Self-Organization and Emergence of Dynamic Systems

Abstract

Self-organized criticality (SOC) has been widely adopted as a useful paradigmatic generalization to capture an array of observations found to be intrinsic in many natural and human-made systems. It often manifests itself in the form of dynamic metastable patterns that are not attributable to any constituent element of the system. As our world becomes increasingly network centric, assessment of the emergent unpredictable fluctuations increasingly play an important role in understanding the system dynamics of society and economics. To date, complexity and SOC lack a systematic convergence of theoretical approaches and experimental methodologies. The attitude of many hard sciences in relation to complex systems can often be described as “the elephant in the room,” a metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is largely ignored by scientists, even if recognized as critical in assessing risk and inherent uncertainty. Here we provide a brief background on the roles of SOC and emergence that seem to spontaneously appear with a plethora of spatial-temporal fluctuations on all scales. We propose that a deeper understanding of these phenomena requires a convergent effort of the sciences, arts, and humanities both in research and education. Further, it is proposed that a unified approach is necessary to achieve a more quantifiable, analytical, and predictive methodology to determining risk and resilience in complex systems with the goal of better understanding the world around us.