Complex Sciences. First International Conference, Complex 2009, Shanghai, China, February 23-25, 2009. Revised Papers, Part 1

Research Article

Is Self-organization a Rational Expectation?

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-02466-5_30,
        author={Heinz Luediger},
        title={Is Self-organization a Rational Expectation?},
        proceedings={Complex Sciences. First International Conference, Complex 2009, Shanghai, China, February 23-25, 2009. Revised Papers, Part 1},
        proceedings_a={COMPLEX PART 1},
        year={2012},
        month={5},
        keywords={complexity emergence mind biology-inspired engineering perception knowledge reductionism holism},
        doi={10.1007/978-3-642-02466-5_30}
    }
    
  • Heinz Luediger
    Year: 2012
    Is Self-organization a Rational Expectation?
    COMPLEX PART 1
    Springer
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-02466-5_30
Heinz Luediger1,*
  • 1: IMST GmbH, Information and Communication Systems
*Contact email: luediger@imst.de

Abstract

Over decades and under varying names the study of biology-inspired algorithms applied to non-living systems has been the subject of a small and somewhat exotic research community. Only the recent coincidence of a growing inability to master the design, development and operation of increasingly intertwined systems and processes, and an accelerated trend towards a naïve if not romanticizing view of nature in the sciences, has led to the adoption of biology-inspired algorithmic research by a wider range of sciences. Adaptive systems, as we apparently observe in nature, are meanwhile viewed as a promising way out of the complexity trap and, propelled by a long list of ‘self’ catchwords, complexity research has become an influential stream in the science community. This paper presents four provocative theses that cast doubt on the strategic potential of complexity research and the viability of large scale deployment of biology-inspired algorithms in an expectation driven world.