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Classical Papers - Principles of the self-organizing systemE:CO Special Double Issue Vol. 6 Nos. 1-2 2004 pp. 102-126

Principles of the self-organizing systemW. Ross Ashby

Originally published as Ashby, W. R. (1962). Principles of the self-organizing system, in Principles of Self-Orga-nization: Transactions of the University of Illinois Symposium, H. Von Foerster and G. W. Zopf, Jr. (eds.), PergamonPress: London, UK, pp. 255-278. Reproduced with the kind permission of Ross Ashbys daughters, Sally Bannister,

Ruth Pettit, and Jill Ashby. We would also like to thank John Ashby for his generous assistance in obtaining theirpermission.

The brilliant British psychiatrist, neuroscientist,and mathematician Ross Ashby was one of thepioneers in early and mid-phase cybernetics

and thereby one of the leading progenitors of moderncomplexity theory. Not one to take either commonlyused terms or popular notions for granted, Ashbyprobed deeply into the meaning of supposedly self-organizing systems. At the time of the following article,he had been working on a mathematical formalismof his homeostat, a hypothetical machine establishedon an axiomatic, set theoretical foundation that wasVXSSRVHGWRRIIHUDVXIFLHQWGHVFULSWLRQRIDOLYLQJRUJDQLVPpVOHDUQLQJDQGDGDSWLYHLQWHOOLJHQFH$VKE\pVKRPHRVWDWKDGDVPDOOQXPEHURIHVVHQWLDOYDULDEOHVVHUYLQJWRPDLQWDLQLWVRSHUDWLRQRYHUDZLGHUDQJHRIHQYLURQPHQWDOFRQGLWLRQVVRWKDWLIWKHODWWHUFKDQJHGDQGWKHUHE\VKLIWHGWKHYDULDEOHVEH\RQGWKHUDQJHwhere the homeostat could safely function, a newoKLJKHUpOHYHORIWKHPDFKLQHZDVDFWLYDWHGLQRUGHUWRUDQGRPO\UHVHWWKHORZHUOHYHOpVLQWHUQDOFRQQHFWLRQVor organization (see Dupuy, 2000). Like the role of ran-GRPPXWDWLRQVGXULQJHYROXWLRQLIWKHQHZUDQJHVHWDWUDQGRPSURYHGIXQFWLRQDOWKHKRPHRVWDWVXUYLYHGotherwise it expired.

One of Ashbys goals was to repudiate thatinterpretation of the notion of self-organization, oneFRPPRQO\KHOGWRWKLVGD\ZKLFKZRXOGKDYHLWWKDWHLWKHUDPDFKLQHRUDOLYLQJRUJDQLVPFRXOGE\LWVHOIchange its own organization (or, in his phraseology,the functional mappings). For Ashby, self-organiza-WLRQLQWKLVVHQVHZDVDELWRIVXSHUXRXVPHWDSK\VLFVVLQFHKHEHOLHYHGQRWRQO\FRXOGKLVIRUPDOLVPE\LWVHOIFRPSOHWHO\GHOLQHDWHWKHKRPHRVWDWpVORZHUOHYHORU-JDQL]DWLRQWKHDGDSWLYHQRYHOW\RIKLVKRPHRVWDWZDVSXUHO\WKHUHVXOWRILWVXSSHUOHYHOUDQGRPL]DWLRQWKDWFRXOGUHRUJDQL]HWKHORZHUOHYHODQGQRWVRPHLQQDWHpropensity for autonomous change. We offer Ashbyscareful reasoning here as an enlightening guide forcoming to terms with key ideas in complexity theoryZKRVHJHQXLQHVLJQLFDQFHOLHVOHVVZLWKIDFLOHEDQG\-LQJDERXWDQGPRUHZLWKDQLQWHQVLYHDQGH[WHQVLYHexamination of the underlying assumptions.

Jeffrey Goldstein

Classical

Dupuy, J. (2000). The Mechanization of the Mind,3ULQFHWRQ3ULQFHWRQ8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV


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