
critical systems, with structure spreading out in space and time over every available scale, as shown for example by
Per Bak and his collaborators. Therefore, because the
distribution of matter in the universe is more or less scale invariant over many orders of magnitude, ideas and strategies developed in the study of self-organized systems could be helpful in tackling certain
unsolved problems in cosmology and astrophysics.
Computer science Phenomena from
mathematics and
computer science such as
cellular automata,
random graphs, and some instances of
evolutionary computation and
artificial life exhibit features of self-organization. In
swarm robotics, self-organization is used to produce emergent behavior. In particular the theory of random graphs has been used as a justification for self-organization as a general principle of complex systems. In the field of
multi-agent systems, understanding how to engineer systems that are capable of presenting self-organized behavior is an active research area.
Optimization algorithms can be considered self-organizing because they aim to find the optimal solution to a problem. If the solution is considered as a state of the iterative system, the optimal solution is the selected, converged structure of the system.
Self-organizing networks include
small-world networks
self-stabilization and
scale-free networks. These emerge from bottom-up interactions, unlike top-down hierarchical networks within organizations, which are not self-organizing. Cloud computing systems have been argued to be inherently self-organizing, but while they have some autonomy, they are not self-managing as they do not have the goal of reducing their own complexity.
Cybernetics Norbert Wiener regarded the automatic serial
identification of a
black box and its subsequent reproduction as self-organization in
cybernetics. The importance of
phase locking or the "attraction of frequencies", as he called it, is discussed in the 2nd edition of his
Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine.
K. Eric Drexler sees
self-replication as a key step in nano and
universal assembly. By contrast, the four concurrently connected galvanometers of
W. Ross Ashby's
Homeostat hunt, when perturbed, to converge on one of many possible stable states. Ashby used his state counting measure of
variety to describe stable states and produced the "
Good Regulator" theorem which requires internal models for self-organized
endurance and stability (e.g.
Nyquist stability criterion).
Warren McCulloch proposed "Redundancy of Potential Command" as characteristic of the organization of the brain and human nervous system and the necessary condition for self-organization.
Heinz von Foerster proposed Redundancy,
R=1 −
H/
Hmax, where
H is
entropy. In essence this states that unused potential communication bandwidth is a measure of self-organization. In the 1970s
Stafford Beer considered self-organization necessary for
autonomy in persisting and living systems. He applied his
viable system model to management. It consists of five parts: the monitoring of performance of the survival processes (1), their management by recursive application of regulation (2),
homeostatic operational control (3) and development (4) which produce maintenance of identity (5) under environmental perturbation. Focus is prioritized by an alerting "algedonic loop" feedback: a sensitivity to both pain and pleasure produced from under-performance or over-performance relative to a standard capability. In the 1990s
Gordon Pask argued that von Foerster's H and Hmax were not independent, but
interacted via
countably infinite recursive concurrent
spin processes to state a general spin-based principle of self-organization. His edict, an exclusion principle, "There are
No Doppelgangers" means no two concepts can be the same. After sufficient time, all concepts attract and coalesce as
pink noise. The theory applies to all organizationally
closed or homeostatic processes that produce
enduring and
coherent products which evolve, learn and adapt.
Sociology The self-organizing behavior of social animals and the self-organization of simple mathematical structures both suggest that self-organization should be expected in human
society. Tell-tale signs of self-organization are usually statistical properties shared with self-organizing physical systems. Examples such as
critical mass,
herd behavior,
groupthink and others, abound in
sociology,
economics,
behavioral finance and
anthropology.
Spontaneous order can be influenced by
arousal. In social theory, the concept of self-referentiality has been introduced as a sociological application of self-organization theory by
Niklas Luhmann (1984). For Luhmann the elements of a social system are self-producing communications, i.e. a communication produces further communications and hence a social system can reproduce itself as long as there is dynamic communication. For Luhmann, human beings are sensors in the environment of the system. Luhmann developed an evolutionary theory of society and its subsystems, using functional analyses and systems theory.
Anarchism can advocate self-organization as one of its basic principles.
Economics The
market economy is sometimes said to be self-organizing.
Paul Krugman has written on the role that market self-organization plays in the business cycle in his book
The Self Organizing Economy.
Friedrich Hayek coined the term
catallaxy to describe a "self-organizing system of voluntary co-operation", in regards to the spontaneous order of the free market economy.
Neo-classical economists hold that imposing
central planning usually makes the self-organized economic system less efficient. On the other end of the spectrum, economists consider that
market failures are so significant that self-organization produces bad results and that the state should direct production and pricing. Most economists adopt an intermediate position and recommend a mixture of market economy and
command economy characteristics (sometimes called a
mixed economy). When applied to economics, the concept of self-organization can quickly become ideologically imbued.
Learning Enabling others to "learn how to learn" is often taken to mean instructing them how to submit to being taught. Self-organized learning (SOL) denies that "the expert knows best" or that there is ever "the one best method", insisting instead on "the construction of personally significant, relevant and viable meaning" to be tested experientially by the learner. This may be collaborative, and more rewarding personally. It is seen as a lifelong process, not limited to specific learning environments (home, school, university) or under the control of authorities such as parents and professors. It needs to be tested, and intermittently revised, through the personal experience of the learner. It need not be restricted by either consciousness or language.
Fritjof Capra argued that it is poorly recognized within psychology and education. It may be related to cybernetics as it involves a
negative feedback control loop, or to
systems theory. It can be conducted as a learning conversation or dialog between learners or within one person.
Transportation The self-organizing behavior of drivers in
traffic flow determines almost all the spatiotemporal behavior of traffic, such as traffic breakdown at a highway bottleneck, highway capacity, and the emergence of moving traffic jams. These self-organizing effects are explained by
Boris Kerner's
three-phase traffic theory.
Linguistics Order appears spontaneously in the
evolution of language as individual and population behavior interacts with biological evolution.
Research Self-organized funding allocation (
SOFA) is a method of distributing
funding for scientific
research. In this system, each researcher is allocated an equal amount of funding, and is required to anonymously allocate a fraction of their funds to the research of others. Proponents of SOFA argue that it would result in similar distribution of funding as the present grant system, but with less overhead. In 2016, a test pilot of SOFA began in the Netherlands. ==Criticism==