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Time and Interactions in Complex Systems
Author(s) -
Fivaz Roland
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1743(199705/06)14:3<195::aid-sres143>3.0.co;2-5
Subject(s) - hierarchy , set (abstract data type) , living systems , beach morphodynamics , meaning (existential) , complex system , selection (genetic algorithm) , living matter , order (exchange) , computer science , statistical physics , physics , epistemology , artificial intelligence , biology , philosophy , sediment transport , paleontology , finance , sediment , economics , market economy , programming language
Morphodynamics accounts for the evolution and the creation of order in living matter on the model set up by physics to explain evolution and order in inert matter. According to physics, transformations and ordering in systems of particles are closely bound to passing time. The model thus leads to the definition of specific components and time to describe the dynamics of living matter. Ensembles of such components then are apt to set up functional orders built on scales of the specific time, and scales are fixed by interactions between components. However, two novelties appear with respect to physics: internal selection and hierarchy. They give access to mental systems capable of transforming real behaviours into symbolic messages and vice versa; orders created in the mental time then constitute transmissible representations endowed with meaning. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.