LO & the New Sciences LO4792

Doug Seeley (100433.133@compuserve.com)
11 Jan 96 07:06:24 EST

Responding to Uri Merry in LO4742...

I for one welcome a fresh exchange on these ideas Uri, even though they
have been touched upon before by myself and others. Thanks for the
stimulation.

I have done some original work in this area Uri, specifically upon the
evolution of random digraphs and its relationship to phase transitions (it
is summarized in a chapter of a forthcoming book from Cambridge University
Press, I think entitled Complex Systems in Biology). Moreover, the
underlying principle of network emergence is embedded in our corporate
consulting activities in Australia and within both the code and form of
our own software platform (I work in Geneva as the designer).

In a nutshell, the relationship of digraph evolution to the Edge of Chaos
notion is as follows. If you examine the connectivity within a community
(set) as random links (arcs) are made between individuals (nodes), or
conversely as random links are removed from a connected community, a
striking phenomenon occurs which I refer to as the "avalanche" (in random
graph evolution it is called the "double jump"). Describing it from the
perspective of a growing number of links, what happens is that a certain
point in the link density, the connectivity of the community suddenly
skyrockets to include almost everyone (where connectivity includes
indirect connections between individuals). At the same time there is a
rapid coalescence of various sub-communities which have already formed.

The opposite phenomenon occurs with the removal of links from a connected
community. Suddenly, its connectivity rapidly disentegrates leaving a
dispersed "archipelago" of relatively small sub-communities.

This avalanche effect corresponds to Stewart Kauffman's work with phase
transitions in biology and evolution (cf. At Home in the Universe: the
Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity, Oxford 1995.. and
also The Origins of Order: Oxford 1993).

I believe that the connection to the Edge of Chaos notion for Life is that
the instability around this Connectivity Avalanche enables rapid
adaptation as alternations between chaos and the stability of connected
communities. In examining the transition rules in Wolfram's investigation
of this with cellular automata, it seemed that life-like behaviour was
associated with transition rules near this Connectivity Avalanche.

Well so much for background theories, I believe that the application of
this to the Learning Organization rests in achieving cultures wherein
different kinds of connectivity between individuals are encouraged,
especially in response to / engaged with its environment, beit market or
service clients.

Does this ring any bells ??

--
Doug Seeley, InterDynamics Pty. Ltd.	 Fax: +41 22 756-3957 (Geneva)
		Compuserve: 100433.133  "What is the formless background to our
individual existences?"