Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
conditions in far-from-equilibrium (FFE) conditions: the emergent order is essen-
tially dissipative. Given certain specific boundary conditions in FFE a set of
local interactions becomes nonlinear, and a collective behavior - a macroscopic
pattern - emerges. Now, the maintenance of this pattern is not only a con-
sequence of the given boundary conditions, but also a result of the inherent
recursivity of the process: once it appears, the pattern constraints the dynamics
of the system components so that the produced pattern in turn produces itself.
For instance, in the case of Bénard convection cells, the emergent pattern (the
creation of hexagonal cells) contributes to the self-maintenance, because the fact
of belonging to a certain cell is what makes a molecule turn to the left or the
right. Thus, recursivity and removal from thermodynamic equilibrium is the key
feature of this concept of organization.
Though very different in nature, both SA and SO are important sources
of order. In fact, many systems show both forms. However, only SO really
holds the dynamical and functional senses of the idea of organization. The term
'organization' implies not only order, but also the usefulness of this order that
it effectively does something. And for this 'doing', a continuous process is
implicitly necessary. SO is therefore the ground of any organization as it is a
dynamical form of order that contributes to the creation and
maintenance
of itself.
The minimal (because self-sustaining) meaning of the terms
task
and
function
is that something is contributing to the maintenance of the very organization in
which it appears. As we shall see, this internal sense of usefulness that appears
in SO is the key for allowing a process of increase in complexity.
3. THE STARTING POINT: NONTRIVIAL SELF-MAINTENANCE
Now, within this idea of organization, what is of interest for our purpose? As the
process by which life originated was probably a sequence of different forms of
organization
going from relative simple to progressively more complex stages,
we have to look for a kind of organization fulfilling two basic conditions: on the
one hand, such an organization has to be, in principle, simple enough for it to be
likely to appear from sets of material aggregates formed spontaneously; on the
other hand, it has to have the capacity, al least in principle, to further generate
other, more complex forms of organization
3
(and so on, until new organizational
3
Here I will use the term complexity in an organizational frame. This means that by an increase of organiza-
tional complexity I am not considering a mere increase in the 'complicatedness' (i. e., more number and variety
of components) of the system, but rather a functional re-arrangement of this complicatedness. In this sense,
an increase in complexity is linked to the generation within a system of new functional levels of organization.
Thus, an increase of organizational complexity can take the paradoxical form of an apparent 'simplification'
of the underlying complicatedness when a system creates a new hierarchical level (Simon, 1969) through a
functional loss of details (Pattee, 1973).
