Abstract
A clear terminology is essential in every research discipline. In the context of ESOA, a lot of confusion exists about the meaning of the terms emergence and self-organisation. One of the sources of the confusion comes from the fact that a combination of both phenomena often occurs in dynamical systems. In this paper a historic overview of the use of each concept as well as a working definition, that is compatible with the historic and current meaning of the concepts, is given. Each definition is explained by supporting it with important characteristics found in the literature. We show that emergence and self-organisation each emphasise different properties of a system. Both phenomena can exist in isolation. The paper also outlines some examples of such systems and considers the combination of emergence and self-organisation as a promising approach in complex multi-agent systems.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Goldstein, J.: Emergence as a construct: History and issues. Emergence 1 (1999)
Lewes, G.: Problems of Life and Mind, vol. 2. Kegan Paul, Trench (1875)
Holland, J.: Emergence: from Chaos to Order. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1998)
Kauffman, S.: At Home in the Universe: the Search for the Laws of Self- Organization and Complexity. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1995)
Langton, C.: Studying artificial life with cellular automata. In: Farmer, D., Lapedes, A., Packard, N., Wendroff, B. (eds.) Evolution, Games, and Learning: Models for Adaptation in Machines and Nature, Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference of the Center for Nonlinear Studies (1986)
Newman, D.: Emergence and strange attractors. Philisophy of Science 36 (1996)
Haken, H.: The Science of Structure: Synergetics. Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY (1981)
Nicolis, G.: Physics of far-from-equilibrium systems and self-organization. In: Davies, P. (ed.) The New Physics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1989)
Crutchfield, J.: Is anything ever new? considering emergence. Working Paper 94-03-011, Santa Fe Institute (1994)
Crutchfield, J.: The calculi of emergence: Computation, Dynamics and Induction. Working Paper 94-03-016, Santa Fe Institute (1993)
Heyligen, F.: Self-organization, emergence and the architecture of complexity. In: Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on System Science, Paris (1989)
Heyligen, F.: The science of self-organisation and adaptivity. In: The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. UNESCO Publishing-Eolss Publishers (2002)
Odell, J.: Agents and complex systems. JOT 1, 35–45 (2002)
Odell, J.: Objects and agents compared. JOT 1, 41–53 (2002)
Parunak, H.V.D., Brueckner, S.: Entropy and self-organization in multi-agent systems. In: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Autonomous Agents, pp. 124–130. ACM Press, New York (2001)
Engineering self-organizing applications workgroup - mission statement (2003), preliminary version available at http://cui.unige.ch/~dimarzo/esoawg/mission.pdf
Camazine, S.: Self-Organization in biological systems. Princeton Studies in Complexity. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton (2001)
Parunak, H., Brueckner, S., Sauter, J.: ERIM’s Approach to Fine-Grained Agents. In: Proceedings of NASA/JPL Workshop on Radical Agent Concepts, WRAC 2002 (2002), available at http://www.erim.org/~vparunak/
Parunak, H.D., Brueckner, S.A.: Engineering Swarming Systems. In: Bergenti, F., Gleizes, M.P., Zambonelli, F. (eds.) Methodologies and Software Engineering for Agent Systems. Kluwer, Dordrecht (2004) (to appear), available online at http://www.erim.org/~vparunak/
Self-organizing systems faq (2003), available online at http://www.calresco.org/sos/sosfaq.htm
Lucas, C.: Emergence and evolution - constraints on form (2003), available online at http://www.calresco.org/emerge.htm
Bar-Yam, Y.: 0, Overview: The Dynamics of Complex Systems - examples, questions, methods and concepts. Studies in Nonlinearity. Dynamics of Complex Systems. Westview Press, Boulder (1997)
Dempster, M.B.L.: A Self-Organising Systems Perspective on Planning for Sustainability. Master’s thesis. University of Waterloo, School of Urban and Regional Planning (1998), online at http://www.fes.uwaterloo.ca/u/mbldemps/pubs/
Descartes, R.: Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences. In: The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, vol. I, pp. 111–151. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1985); Leiden (1637) translated in Discours on the Method of rightly conducting one’s reason and seeking truth in the sciences.
Shalizi, C.R.: Causal Architecture, Complexity and Self-Organization in Time Series and Cellular Automata. PhD thesis, University of Wisconsin at Madison (2001), available at http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/thesis/
Yovits, M.C., Cameron, S. (eds.): Self-Organising Systems: Proceedings of an Interdisciplinary Conference. International Tracts in Computer Science and Technology and their Application, vol. 2. Pergamon Press, Oxford (1960)
Von Foerester, H., Zopf Jr., G.Z. (eds.): Principles of Self-Organization: Transactions of the University of Illinois Symposium on Self-Organization, June 1959, New York. Pergamon Press, Oxford (1962)
Ashby, W.R.: Principles of self-organizing dynamic systems. Journal of General Psychology 37, 125–128 (1947)
Ball, P.: The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1999)
Nicolis, G., Prigogine, I.: Self-Organization in Nonequilibrium Systems: From Dissipative Structures to order through Fluctuations. Wiley, New York (1977)
Haken, H.: Synergetics: An introduction: Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions and Self-Organization in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Springer, Heidelberg (1977)
Klimontovich, Y.L.: Turbulent Motion and the Structure of Chaos: A New approach to the Statistical Theory of Open Systems. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht (1990/1991)
Frisch, U.: Turbulence: The Legacy of A.N. Kolmogorov. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995)
Selfridge, O.G.: Pandemonium: A paradigm for learning. In: Blake, D., Uttley, A. (eds.) The Mechanisation of Thought Processes. National Physical Laboratory Symposia, vol. 10, pp. 511–529. Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, London (1959)
Holland, J.H.: Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems: An Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and Artificial Intelligence, 2nd edn. MIT Press, Cambridge (1992); First edition in 1975
Forrest, S. (ed.): Emergent Computation: Self-Organizing, Collective, and Cooperative Phenomena in Natural and Artificial Computing Networks. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual International Conference of the Center of Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos, New Mexico. North Holland, Amsterdam (1989/1990)
Crutchfield, J.P., Mitchell, M. (eds.): The Evolution of Emergent Computation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 92 (1995)
Krugman, P.R.: The Self-Organizing Economy. Blackwell, Oxford (1996)
Shalizi, C.R.: Review of krugman, p.r., the self-organizing economy. In: The Bactra Review, vol. 11 (1996), available at www.santafe.edu/~shalizi/reviews/self-organizing-economy/
Arthur, W.: The Green Machine: Ecology and the Balance of Nature. Basil Blackwell, Oxford (1990)
Pagels, H.R.: The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity. Simon and Schuster, New York (1988)
Steels, L.: Cooperation between distributed agents through self-organisation. In: Proceedings of the First European Workshop on Modelling Autonomous Agents in a Multi-Agent World, pp. 175–196. Elsevier Science Publishers Holland, Amsterdam (1990)
Ghanea-Hercock, R.: Spontaneous group formation in m ulti-agent systems. In: Proceedings of Workshop on Self-Organisation in Multi-Agent Systems (2000)
Mostefaoui, S.K., Rana, O.F., Foukia, N., Hassas, S., Marzo, G.D., Aart, C.V., Karageorgos, A.: Self-Organising Applications: A Survey. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Engineering Self-Organising Applications 2003. Springer, Heidelberg (2003) ISBN: 3-540-21201-9; extended version in Engineering Self-Organising Systems - Nature-Inspired Approaches to Software Engineering
Foukia, N., Hassas, S.: Towards self-organizing computer networks: A complex system perspective. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Engineering Self-Organizaing Applications 2003, Melbourne, Austrialia (2003)
Oudeyer, P.Y.: Self-organisation of a lexicon in a structured society of agents. In: Floreano, D., Mondada, F. (eds.) ECAL 1999. LNCS, vol. 1674, pp. 726–729. Springer, Heidelberg (1999)
Haken, H.: Information and Self-Organisation: A Macroscopic Approach to Complex Systems. Springer, germany (1998)
Langton, C.G.: Computation at the edge of chaos: Phase transitions and emergent computation. Physica D 42, 12–37 (1990)
Oudeyer, P.Y.: Self-organisation of a lexicon in a structured society of agents. In: Floreano, D., Nicoud, J.D., Mondada, F. (eds.) ECAL 1999. LNCS(LNAI), vol. 1674, pp. 726–729. Springer, Heidelberg (1999)
Glansdorff, P., Prigogine, I.: Thermodynamic study of structure, stability and fluctuations. Wiley, New York (1978)
Mamei, M., Zambonelli, F.: Self-organisation in multi-agent systems: a middleware approach. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Engineering Self- Organising Applications 2003 (2003)
Hadeli, V.P., Zamfirescu, C.B., Brussel, H.V., Germain, B.S., Holvoet, T., Steegmans, E.: Self-organising in multi-agent coordination and control using stigmergy. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Engineering Self- Organising Applications 2003 (2003)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
De Wolf, T., Holvoet, T. (2005). Emergence Versus Self-Organisation: Different Concepts but Promising When Combined. In: Brueckner, S.A., Di Marzo Serugendo, G., Karageorgos, A., Nagpal, R. (eds) Engineering Self-Organising Systems. ESOA 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 3464. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11494676_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11494676_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-26180-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31901-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)