Re: virus: Virian council and process

psypher (overload@fastmail.ca)
Fri, 25 Jun 1999 09:30:46 -0400 (EDT)

In response to Eric, Prof. Tim wrote:

> Eric wrote:
>

>>... how does one create a truly egalitarian organization?

>
> Isn't that an oxymoron?

[warning: the following response is being written first thing in the morning without benefit of cerebral caffeination]

...it's my understanding of autopoietic [self-organizing] systems that the parts relate by each contributing to the manufacture and maintenance of other components - ie. each bit is devoted in its function to all the other bits for the continuance of the system.

...this is in contrast to non self-organizing systems where the components contribute to the well being of a dominant factor/entity.

...there is dispute about where the line can be drawn between autopoiesis and externally imposed organization - a fish is an aoutopoietic organization of components, a school of fish may or may not be, a pack of wolves is less certain, a culture less certain still [though I think there may be some merit to looking at memetic networks as self-organizing symbolic systems].

...in any case, organizations which are definitely autopoietic are definitely egalitarian with respect to their constituents

-psypher



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