Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
purposiveness is at play, dedicated to preserving the omnipresent biological or-
der. A good example of organized complexity (i.e., superposition of system
upon system) is the human immune system (see chapter 4.1 by Segel, Part III,
this volume), which is comprised of nearly a trillion cells and hundreds of sig-
naling chemicals that regulate with exquisite precision the myriad pathogens that
roam the body. The immune system parts are engaged without a central organ-
izer (albeit signals from the brain can modulate its action) to control the detailed
action plan.
Everything should be as simple as possible
,
but not simpler
.
—Albert Einstein
To put the self-organized, parts-collective in perspective (see Figure 4), it is
inviting to look at the complexity of information and energy processing that
must take place in the human body as a whole. The human organism consists of
roughly 50 trillion subsidiary component parts (cells), 40,000 different types of
proteins, and a genetic code of approximately 1.5 GBytes (6 billion base pairs or
3 million nucleotides/haploid genome). It is revealing to note that the average
Figure 4
. Types of systems with respect to methods of study and complexity ranking, as given
by Weinberg (11). Conceptual representation and generalized systems view of "organized
complexity." Note the ranking and association between uncertainty and complexity (11) and
their mutual interaction in defining ranges of systems (from machines to random aggregates).
