Autocatalysis

This blog is named after the auto-catalysis phenomenon, which, according to (bio)chemist and complexity theorists, is responsible for growth in complexity of molecules and finally in creating order. Due to auto-catalysis, simple organic compounds will evolve to more complex organic polymers and ultimately to self reproductive proteins. Autocatalysis will inevitably lead to life-creation. This is a very powerful and beautiful thought because if this is true, complexity and life has to evolve everywhere in the universe. The powers that lead to auto-catalysis, growth in complexity and ultimately to life-creation are certainly creative and mysterious powers. Moreover, there is an inevitability in the creation and evolution of any complex system. It are simple structures and forces that influence each other, producing more complex forms and emergent properties. This is true for the organizations we work in, for our Internet communities, our economies. The outcome of these processes can be incomprehensible. These are the things that fascinates us. We don’t write about complexity theory itself. We do write about the possible influences of web 2.0 and emerging techniques on organizations and institutions, on society, on knowledge and learning and so on, with this in mind: any complex system is shaped by and evolved from simple rules, simple influences and simple structures. There is a great deal of autonomy involved in these creation processes, like in the auto-catalysis phenomenon.

The picture in the header of this blog site is called a Mandelbrot Set and it is a selection from the picture below.

The Mandelbrot Set is a collection of points derived from the quadratic equation z(n+1)=z(n)2+c. The equation itself is very simple, but the Mandelbrot Set arising from that equation is one of the most complex objects in mathematics. Zooming into any boundary in the picture will reveal new points, and zooming in further will again reveal new points. ad infinitum. The boundary encloses a finite area, but the boundary itself is infinite. No matter how much we increase the magnification, the same shapes appear and reappear in the border, though never quite the same. The image reveals a kind of symmetry, not of left and right, but of large scales and small ones. The picture is a fractal image, and it is self- repeating. But to imagine the entire picture is like standing on a street corner and trying to imagine what the whole country looks like from an airplane, or from Mars. One can extrapolate, but what you see at this level may not conform to expectations of what it will look like as we move in space and time.

Mandelbrot Set