IF THE WHOLE WORLD IS COMPLEX, WHY BOTHER?

D. C. MIKULECKYPROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY

http://views.vcu.edu/~mikuleck/

WHAT I HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH

PROVIDE A UNIQUE, WORKABLE CONCEPT OF COMPLEXITY MAKE A CLEAR DISTICTION BETWEEN THE REAL WORLD

AND THOSE FORMAL THINGS WE DO TO TRY TO MODEL IT SHOW HOW THE FORMAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REAL

WORLD REDUCES IT TO SIMPLE MECHANISMS PROVIDE EXAMPLES OF BOTH MECHANISTIC AND

RELATIONAL MODELS OF THE WORLD USE THE DEFINITION OF ORGANISM TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT

CAN BE DONE BY STEPPING OUT OF THE TRADITIONAL FRAMEWORK

CAN WE DEFINE COMPLEXITY?

Complexity is the property of a real world system that is manifest in the inability of any one formalism being adequate to capture all its properties. It requires that we find distinctly different ways of interacting with systems. Distinctly different in

the sense that when we make successful models, the formal systems needed to describe each distinct aspect are NOT

derivable from each other

COMPLEXITY VS COMPLICATION

Von NEUMAN THOUGHT THAT A CRITICAL LEVEL OF “SYSTEM SIZE” WOULD “TRIGGER” THE ONSET OF “COMPLEXITY” (REALLY COMPLICATION)

COMPLEXITY IS MORE A FUNCTION OF SYSTEM QUALITIES RATHER THAN SIZE

COMPLEXITY RESULTS FROM BIFURCATIONS -NOT IN THE DYNAMICS, BUT IN THE DESCRIPTION!

THUS COMPLEX SYSTEMS REQUIRE THAT THEY BE ENCODED INTO MORE THAN ONE FORMAL SYSTEM IN ORDER TO BE MORE COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD

NATURAL VS FORMAL SYSTEMS

THE REAL WORLD IS COMPLEX WE HAVE TREATED IT FORMALLY AS IF IT

WERE SIMPLE THE RESULT IS THE “DISCOVERY” OF

COMPLEXITY, EMERGENCE,ETC. THE IDEA IS BEST SEEN USING THE

MODELING RELATION

THE MODELING RELATION: THE ESSENCE OF SCIENCE

ALLOWS US TO ASSIGN MEANING TO THE WORLD AROUND US

A “MODEL” OF OUR THINKING PROCESS CAUSALITY IN THE NATURAL SYSTEM IS DEALT

WITH THROUGH IMPLICATION IN A FORMAL SYSTEM

THERE IS AN ENCODING OF THE NATURAL SYSTEM INTO THE FORMAL SYSTEM AND A DECODING BACK

WHEN IT ALL HANGS TOGETHER WE HAVE A MODEL

THE MODELING RELATION: A MODEL OF HOW WE MAKE MODELS

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

ENCODING

DECODING

CAUSALEVENT

IMPLICATION

WE HAVE A USEFUL MODEL WHEN

ARE SATISFACTORY WAYS OF “UNDERSTANDING”THE CHANGE IN THE WORLD “OUT THERE”

THE MODELING RELATION: A MODEL OF HOW WE MAKE MODELS

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

ENCODING

DECODING

CAUSALEVENT

MANIPULATION

WHAT “TRADITIONAL SCIENCE” DID TO THE MODELING RELATION

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

CAUSALEVENT

MANIPULATION

WHAT “TRADITIONAL SCIENCE” DID TO THE MODELING RELATION

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

NATURAL SYSTEM

FORMAL SYSTEM

MANIPULATION

MORE ON THE MODELING RELATION

THE FORMAL SYSTEM DOES NOT INCLUDE INFORMATION ABOUT ENCODING AND/OR DECODING

THEREFORE MODELING WILL ALWAYS BE AN ART

ONLY IN THE NEWTONIAN PARADIGM DOES THE FORMAL SYSTEM BECOME THE NATURAL SYSTEM (ENCODING AND DECODING ARE AUTOMATIC) AND ALL THAT IS LEFT TO DO IS TO MEASURE THINGS

SCIENCE REDUCED THE WORLD TO

SIMPLE MECHANISMS

THE USUAL SCIENTIFIC PICTURE OF REALITY IS A MECHANISM

DEFICIENT IN CAUSAL RELATIONS FRAGMENTABLE TO ATOMS AND

MOLECULES NOT “GENERIC” BUT TREATED AS IF

THEY WERE

COMPLEXITY

REQUIRES A CIRCLE OF IDEAS AND METHODS THAT DEPART RADICALLY FROM THOSE TAKEN AS AXIOMATIC FOR THE PAST 300 YEARS

OUR CURRENT SYSTEMS THEORY, INCLUDING ALL THAT IS TAKEN FROM PHYSICS OR PHYSICAL SCIENCE, DEALS EXCLUSIVELY WITH SIMPLE SYSTEMS OR MECHANISMS

COMPLEX AND SIMPLE SYSTEMS ARE DISJOINT CATEGORIES

COMPLEX SYSTEMS VS SIMPLE MECHANISMS

COMPLEX NO LARGEST MODEL WHOLE MORE THAN SUM

OF PARTS CAUSAL RELATIONS RICH

AND INTERTWINED GENERIC ANALYTIC SYNTHETIC NON-FRAGMENTABLE NON-COMPUTABLE REAL WORLD

SIMPLE LARGEST MODEL WHOLE IS SUM OF PARTS

CAUSAL RELATIONS DISTINCT

N0N-GENERIC ANALYTIC = SYNTHETIC FRAGMENTABLE COMPUTABLE FORMAL SYSTEM

GENERICITY AND SURROGACY

GENERIC PROPERTIES ARE THOSE POSSESED BY ALL THE MEMBERS OF A CLASS (AS OPPOSED TO SPECIAL PROPERTIES WHICH DISTINGUISH THE MEMBERS OF A CLASS)

SURROGACY IS THE ABILITY TO EXTRAPOLATE ONE’S MEASUREMENTS ON A FEW INDIVIDUALS TO THE GROUP

COMPLEXITY AND EMERGENCE

THE GENERIC ASPECT OF REAL SYSTEMS IS THAT THEY ARE ALL COMPLEX

THIS COMPLEXITY WORKS AGAINST SURROGACY AND LEADS TO THE NOTION OF EMERGENCE

WHY IS ORGANIZATION SPECIAL? BEYOND MERE ATOMS AND MOLECULES

IS THE WHOLE MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS?

IF IT IS THERE IS SOMETHING THAT IS LOST WHEN WE BREAK IT DOWN TO ATOMS AND MOLECULES

THAT “SOMETHING” MUST EXIST

WHAT IS ORGANIZATION?

DICTIONARY DEFINITION:

NOUN:

1. THE ACT OR PROCESS OF BEING ORGANIZED

2.THE CONDITION OR MANNER OF BEING ORGANIZED

(ALSO ASSOCIATION OR SOCIETY AND ITS PERSONNEL)

TO ORGANIZE

DICTIONARY DEFINITION:

VERB:

1. TO CAUSE OR DEVELOP AN ORGANIC STRUCTURE

2. TO ARRANGE OR FORM INTO A COHERENT UNITYOR FUNCTIONING WHOLE, TO INTEGRATE

3. TO ARRANGE ELEMENTS INTO A WHOLE OF INTERDEPENDENT PARTS

NOUN OR VERB OR ADJECTIVE?

AN ORGANIZED DESK AN ORGANIZED CORPORATION AN ORGANIZED AUTOMOBILE AN ORGANIZED FROG AN ORGANIZED ECOSYSTEM

WHAT MAKES BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION UNIQUE?

SELF-REFERENCE CONTINGENCY PARALLEL DISTRIBUTION MAPPINGS ARE MANY TO MANY RATHER

THAN ONE TO ONE CAUSALITY IS INTERTWINED CATABOLISM AND ANABOLISM ARE

BOTH IMPORTANT MECHANISMS ARE SPECIAL

EVEN IN THE WORLD OF MECHANISMS THERE ARETHE SEEDS OF COMPLEXITY THEORY

THERMODYNAMIC REASONING OPEN SYSTEMS THERMODYNAMICS NETWORK THERMODYNAMICS

THE NATURE OF THERMODYNAMIC REASONING

THERMODYNAMICS IS ABOUT THOSE PROPERTIES OF SYSTEMS WHICH ARE TRUE INDEPENDENT OF MECHANISM

THEREFORE WE CAN NOT LEARN TO DISTINGUISH MECHANISMS BY THERMODYNAMIC REASONING

THERMODYNAMICS OF OPEN SYSTEMS

THE NATURE OF THERMODYNAMIC REASONING

HOW CAN LIFE FIGHT ENTROPY? WHAT ARE THERMODYNAMIC

NETWORKS?

NETWORKS IN NATURE

NATURE EDITORIAL: VOL 234, DECEMBER 17, 1971, pp380-381

“KATCHALSKY AND HIS COLLEAGUES SHOW, WITH EXAMPLES FROM MEMBRANE SYSTEMS, HOW THE TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED IN ENGINEERING SYSTEMS MIGHT BE APPLIED TO THE EXTREMELY HIGHLY CONNECTED AND INHOMOGENEOUS PATTERNS OF FORCES AND FLUXES WHICH ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF CELL BIOLOGY”

MY BOOK:

APPLICATION OF NETWORK THERMODYNAMICS TO PROBLEMS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, NYU PRESS, 1993

PREFACE, CONTENTS AND REFERENCES ARE ON MY WEB PAGE

http://views.vcu.edu/~mikuleck/

SOME PUBLISHED NETWORK MODELS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

SR (BRIGGS,FEHER) GLOMERULUS (OKEN) ADIPOCYTE GLUCOSE

TRANSPORT AND METABOLISM (MAY)

FROG SKIN MODEL (HUF)

TOAD BLADDER (MINZ)

KIDNEY (FIDELMAN,WATTLINGTON)

FOLATE METABOLISM (GOLDMAN, WHITE)

ATP SYNTHETASE (CAPLAN, PIETROBON, AZZONE)

AN EXAMPLE: SODIUM TRANSPORTING EPITHELIA

CAN BE GROWN IN CULTURE

HAVE A DISTINCT ORGANIZATION WHICH IS NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT FOR THEIR FUNCTION

UNDERGO A TRANSFORMATION AS THE EPITHELIUM DEVELOPS IN CULTURE

An Epithelial Membrane in Cartoon Form:

A Network Model of Coupled Salt and Volume Flow Through an Epithelium

WHAT IS THE NETWORK THERMODYNAMIC MODEL?

IT CAPTURES ORGANIZATION AS THE NETWORK’S TOPOLOGY

SPHERICAL CELL - SIMPLE TOPOLOGY

FUNCTIONAL EPITHELIUM - SAME CELL DEVELOPS A MORE COMPLICATED TOPOLOGY

LIMITS OF THE NETWORK THERMODYNAMIC MODEL

IT CAN MODEL EITHER CASE, BUT THESE MODELS CONTAIN NO INFORMATION ABOUT WHY ONE TRANSFORMS INTO THE OTHER

IT CAN NOT MODEL THE TRANSITION AS WELL

THE REAL SYSTEM IS COMPLEX

MISSING ASPECTS OF THE TRANSITION TO BE MODELED

CELL SIGNALLING EVENTS

NUCLEAR EVENT

MECHANICAL EVENTS

ONSET OF “EMERGENT” FUNCTION

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

FORMALISMS HAVE LIMITS (GÖDEL) THEREFORE ONE FORMALISM IS NOT

ENOUGH MECHANISTIC FORMALISMS ARE

INADEQUATE FOR CERTAIN PROPERTIES, IN PARTICULAR CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION

WHAT ABOUT OTHER FORMALISMS?

RELATIONAL

OTHERS

THE RELATIONAL APPROACH TO A COMPLEX REALITY

FOCUS ON THE ORGANIZATION DEVELOP A SET OF FUNCTIONAL

COMPONENTS WHICH CAPTURE THAT ORGANIZATION

UTILIZE THE CAUSAL RELATIONS RESULTING FROM ANSWERING “WHY?”

FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS

MUST POSSESS ENOUGH IDENTITY TO BE CONSIDERED A “THING”

MUST BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE PROPERTIES FROM LARGER SYSTEMS TO WHICH IT MAY BELONG

ITS FORMAL IMAGE IS A MAPPING f: A -----> B

THIS INTRODUCES A NEW KIND OF “DYNAMICS” : RELATIONAL

THE FOUR BECAUSES: WHY A HOUSE?

MATERIAL: THE STUFF IT’S MADE OF EFFICIENT: IT NEEDED A BUILDER FORMAL: THERE WAS A BLUEPRINT FINAL: IT HAS A PURPOSE

METABOLISM/REPAIR SYSTEMS

BASED ON INPUT/OUTPUT REPRESENTATIONS OF SYSTEMS

MORE ABSTRACT ALLOW CAUSALITY TO BE REPRESENTED LEAD TO NEW INFORMATION ARE BASED ON RECOGNITION THAT

BUILDING UP AND TEARING DOWN ARE PART OF THE LIFE PROCESS

THE IMPORTANCE OF CATABOLISM AND ANABOLISM

NO STRUCTURE IS PERMANENT ADAPTABILITY AND CHANGE

INHERENT NEEDS SPECIAL TYPE OF

ORGANIZATION IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING

EVOLUTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND HEALING

THE RELATIONAL REPRESENTATION

INVOLVES MAPPINGS METABOLISM IS f: A B A REPRESENTS METABOLITES WHICH

CAN ALSO EXCHANGE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

B REPRESENTS THE RESULTS OF METABOLISM

f IS A MAPPING FROM A TO B

THE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS

A IS THE MATERIAL CAUSE OF B (DOTTED ARROW)

f IS THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF B OTHER COMPONENTS FOR REPAIR

AND REPLICATION COME IN BECAUSE THESE COMPONENTS HAVE A FINITE LIFETIME: CATABOLISM AND ANABOLISM OR “TURNOVER”

f

A B

ROSEN’S RELATIONAL MODEL OF THE ORGANISM

f

A B

ROSEN’S RELATIONAL MODEL OF THE ORGANISM

f

A B

ROSEN’S RELATIONAL MODEL OF THE ORGANISM

ORGANISMS

ARE COMPLEX SYSTEMS

ARE CLOSED TO EFFICIENT CAUSE

ARE AUTOPOIETIC UNITIES

SOME CONSEQUENCES

REDUCTIONISM DID SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THERMODYNAMICS

THERMODYNAMICS IS MORE IN HARMONY WITH TOPOLOGICAL MATHEMATICS THAN IT IS WITH ANALYTICAL MATHEMATICS

THUS TOPOLOGY AND NOT MOLECULAR STATISTICS IS THE FUNDAMENTAL TOOL

EXAMPLES:

CAROTHEODRY’S PROOF OF THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

THE PROOF OF TELLEGEN’S THEOREM AND THE QUASI-POWER THEOREM

THE PROOF OF “ONSAGER’S” RECIPROCITY THEOREM

RELATIONAL NETWORKS

THROW AWAY THE PHYSICS, KEEP THE ORGANIZATION

DYNAMICS BECOMES A MAPPING BETWEEN SETS

TIME IS IMPLICIT USE FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS-WHICH DO

NOT MAP INTO ATOMS AND MOLECULES 1:1 AND WHICH ARE IRREDUCABLE

THE NEW VITALISM

LIVING SYSTEMS POSESS A TYPE OF ORGANIZATION WHICH NON-LIVING SYSTEMS DO NOT

THIS BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION WILL ALWAYS DEFY FORMALIZATION-IT HAS NON-COMPUTABLE COMPONENTS