Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ARDEC.ARPA!pbeck From: pbeck@ARDEC.ARPA (Peter Beck, LCWSL) Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: self organizing systems Message-ID: <8801291421.aa28769@ARDEC-AC4.ARDEC.ARPA> Date: 29 Jan 88 19:21:17 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 19 Approved: ailist@kl.sri.com COMPLEXITY OF SYSTEMS VS THEIR COMPONENTS RECENTLY I ASKED SOMEBODY IF PEOPLE ORGANIZATIONS (EG, AN EMPLOYEE UNION) COULD BE CONSIDERED A "SELF-ORGANIZING" SYSTEM THAT IS "SYMBIOTIC" WITH ITS HOST. I RECIEVED, WHAT I THINK IS A RATHER DISTURBING AND TYPICAL ANSWER TO BE EXPECTED FROM HUMANS: > It is hard to call any human organization a "self organizing system" > since its parts (humans) are so much more - % complex %- than the > system itself. Is this a generally accepted proposition, ie, that complex constituent elements can "NOT" form self organizing systems?? the future is puzzling, but CUBING is forever !! pete beck