Home Glossary Our Thinking Tools
These studies came about when scientists realized they could not reconcile entropy with biology. Entropy means that things get more complex. Energy dissipates. An example I heard came from a London astrophysicist. He has two young sons. He can set their toys in careful order on the shelves before the boys come in. In little time they dissipate the order. It takes only a little information to describe the positions of the toys when they are are neatly organized. But after the boys have finished playing it takes much more information to describe the toys' positions.
Energy generated by stars dissipates over time. It does not return and eventually the star dies, sometimes as supernovas.
However, in biology systems self-organize. The mechanisms of self-organization are not well understood but we can see it happening and we can describe it. From conception a single cell becomes two cells and continues to multiply according to 'instructions' in the genetic material contained in the first cell. We put the word instructions in quotation marks because it is our limited and metaphorical way of describing the influence of the genetic material on the process.
There is entropy even with these self-organizing biological systems. Ingesting, digesting, using and excreting food, oxygen and light all make for an increase in complexity outside the system.
For our purposes, we will use the concept of self-organization as a tool to help us advance our sociological perception.
Human organizations are self-organizing systems self-similar to biological self-organizing systems. All human organization from the Free Masons to individual church congregations are self-organizing systems. Also racial groups.
The front door of a church is not just an opportunity - it is a filter. Once the group inside is defined it self-organizes.
Home Glossary Our Thinking Tools