New draft: Information Measures of Complexity, Emergence, Self-organization, Homeostasis, and Autopoiesis


In this chapter review measures of emergence, self-organization, complexity, homeostasis, and autopoiesis based on information theory. These measures are derived from proposed axioms and tested in two case studies: random Boolean networks and an Arctic lake ecosystem.
Emergence is defined as the information produced by a system or process. Self-organization is defined as the opposite of emergence, while complexity is defined as the balance between emergence and self-organization. Homeostasis reflects the stability of a system. Autopoiesis is defined as the ratio between the complexity of a system and the complexity of its environment. The proposed measures can be applied at multiple scales, which can be studied with multi-scale profiles.

Information Measures of Complexity, Emergence, Self-organization, Homeostasis, and Autopoiesis
Nelson Fernandez, Carlos Maldonado, Carlos Gershenson
http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.1842

Comments

Unknown said…
I enjoyed reading this and it is really well written.

I noticed in section 2.8 the following "The planktonic zone corresponds to the open surface waters; away from the
shore in which organisms without self-movement live (phyto and zooplankton)."

I would not have said zooplankton were without self-movement.

Figure 3 is interesting, showing the peak of complexity at the crossing of self-organization and emergence.

Very easy to read, especially in the early stages.
9:45 AM
Carlos said…
Thank you for the comments Niccolo!
9:46 AM
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