Properties of self-organizing systems. Philosophical encyclopedia - self-organizing system The main procedures of the system approach are
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Department "General professional and special disciplines in jurisprudence"
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On the course: "The concept of modern natural science"
self-organization system matter
Introduction
1. Concept self-organization
2. Self-organization of systems
3. Types of self-organization processes
4. self-organization complex systems
5. Conditions i emergence of self-organization
6. Self-organization in wildlife
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
Our world, everything that can be observed in it, is undergoing continuous changes - we are observing its ongoing evolution. All such changes occur due to the forces of internal interaction, in any case, we do not observe any external forces in relation to it. According to Bohr's principle, we have the right to consider as existing only that which is observable or can be made so. Therefore, such forces do not exist. Thus, everything that happens around us, we can consider a process of self-organization, that is, a process going on due to internal incentives that do not require the intervention of external factors that do not belong to the system. Among these processes is also the formation and action of the Mind, because it was born in the system as a result of its evolution. So, the whole process of system evolution is a process of self-organization. The world is changing all the time. We cannot claim that the process of self-organization is aimed at achieving a state of equilibrium (which is understood as absolute chaos), we have no grounds for this, there is much more evidence to assert the opposite - the world is constantly evolving, and in this change there is a certain direction that is different from the desire to balance.
To describe the foundations of the process of self-organization, it is convenient (although obviously insufficient) to use the terminology of the Darwinian triad: heredity, variability, selection, giving these concepts a broader meaning. Variability in this broader sense is the ever-present factors of chance and uncertainty. Without the assumption of continuously operating random factors, the constant evolution of the system, accompanied by the appearance of new qualitative features, is apparently impossible. As for the term “heredity”, it only means that the present and future of any system in the world depends on its past. The degree of dependence of a particular system on the past can be any. We will agree to call this degree of dependence the memory of the system. In completely deterministic systems, the past uniquely determines the future (the opposite is also possible - to truly determine the past). Such systems are systems with infinite memory (absolute heredity). This is an abstraction, but it interprets well some processes in the inanimate world - for example, the motion of the planets that we observe (of course, only on a certain, finite, though very large, time interval. The "memory of the system" in real systems in the sense that we have defined it, most often it turns out to be limited: both infinite memory and its absence are only abstractions that are convenient for interpretation.An example of a system devoid of memory is a developed turbulent motion.
The concept of "principles of selection" is the most difficult among the concepts of the Darwinian triad. The processes of self-organization follow certain rules, laws. This statement is a kind of empirical generalization, the question of the origin of these rules lies outside rationalism, as well as the question of the birth of the Universe.
As a result, it is necessary to touch upon the concept of self-organization in animate and inanimate nature in more detail, or, more precisely, a new scientific direction that studies precisely these processes on Earth and in the Universe - synergetics.
1. The concept of self-organization
Self-organization is a process during which the organization of a complex dynamic system is created, reproduced or improved. Self-organization processes can take place only in systems with a high level of complexity and a large number of elements, the links between which are not rigid, but probabilistic. The main properties of self-organizing systems are openness, non-linearity, and dissipation. The theory of self-organization deals with open nonlinear dissipative systems that are far from equilibrium.
The properties of self-organization reveal objects of a very different nature: a living cell, an organism, a biological population, a biogeocenosis, a human collective, etc. The processes of self-organization are carried out due to the restructuring of existing and the formation of new links between the elements of the system. Distinctive feature self-organization processes - their purposeful, but at the same time natural, spontaneous character: these processes occur during the interaction of the system with the environment, are to some extent autonomous and relatively independent of it.
2. Self-organization of systems
In recent decades, the idea has been developing that matter initially has a tendency not only to destroy order and return to the original chaos, but also to form more and more complex and ordered systems of different levels. The idea of the destructive tendency of matter was formed as a result of the development of two branches of classical physics - statistical mechanics and thermodynamics - which describe the behavior of isolated (closed) systems, that is, systems that do not exchange either energy or matter with the environment. In this case, a special role belongs to the second law of thermodynamics, which determines the irreversibility of energy conversion processes in a closed system. Such processes sooner or later lead the system to its simplest state - thermodynamic equilibrium, which is equivalent to chaos, when there is no order and all types of energy are converted into thermal energy, on average evenly distributed among all elements of the system. In the past, the possibility of applying the second law of thermodynamics to the universe, which was assumed to be a closed system, was discussed. From this followed the conclusion about the degradation of the Universe - its thermal death.
It is known that all real systems, from the smallest to the largest, are open, i.e. they exchange energy and matter with the environment and are not in a state thermodynamic equilibrium. In such systems, the formation of an increasing order is possible. On this basis, the idea of self-organization of material systems arose
In recent decades, studies of self-organization processes have been carried out in three directions: synergetics, thermodynamics of non-equilibrium processes, and mathematical theory of catastrophes.
Synergetics studies the connections between the elements (subsystems) of a structure that are formed in open systems (biological, physicochemical, etc.) due to the intensive exchange of matter and energy with the environment in non-equilibrium conditions. In such systems, the coordinated behavior of subsystems is observed, as a result of which the degree of order increases, i.e., the entropy decreases. The basis of synergetics is the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium processes, the theory of random processes, the theory of nonlinear oscillations and waves. The object of study of synergetics, regardless of its nature, must satisfy three conditions: openness, significant non-equilibrium and abrupt exit from a critical state.
Openness means the openness of the system, for which the exchange of energy and matter with the environment is possible. Significant non-equilibrium leads to a critical state, accompanied by a loss of stability. As a result of an abrupt exit from the critical state, a qualitatively new state with a higher level of order is formed. An example of a self-organizing system is an optical quantum generator - a laser. During its operation, the three listed conditions are observed: the openness of the system supplied from outside with energy, its extreme non-equilibrium, the achievement of a critical pumping level, at which ordered, monochromatic radiation occurs.
“Everywhere you look, there is evolution, variety of forms and instability. It is interesting to note that such a picture is observed at all levels - in the region elementary particles, in biology, in astrophysics,” says one of the founders of the thermodynamics of nonequilibrium processes, Nobel Prize winner in 1977, Belgian physicist and physicochemist I.L. Prigozhy (b. 1917).
Self-organization includes random and regular in the development of any systems, in which two phases can be distinguished: smooth evolution, the course of which is quite regular and deterministic, and a jump at the bifurcation point, which proceeds randomly and therefore randomly determines the subsequent regular evolutionary stage up to the next jump at the bifurcation point . Directly related to the concept of self-organization is the mathematical theory of catastrophes, which describes various abrupt transitions, spontaneous qualitative changes etc. In the theory of catastrophes, a rather complex mathematical apparatus is used - the topological theory of dynamical systems.
3. Types of self-organization processes
There are three types of self-organization processes:
processes of spontaneous generation of the organization, i.e. the emergence from a certain set of integral objects of a certain level of a new integral system with its own specific patterns (for example, the genesis of multicellular organisms from unicellular organisms);
processes by which the system maintains a certain level of organization when the external and internal conditions of its functioning change (here, mainly homeostatic mechanisms are studied, in particular, mechanisms operating on the principle of negative feedback);
processes associated with the improvement and self-development of such systems that are able to accumulate and use past experience.
A special study of the problems of self-organization was first initiated in cybernetics. The term "self-organizing system" was introduced by the English cyberneticist W. R. Ashby in 1947. A wide study of self-organization began in the late 1950s. 20th century in order to find new principles for constructing technical devices capable of simulating various aspects of human intellectual activity. The study of self-organization problems has become one of the main ways of penetration of ideas and methods of cybernetics, information theory, systems theory, biological and systems knowledge.
The world of non-linear self-organizing systems is much richer than the world of closed, linear systems. However, the "nonlinear world" is more difficult to model. As a rule, for the approximate solution of most of the emerging nonlinear equations, a combination of modern analytical methods with computational experiments. Synergetics opens up for precise, quantitative, mathematical research such aspects of the world as its instability, the variety of ways of change and development, reveals the conditions for the existence and sustainable development of complex structures, allows modeling catastrophic situations, etc.
Synergetic methods have been used to model many complex self-organizing systems: from morphogenesis in biology and some aspects of brain functioning to aircraft wing flutter, from molecular physics and self-oscillating devices before the formation of public opinion and demographic processes. The main question of synergetics is whether there are general patterns governing the emergence of self-organizing systems, their structures and functions. Such patterns exist. These are openness, nonlinearity, dissipativity.
4. Self-organization of complex systems
A characteristic feature of developing systems is their ability to self-organize, which manifests itself in the self-consistent functioning of the system due to internal connections with the external environment. Considering development as a process of self-organization of the system, we single out two main phases in it: adaptation, or evolutionary development, and selection. Self-organizing systems have a mechanism of continuous adaptability (adaptation) to changing internal and external conditions, continuous improvement of behavior, taking into account past experience. When studying the processes of self-organization, we will proceed from the assumption that in developing systems the structure and function are closely interconnected. The system transforms its structure in order to perform the specified functions in a changing environment.
Adaptation of the system to changing conditions occurs due to the appearance of elements that have the properties necessary for the functioning of the system, and not only due to the appearance of such elements (meaning not only the appearance of new elements, but also the appearance of new features in the "old" elements), but the redundancy of such elements -signs. An increase in the number of similar elements underlies the progressive development of systems, as it is a prerequisite for further selection of elements, differentiation and integration of structures. At the same time, an increase in the number of similar elements is the simplest means for increasing the reliability of reproduction, for intensifying functions and expanding connections with the external environment. The period of adaptation (stability of the system) corresponds to the constant accumulation of adaptive features of wide significance, the growth of the universalism of the system. As a result of fluctuations in the system, regulatory signals arise that change, adapt the structure of the system so that the system continues to function as necessary.
The adaptation period is a period of evolutionary transformations, which are associated only with quantitative changes in the system. Structural stability is not violated in this case. The concept of structural stability plays an important role in the theory of self-organization.
The process of evolution is the result of the interaction of the system with the external environment, therefore, when studying this process, it is necessary to consider the system-environment process.
The importance of external and internal factors in organic evolution Schmalhausen reveals, explaining the evolutionary process as a directed process: "Biogeocenosis acts in relation to all its constituent populations of species as a control device. Control and regulation of the interdependencies of populations different types with each other and with non-living components of the biogeocenosis are made through the selection or differential participation of individuals in the reproduction of the next generation. The death, complete or partial elimination from reproduction of all those who cannot perform a biogeochemical function, maintains the stability of the processes of circulation of matter and energy in the biogeocenosis and at the same time ensures the evolution of individual species. Evolution is a side, but inevitable result of maintaining the stability of a system of a higher rank in relation to the organism. Selection, exercising control and regulation, i.e. maintaining a stationary state of biogeocenosis, thereby becoming a driving factor in the evolution of a species and ensuring not just a change in the species as a system, which could lead to its destruction, but the transition of the system from one harmonic (stable according to the principle of regulation) state to another harmonic state.
Multiple regulation based on the feedback principle, or self-adjustment of the developing organism, underlies the maintenance of a stable state, ensures the stability of the development process under irregularly changing external conditions, and ensures the reliability of achieving the result of development in regularly changing environmental conditions. Self-adjustment is the basis of the adaptability of the organism to the environment and the mutual adaptation of organs to each other. But it also constitutes the basis of adaptability, however, on a different - supraorganismal level of life organization.
The action of the regulatory mechanism of system development is manifested at various levels of its organization and depends on the reaction to changes in external factors, on the forms of interaction of the system with environmental factors. Depending on the level of system structuring, interdependence with external factors manifests itself in various forms, as it relates to different levels of system organization and various processes. The role of the regulator is played by the external environment, including the system under consideration. The external environment must be connected with the developing system by two communication lines - a direct line for transmitting control signals from the external environment to the system and a feedback line that transmits information about the actual state of the system to the external environment. In the process of its functioning, the system transmits to the external environment information about the quantitative composition of the corresponding elements-features, about their distribution. In the external environment, this information is transformed (control and selection of the most valuable information). The selected information is accumulated in the external environment and transmitted to the system through the appearance of appropriate properties (features) of the system elements.
In biological systems, biogeocenosis acts as a regulator. The population that is part of this biogeocenosis is associated with it by two channels. The first communication channel lies at the molecular level of organization and serves to transfer hereditary information from the zygote to the primary germ cells of a mature individual. The second communication channel lies at the level of individual organization and serves to transmit feedback from phenotypes to biogeocenosis. Between these two channels are "inserted" transformation mechanisms that provide a connection between them and thus close the elementary cycle of evolutionary changes.
Thus, two-way communication is carried out between the external environment and the system included in its composition. However, there is no direct connection between the two transmission lines, since they are on different levels. The accumulated information is transmitted through a direct channel at the level of attributes of individual elements, and the reverse information is transmitted only at the level of elements and components of the system. Since the regulatory mechanisms of the development of the system are connected with the external environment, one should take into account the possibility of various random external influences that distort the transfer of information and disrupt the normal course of transformations.
If biogeocenosis as a whole plays the role of a regulator of the evolutionary process, then it must necessarily be provided with "information" about the state of the population (along the "feedback" line), must include a specific mechanism for converting this information into control signals and means of transmitting the latter to the population. Thus, in addition to the transformation mechanism, communication channels are needed to transfer information in two directions - from a population to a biogeocenosis and from a biogeocenosis to a population. Since a change in a population, being an elementary evolutionary process, is always accompanied by a hereditary change in its individuals, the control signals from the biogeocenosis to the population must somehow include the possibility of changing its hereditary structure. The latter can only happen in the process of information transformation in the biogeocenosis itself (i.e., in the "regulator"). Since primary evolutionary changes are possible only in a population (or in generations of individuals, but not in individual individuals), the simplest change is at least a small change in the genetic composition of the population, i.e. in the ratio of the number of individuals with different hereditary characteristics (genotypes). Information about such changes in a population can be communicated through the hereditary apparatus of its individuals and transmitted to individuals of the next generation through, for example, germ cells. Such an apparatus does exist, and, undoubtedly, it fully ensures the reliable connection of the population with the regulatory mechanism of biogeocenosis and the further transmission of information from one generation of individuals to the next. There are also means of transmitting feedback from the population to the biogeocenosis. The population, of course, actively influences the biogeocenosis, at least through the consumption of food materials and the accumulation of products of its vital activity. Under certain conditions, the population can make significant changes in the structure of the biogeocenosis. Thus, there are also feedback channels.
However, there is no direct connection between hereditary information through the first channel (from biogeocenosis) and feedback information through the second channel (from population to biogeocenosis). Here, the direct connection seems to be interrupted, since both lines of communication are at different levels. Hereditary information is transmitted at the intracellular (molecular) level of organization, and the reverse information is transmitted only at the level of organization of the whole individual.
The transition from one communication line to another is accomplished through a rather complex transformation mechanism. Hereditary information is transformed in the processes of individual development into a means of transmitting feedback information, namely to the phenotype of an individual, which is a real carrier of life and an active participant in the attack on the life resources of biogeocenosis ("struggle for existence"). In biogeocenosis, through natural selection and reproduction processes, a new transformation of this information into hereditary occurs with the transition from the level of organization of the individual (in phenotypes) to the level of organization of the cell (sex cells, zygotes). This completes the full circle of transformations in the elementary cycle of the evolutionary process.
Thus, it can be said once again that the adaptation of the system occurs due to the redundancy of elements-features, due to the accumulation of information in the system about the state of the environment. Redundancy provides selection, selection of the most optimal options.
The reason for the diversity of forms in a population is, of course, the process of mutation. The stabilizing form of natural selection prevents the accumulation of identical mutations, transfers the hereditary diversity of individuals into a latent state, and always maintains the amount of hereditary information in a population at a fairly high level. The amount of inverse information in the phenotypes of a population is maintained at an even higher level. Therefore, the entropy of the population remains high. A population is a poorly organized biological system, and this low level organizations, i.e. some disorder and uncertainty is maintained by the action of stabilizing selection. This maintains the high evolutionary plasticity of the population and the species as a whole. In the event of a change in the relationship between the population (species) and the external environment (biogeocenosis), normal individuals lose their fitness. Stabilizing selection in certain respects (for traits that have lost their significance) ceases, and this leads to an increase in the number of various mutations. The amount of information in individual individuals sharply increases, the organization is loosened. However, some mutations and their combinations may receive a positive assessment under new environmental conditions. This leads to their free accumulation under the guiding influence of the driving form of natural selection.
The stabilizing form of selection leads, in fact, to two different, but equally important results: to the maximum stability of the individual and possible mobility, i.e. evolutionary plasticity of the population.
The stabilizing form of natural selection acts as a factor that forms and maintains the reliable functioning of the first communication channel from the zygote to the primary germ cell (through cell divisions) and the unmistakable transformation of the information thus obtained in the processes of individual development. It leads to the creation and maximum stabilization of the apparatus of individual development and to the normalization of the population, its individuals and traits.
The driving (transforming) form of selection acts as a factor that forms and maintains the function of the second communication channel from the population to the biogeocenosis. It leads to those restructurings in the organization of the hereditary apparatus (in the first communication channel) and the mechanism of individual development (in the forms of information transformation) that contribute to the emergence of new adaptations; to specialization, a general complication of organization and an increase in the activity of individual individuals, i.e. to a change in the forms of life as a means of communication through the second channel. Transformative selection uses in its activity what is achieved by stabilizing selection - the high heredity of those deviations from the norm that are caused by a change in the genotype.
The embryological works of Schmalhausen showed that those structures that evolve most rapidly during the development of the embryo are most independent of the rest of the body.
The idea of accelerating the evolution of the most stable structures was the highest point in the synthesis of the idea of stability and the idea of evolution.
Schmalhausen's studies show that for the development of a system, fixed signs are needed that have appeared as a result of adaptation to the external environment, i.e. some form of memory must be present in the system. But heredity alone is not enough for development, an active exchange with the external environment is needed, the system must be open. Organizational forms cannot arise without specially organized memory. But along with the "accumulated experience" the system must have the ability to learn.
Thus, Schmalhausen connected one of the factors of evolution - variability with the processes of transmission, transformation, accumulation of information. In this case, the concept of "information" is associated with the number of feature elements. At the adaptation stage, information redundancy plays an important role.
5. Conditions for the emergence of self-organization
The development of the system occurs due to internal mechanisms, as a result of self-organization processes and due to external control actions.
M. Eigen developed the concept of self-organization of matter on the basis of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and information theory. Eigen is limited to modeling the prebiological evolution of macromolecules, but the ideas and methods he developed are of more general fundamental importance. Just like the works of Prigogine's school, Eigen's works went beyond the framework of particular sciences and have general scientific methodological significance.
According to Eigen's theory, self-organization is not an obvious property of matter that necessarily manifests itself under any circumstances. Certain internal and external conditions must be met before such a process becomes inevitable. Self-organization begins with fluctuation. For the emergence of the process of self-organization, the instructive properties of the system at the microlevel are necessary.
The instruction requires information that encodes certain functions. For self-organized systems, the function of reproduction or preservation of its own information content is of interest. For the emergence of evolution, it is not the amount of information that is essential, but the instructive properties of information; it is not the quantity that matters, but the value of information, which is directly related to its use.
It is rather difficult to give a productive universal definition of the value of information, since it is given for the amount of information. The value of information is different for the same system for different purposes, different environmental conditions. The value depends on the stock of accumulated information that the system has. Value is the degree of its non-redundancy, irreplaceability.
The information accumulated in the process of evolution is "valued" information, and the number of bits says little about its functional significance. The accumulation of information is an increase in the number of elements that have a given attribute.
The value of information is the greater, the fewer different ways to perform a given function. If systems that perform different functions are compared, then the value criterion already turns out to be of little use, here you can still use a quantitative information criterion. Quantitative and pragmatic information criteria must be applied not separately, but together, only in this case it is possible to achieve the most adequate definition of the degree of organization, both in functional and in many other respects.
For the appearance of coordinated directed processes in the system, it is necessary to use information in the process of the system functioning. If there is no use, then new features appear for the elements, regardless of what features other elements have. If there is no use of information, then there is no accumulation in the external environment, and therefore, there is no transfer of accumulated information from the external environment to the system. The organization in the system is associated with the localization of elements that have certain characteristics, with the concentration of these elements, that is, the formation of a dissipative structure. Localized dissipative structures have the ability to accumulate information due to a kind of "primitive memory". Such localization occurs due to the self-instructing process of using information.
In the process of using information, there is a selection of those elements-features that give advantages in the course of development. The use of information is not its attribute, but only a property that manifests itself under certain conditions.
In all cases, when comparison and selection of information is carried out, this occurs on the basis of their assessment of quality. On the feedback lines, there is always a comparison of the real result of some action with the one encoded in the program. This always means first of all an assessment on the quality of information. If information from the external environment gives indications of the existence of food materials, then first of all, they are tested - compared with the required material in terms of its quality. If the biocenosis receives information about a new variant of organisms (through its activity), then the new variant is always compared with the previous norm. In the struggle for existence, the selection of a new variant takes place not on the basis of quantity, but only on qualitative indicators (in comparison with the norm).
The self-instructing nature of the selection process leads to a decrease in dissipation, as the diversity of feature elements decreases. And this, in turn, reduces the stability of the system. The system is not just moving away from the equilibrium state, but is moving away at an increasing speed, since more perfect structures that arise earlier than others win in the selection.
One of the conditions for the emergence of self-organization is the implementation of the selection of information that has a certain measure of quality (value). Information acquires value in the specific process of its use. In order for the process of self-organization to begin, it is necessary that selection take place under certain conditions, namely: the system must be far from an equilibrium state; the intensity of growth in the number of elements should be sufficient to bring the system out of a stable state.
If the growth rate of the number of new elements is small, then, regardless of the initial data, a stationary state will be established after a certain time. The growth rate of the number of new elements must exceed the rate of extinction of "old" elements. The growth process must have an "autocatalytic" character, i.e. the appearance of a new attribute in one element should cause the appearance of the same attribute in other elements. If the rate of growth is less than the rate of extinction, then the system will not have the intrinsic ability to grow, which is necessary for selection against less efficient traits. Such a system would carry all the useless information of the previous elements-features, which would eventually block further evolution. To implement the selection, redundancy of information is necessary.
In a self-organizing system, the maximum possible disorder is increased by the addition of new elements to the system. But simply adding elements to a system does not make it self-organizing. As elements are added to the system, the entropy of the system must be kept constant. To fulfill this condition, it is necessary to extract the negative entropy from environment, i.e. additional input of energy, information into the system, which is expressed in the transfer of accumulated information from the external environment to the system.
With the increase in value, the increase in the ability of a biological system to select valuable information is also associated. This ability is great in higher animals, whose sense organs are designed for such selection. The selection of valuable information underlies the creative activity of man. Such selection does not require additional energy costs - the energy cost of one bit of information does not depend on its value.
Natural selection means comparative assessment phenotypes in relation to a given ecological niche, i.e. search for the optimal value.
One interesting analogy comes from chess. According to Steinitz's theory, one should play positionally, accumulating small advantages. When they are sufficient, the chess player must look for a combinational decisive way to win. The non-triviality of this theory, argued in detail by E. Lasker, is as follows: if positional advantages are not used at the appropriate moment, they dissipate. Lasker wrote: "In masters, combinational and positional play complement each other. With the help of a combination, a chess player seeks to refute false values, and through positional play, he tries to consolidate and use true values."
Lasker considered chess as a model of "life struggle", but it did not occur to him that chess could serve as a model of natural selection, the struggle for existence: the accumulation of small advantages is like microevolution, the transition to combination is like macroevolution, a kind of phase transition.
The theory of functional systems, formulated by the outstanding physiologist Academician P.K. Anokhin, argues that the driving stimulus of human and animal behavior is a useful adaptive result. They can be optimal blood pressure, sufficient oxygen content in it and nutrients, external factors, say, food, water, the results of social activities. In order to achieve the set goals, temporary, "working" associations of brain structures, various organs, systems are created in the body, which are mobilized to perform a separate function. This concept describes general principles, according to which the physiological architecture of such associations is formed.
The search activity of the body is one of the most important survival factors. It increases the intensity of information exchange with the external environment, thereby increasing the use of new organizational structures that have arisen during stress.
The modern theory of stress, developed by the great scientist Hans Selye, states that under the influence of a strong external stimulus, after a short period of restructuring, the so-called adaptation, the body enters a state of increased stability. But after a more or less long time, with the continuation of external influence, this period suddenly and without any additional conditions is replaced by a phase of exhaustion, when the resistance drops sharply. There are facts that contradict this theory. Some scientists assign a decisive role in the stability of the organism to search activity.
If the search stops, and the need for it is preserved, then the impossibility of satisfying it leads to negative experiences and lowers the body's resistance. If such a need is weakened or absent, then a low level of activity may not be accompanied by negative emotions, but even in this case the subject remains highly vulnerable to external harmful influences.
Search activity increases the intensity of the process of the emergence of new functional structures necessary "to achieve the goal", to reflect the influence of harmful factors.
Turning to the above conceptual model of development, we note that the stage of transformative selection corresponds to a state of instability, i.e. the stage of origin and formation of a new system. The transition from the stage of formation to the evolution of the selected state can be regarded as a leap in development.
Studies of the process of self-organization have shown that the organization of the system, i.e. its entropy is mainly influenced by two parameters: the intensity of growth in the number of elements in the system and the intensity of the use of elements in the process of system functioning. An increase in the number of elements in the system can bring the system into an unstable state and create the prerequisites for the day of selection of the most valuable elements for the development of the system. The value of the elements is determined in the process of their use. The higher the growth rate of the number of elements in the system, the faster system tends to an unstable state, bringing the moment of abrupt changes closer. But the transition to a new qualitative level of structural organization will occur only when the intensity of use, which plays the role of an organizer in the system, is large enough to reduce the entropy in the system and transfer the system to a new stable state. Thus, by changing the parameters of the system, namely the intensity of growth in the number of elements and the intensity of their use, we can initiate the process of self-organization in the system, slow it down or speed it up. At the same time, we can transfer the system to a new, more perfect level of development or destroy it.
The death of the system can occur in two cases. First, when random fluctuations in the external environment lead to the death of individual elements of the system, to the destruction of the relationship between them, as a result of which the system is no longer able to perform the specified functions. Secondly, when there is no use of information about certain properties of the elements of the system in the process of functioning in the external environment. There is no use and, consequently, no accumulation of information in the external environment, as a result of which the direct connection of the system with the external environment is disrupted. The work of regulatory mechanisms is disrupted, which leads to the disorganization of the system and, as a result, to its death.
The considered model of the system self-organization process allows us to formulate the main requirements for the mathematical model.
Before proceeding to the analysis of the system development process, it is necessary to determine those features of the elements that are invariants for the group of elements under study. And already for these selected elements-features, consider the degree of order, consider the growth and death of precisely these features.
The model should relate the dynamic characteristics of the system (intensity of growth and use of elements-features) with the state function of the system, which characterizes the change in its order, i.e. with entropy. The model must be non-linear, as it must reflect both quantitative and qualitative changes in the system. The model should reflect the feedback mechanism of the system with the environment.
6. Self-organization in wildlife
Let us consider the process of self-regulation in living communities for a sufficiently simple example. Let us suppose that rabbits and foxes cohabitate in some ecological niche.
If rabbits are placed in a certain space with grass that grows in abundance, then, eating grass, they will begin to multiply intensively, i.e. the reaction will occur: Rabbit + Grass => More Rabbits, or K + T => 2K (as chemists wrote this reaction). This process is quite similar to the continuous heat supply (grass) in the problem with Benard cells.
But predatory foxes were placed in this ecological niche, which feed on rabbits and breed: Fox + Rabbit => More foxes, or chemically: L + K => 2L.
However, in turn, foxes, like rabbits, are victims. Foxes are victims of a person who shoots them for fur: Foxes => Fur, or chemically: L => M.
The final product of this complex reaction, the fur, is brought out of the reaction zone. It can be considered as a carrier of energy, withdrawn from the system to which the energy was first supplied, for example, in the form of grass. Thus, there is also a flow of energy in the ecological system, similar to the flow that takes place in a chemical reactor.
Analyzing this complex process, one can notice that there are two autocatalytic stages (positive feedback) in it, which play a certain role in its self-organization. One of them is the "production" (birth) of rabbits from grass-eating rabbits, the second is the birth of foxes from foxes that eat rabbits. The more rabbits there are, the more of them are born in the presence of stocks of grass. And if there were no predatory foxes, the uncontrolled breeding of rabbits would lead to an uncontrolled increase in their numbers. This happened in Australia in the middle of the 19th century. However, the same autocatalytic reproduction of foxes is possible with a large number of rabbits. But if it happens, it will lead to a sharp decline in the rabbit population. And this, in turn, will lead to a decrease in the population of foxes, since they need to eat rabbits to reproduce. When the fox population drops, the rabbit population will have time to rebuild its numbers. After the restoration of the number of rabbits, the population of foxes will begin to recover, and so on. This analysis shows that the system is self-organizing in time. In reality, there will be periodic fluctuations in the number of rabbits and foxes, shifted in time, i.e. an environmentally sustainable structure will emerge.
The analysis shows that in the biosphere there is a huge number of highly non-equilibrium systems, so it can be argued that the emergence of conditions for their self-organization is a rather frequent phenomenon. And since the conditions for self-organization are met, then life becomes as predictable as the Benard instability or any other probable event. The fact that life arose on the young Earth ~4-10 years after its formation (ie 4-109 years ago) is an argument for spontaneous self-organization that occurred under favorable circumstances.
The study of the behavior of non-equilibrium systems at points, loss of stability or transitions from one form of self-organization to another is carried out by the theory of bifurcations, or, as it is also called, the theory of catastrophes.
The word "bifurcation" means bifurcation and is used in a broad sense to refer to all kinds of qualitative rearrangements or metamorphoses of various objects with a smooth change in the parameters on which they depend. Catastrophes are spasmodic changes that occur as a sudden response of the system to a smooth change in external conditions. As a result of a catastrophe-explosion, the system can not only abruptly change its state, but also collapse.
Conclusion
It can be said that the process of self-organization of natural systems consists in acquiring more and more perfect dynamic balance with the environment.
The ideas of universal evolutionism and the properties of social human consciousness have much in common. The core of universal evolutionism is a scheme that reflects a through line of development from lower forms of movement to higher ones. This through line allows development, complication and improvement, as a result of which the processes and phenomena of nature can be considered from certain unified positions.
The ideas of universal evolutionism have considerable flexibility and can take on a variety of shapes. As a consequence of this, evolutionism exists in the form of a huge number of variants and versions. The ideas of evolutionism are a framework for a whole spectrum of essentially different ideas about the world.
At present, the natural desire to use the physical principles of the formation and development of inanimate and animate nature and the idea of a synergistic approach to describe the behavior of complex non-equilibrium self-organizing systems and solve social science problems in the humanities is becoming increasingly urgent.
The new ideological paradigm based on the ideas of synergetics eliminates the differences between natural science and social science and makes it possible to create a universal evolutionary-synergetic picture of the world. The concepts of synergetics and the apparatus of non-linear thinking transform the initially humanitarian-intuitive methods of describing social, economic, psychological, historical and other objects and systems of a humanitarian nature from descriptive to scientifically based (predictable; Futurological prospects for the development of mankind are based on the possibility of evolution of the transition of matter from more probable chaotic states to less probable, but really possible and more organized, ordered states.
Within the framework of the physical representations of synergetic models, civilization as a whole and a specific society in particular are complex non-equilibrium systems, the stability of which is ensured by the interaction of external and internal causes of development. A set of mechanisms, including tools and other material objects, languages, mythology, morality, etc., i.e. what constitutes the concept of culture can also be expressed in such parameters of the integral evolutionary development of self-organizing systems as non-linearity of processes, bifurcation of individual phases of development and evolutionary catastrophes.
Modern natural science is essentially becoming a post-non-classical integrative science, in which, first of all, the achievements and trends of the new synergetic physics should be used. At the same time, there is a tendency to move from the actual cognitive essence of science to scientific method solving problems of an economic, social, political and cultural nature and obtaining reasonable forecasts of future development. N.N. Moiseev wrote:
We are on the threshold of a new culture - a synthesis of global spiritual consciousness and global scientific knowledge.
A large number of examples can be cited confirming that the synergetic models of modern post-non-classical physics are applied to complex humanitarian systems in the dynamic history of civilizations, the emergence of ethnic groups, self-organization of socio-economic processes, crises in the development of human society, the principles of sustainable development of globalism.
In this regard, in the analysis of complex systems, the role of physical and mathematical models and, in general, the modeling of processes of various nature, the consideration of conflict situations and decision-making increases significantly.
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Among the systems today, a special place is occupied by dynamic self-organizing systems, the problem of self-organization of material systems is one of the central problems of science. Self-organizing systems are open systems, they freely exchange energy, matter and information with the external environment. One of the main features of self-organizing systems is the ability to resist entropy tendencies, the ability to adapt to changing conditions, transforming their structure if necessary. There are two main approaches to self-organization: cybernetic an approach in which the system is organized under the action of the governing body; synergistic- the system itself, with the help of a set of certain control parameters, "starts" the process of self-organization, the system itself, without a control body, chooses the path of its development to a higher organization.
Synergetics- interdisciplinary direction scientific research that emerged in the early 1970s. and setting as its main task the knowledge of the general patterns and principles underlying the processes of self-organization in systems of very different nature: physical, chemical, biological, technical, economic, social. The types of objects that can be called self-organizing are quite different; examples of them are a living cell, an organism, a biological population, a human society. Self-organization in synergetics is understood as the processes of the emergence of macroscopically ordered space-time structures in complex nonlinear systems that are in states far from equilibrium, near special critical points - bifurcation points, in the vicinity of which the behavior of the system becomes unstable. The latter means that at these points the system, under the influence of the most insignificant influences (fluctuations), can change its state dramatically. This transition is often characterized as the emergence of order from chaos. At the same time, the concept of chaos is being rethought, the concept of dynamic (or deterministic) chaos is introduced as a kind of super-complex orderliness that exists implicitly, potentially, and can manifest itself in a huge variety of ordered structures.
Synergetics presupposes a qualitatively different picture of the world, not only in comparison with the one that underlay classical science, but also the one that is commonly called the quantum-relativistic picture of non-classical natural science in the first half of the 20th century. There is a rejection of the image of the world as built from elementary particles - the bricks of matter - in favor of a picture of the world as a set of nonlinear processes. Synergetics is internally pluralistic, it includes a variety of approaches and formulations. The most famous of them is the theory of dissipative structures, associated with the name of I. Prigogine, and the concept of the German physicist G Haken, from whom the very name “synergetics” comes.
The key ideas of synergetics can be extrapolated to society, which is precisely a self-organizing system. Socio-economic systems are open, dynamic, non-equilibrium systems, which spontaneously ensures the development of the effect of self-organization and self-government. In addition, the process of self-organization acquires much greater opportunities due to the emergence of such phenomena as goal-setting and management. Cybernetic aspect of management economic system involves the processing of socio-economic information, making decisions about the impact on the system and the implementation of these decisions. Thus, in them, self-organization is supplemented by organization, since people who are gifted with consciousness act in society, setting themselves certain goals, guided by the motives of their behavior and value orientations. Therefore, the interaction of self-organization and organization, accidental and necessary, forms the basis for the development of social systems.
U.R. Ashby publishes: W. R. Ashby Principles of the Self-Organizing Dynamic System, Journal of General Psychology, 1947, vol. 37, pp. 125-128, where he first used the term "self-organizing system".
"Cybernetic and psychiatrist W. Ashby introduced the concept of self-organizing systems. In these systems, adaptation to changes or optimization of management processes is achieved by a corresponding change by people of individual subsystems, control algorithms, connections between subsystems, and in the general case, structural and functional components.
Borushko A.P., Choice of the future: Quo vadis, Minsk, "Design PRO", 2004, p.64.
This concept is widely included in cybernetics, biology, sociology and other sciences dealing with complex systems. Here is a typical example:
"... put the orchestra into action and you will see that it has a natural tendency to create variety by introducing errors into the interpretation of a piece of music by individual musicians. In addition, the orchestra will introduce additional elements of randomness into the performance due to insufficient communication between the musicians. The conductor (or regulator) aims to reduce the complexity of the system he controls by having about eighty-five people play as if they were only certain characters in the score.
In addition to the process of organization in a wide variety of sciences that study various phenomena of nature and society, one often encounters self-organization process- the appearance and development of structures in an initially homogeneous environment. In this case, there is no need for three elements, which is typical for the organization process. It is enough for two who have the desire and ability to interact with each other.
Self-organization is the ability of a system to independently, thanks to internal factors, without outside influence, increase its orderliness. Self-organized are processes that take place "on their own" due to interaction with the external environment, but relatively independently of it. In contrast, organizational processes are carried out or directed by someone. The processes of self-organization are purposeful, spontaneous, natural.
A. Prigogine one of the first to establish that "systems, left to themselves, can reduce entropy contrary to all previously known ideas" . This effect has been called "order out of chaos". The most obvious manifestations of this effect, first in the natural sciences, and then in the economic and social sciences, are associated with self-organizing tendencies. A characteristic condition for self-organizing behavior is the property autonomy, which means that the reactions of the system are determined mainly by its structure, internal connections, and not by external forces and signals.
Regarding self-organization G. Haken wrote: “We call a system self-organizing if it acquires some kind of spatial, temporal functional structure without specific external influence. By specific influence we mean that which imposes structure or functioning on the system.
The mechanism of action of a self-organizing system in favorable conditions, as it were, closes the output with the input, cutting it off from the external environment, mixing cause and effect. N. Moiseev suggests that in the evolution of self-organizing systems, negative feedbacks maintain homeostasis (a state of dynamic equilibrium), and positive feedbacks help maintain the desired level of variability and consume external energy. He calls these two contradictory tendencies the most important characteristics of the world process of self-organization. The constant compromise between them is realized by structural changes, strengthening of disequilibrium and entering a new range of homeostasis.
By A. Bogdanov“the self-organization of mankind is a struggle with its internal spontaneity, biological and social; in it tools are no less necessary for him than in the struggle with external nature - the tools of organization.
The first tool is word. Through the word, any conscious cooperation of people is organized: a call to work, in the form of a request or order, uniting employees; distribution between them of a role in work; an indication of the sequence and connection of their actions, encouragement to work, concentrating their forces.
Another tool, more complex and subtle, is - idea. An idea is always an organizational chart, whether it is in the form of a technical rule, or scientific knowledge, or an artistic concept, whether it is expressed in words, or other signs, or images of art. Idea technical directly and obviously coordinates the labor efforts of people; scientific - does the same thing only more indirectly and on a larger scale, as an instrument of a higher order, which is a vivid illustration - scientific technology of our era; idea artistic serves as a living means of rallying the team in the unity of perception, feeling, mood, - educates the unit for its life in society, preparing the organizational elements of the team, introducing them into its internal structure.
Third gun - social norms. All of them - custom, law, morality, decency - establish and formalize the relationship of people in the team, consolidate their ties.
Self-organization can be considered as a process and as a phenomenon. As a process, self-organization consists in the formation, maintenance or elimination of a set of actions leading to the creation of stable connections and relationships in the system based on the free choice of rules and procedures. As a phenomenon, self-organization is a set of elements that serve to implement a program or goal. Depending on the object, technical, biological and social self-organization is distinguished (Fig. 2.3).
Technical self-organization as a process is an automatic change in the program of action when the properties of the controlled object, the control goal or environmental parameters change (for example, a missile homing system, self-tuning of software resources of modern computing systems). Technical self-organization as a phenomenon is a set of alternative intelligent adaptive systems that provide a given performance regardless of the operating conditions (for example, a set of redundant communication devices, fire extinguishing, etc.). Such self-organization occurs in the event of a device failure. Then another duplicating device or a new scheme of interaction of elements is connected to replace it.
Biological self-organization as a process represents actions based on the genetic program for the conservation of the species, and is designed to ensure the somatic (bodily) construction of the object. As a phenomenon, biological self-organization is specific changes in wildlife (mutations) to adapt to specific conditions of existence.
Social self-organization how the process is based on activities to harmonize social relations, including actions to change the priorities of needs and interests, values, motives and goals of a person and a team. The carriers of social self-organization are people with increased social responsibility. Social self-organization is a trait of a person's character, along with responsiveness, sensitivity, modesty, courage, etc. It can be innate or acquired through upbringing and taking into account the moral norms of society. Social self-organization is realized through: self-education, self-training and self-control (Fig. 2.4).
Rice. 2.4. Types of social self-organization
Examples of self-organization processes in nature are: self-pollination of plants, crystal growth, self-oscillating processes, turbulent flow of liquid. In society, examples of self-organization are the transition from one class system to another through revolutions, conflicts between classes. Self-organizing can also be called a private commercial firm, which, unlike the state, chooses the type of activity, goals, tasks, and its own structure.
The development of self-organization processes is significantly influenced by evolutionary transformations that occur not only in animate and inanimate nature, but also in society. If in the course of biological evolution purely genetic properties and factors are inherited and transferred, then in the process of social evolution skills, knowledge, rules of behavior and other social experience are transferred, i.e. socio-cultural traditions. At the same time, both biological and social changes are determined by the state of the environment and are the result of adaptation to it of both living organisms and social forms of their existence.
There are three types of self-organization processes:
■ processes of spontaneous generation of the system (eg development of multicellular organisms from unicellular ones);
■processes to maintain a certain level of organization (e.g. a mechanism homeostasis(maintaining the internal environment of a living organism at a constant level);
■processes of improvement and self-development of the system (human development, social organizations).
If self-organization in nature excludes organization in principle and in this sense coincides with organization, then in a society where people with consciousness act, self-organization is supplemented by an external organization, which is guided by the consciousness and will of people.
QUESTIONS AND TASKS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Describe the essence of the process approach as one of the general scientific ones.
2. Give examples of organizational processes in nature and society.
3. Define the concepts of self-organizing, organized and mixed processes.
4. Is the activity of people always of an organizational nature, and of nature - of a disorganizational one?
5. Formulate the concept of "self-organization".
6. Describe the types of self-organization processes.
7. What is the mechanism of self-organization?
8. What does self-organization mean in society? How is it different from an organization?
9. Describe the relationship and interaction between the market in nature and the market in the economy.
10. Give examples of the organization of production, organization of labor and organization of management.
11. Consider the classification of processes according to the phases of the life cycle of a self-selected specific system (technical, biological or social). Describe them in terms of changes occurring in the system. Fill the table.
System: (for example a person)
|
Process type |
Process characteristics |
|
System formation processes | |
|
System Growth Processes | |
|
System development processes | |
|
Functioning processes | |
|
Decline processes | |
|
Regression processes | |
|
System destruction processes |
Self-organization processes can take place only in systems with a large number of elements, the links between which are not rigid, but probabilistic. These processes occur due to the restructuring of existing and the formation of new links between the elements of the system. A distinctive feature of the processes of self-organization is their purposeful, but at the same time natural, spontaneous character: these processes, occurring during the interaction of the system with the environment, are to some extent autonomous, relatively independent of it.
There are three types of self-organization processes. The first is the spontaneous generation of the organization, i.e. the emergence from a certain set of objects of a certain level of a new integral system with its own specific patterns. The second type is the processes by which the system maintains a certain level of organization when the external and internal conditions of its functioning change (homeostatic mechanisms, in particular, acting on the feedback principle). The third type is associated with the improvement and self-development of such systems that are able to accumulate and use past experience. The term "self-organizing system" was introduced by the English cybernetician Ashby W.R. (1947).
In a broad sense, the concept of self-organization reflects the fundamental principle of Nature, which underlies the observed development from less complex to more complex and ordered forms of organization of matter. But this concept also has a narrower meaning, which directly characterizes the way the transition from simple to more complex is realized. In this sense, self-organization is called natural jump-like processes that transfer an open non-equilibrium system that has reached a critical state in its development into a new stable state with a higher level of complexity and order compared to the initial one. A critical state is a state of extreme instability achieved by an open non-equilibrium system during the previous period of smooth, evolutionary development.
The concepts of "simple" and "complex" are always relative, their meaning is revealed only when comparing the properties of related objects. Thus, the proton is complex relative to quarks, but simple relative to the hydrogen atom; an atom is complex relative to a proton and an electron, but simple relative to a molecule, and so on. At the same time, we see that complex objects have new qualities that the original simple elements that make them up lack. Thus, Nature can be represented as a chain of elements growing in complexity.
The processes of combining "simple" elements with the formation of "complex" systems proceed only when certain conditions. For example, if the temperature (energy) of the environment exceeds the binding energy of two particles, then they cannot be held together. When the temperature drops to values at which the energy of the medium and the binding energy of particles are equal, a critical moment occurs, and a further decrease in temperature makes it possible to fix particles (for example, a proton and an electron) in a hydrogen atom. The situation is much more complicated when atoms are combined into molecules . Here, too, there are threshold values of parameters (temperature, density), called critical values, which separate the area of possible formation from the area where this process is impossible.
Then come new levels of complexity and orderliness of matter. The highest level of order known to science is demonstrated by the phenomenon of life and the mind it generates. For a long time it was believed that the phenomenon of life contradicts the prevailing physical ideas about the striving of matter towards chaos. Life was presented as an ordered and regular behavior of matter, based not only on the tendency to move from order to disorder, but partly on the existence of an order that is maintained all the time. This problem was first clearly formulated in the book of the famous theoretical physicist E. Schrodinger "What is life?". The analysis done by him showed that the phenomenon of life destroys the postulate about the only trend in the development of matter - from random order to disorder, born of classical thermodynamics. Living systems have been able to maintain order in defiance of the "natural" tendency.
After the publication of Schrödinger's book, a curious situation arose: living matter was recognized as capable of showing both a tendency to destroy order and a tendency to preserve it. And for inanimate nature, as before, only one tendency was recognized - to inevitably destroy any order that arose as a result of random deviations from equilibrium. And only relatively recently it became clear that the tendency to create, to move from a less ordered state to a more ordered one, that is, self-organization, is inherent in inanimate nature to the same extent as living. All you need is the right conditions for it to manifest.
It turned out that all multi-scale self-organizing systems, regardless of what branch of science they are studied, be it physics, chemistry, biology or Social sciencies, have a single transition algorithm from less complex and less ordered to more complex and more ordered states.
Self-organizing systems acquire their inherent structures or functions without any outside interference. Typically, these systems consist of a large number of subsystems. When certain conditions, which are called control parameters, change, qualitatively new structures are formed in the system. These systems have the ability to move from a homogeneous, undifferentiated state of rest to a heterogeneous but well-ordered state, or to one of several possible states.
These systems can be controlled by changing the external factors acting on them. The flow of energy or matter takes a physical, chemical, biological or social system far from the state of thermodynamic equilibrium. By changing the temperature, radiation level, pressure, etc., we can control systems from the outside. Self-organizing systems are able to maintain internal stability when exposed to the external environment, they find ways of self-preservation so as not to collapse and even improve their structure.
