Just as the universe itself creates its own order and its own
identity out of homogoneous, random disorder, so each
entity in nature makes real – actualises – an inherent
unique potential that defines it as utterly distinctive.
By itself, the power to self-organize – to define and sustain the unique self – implies the
potential to grow without limit. Indeed that potential exists everywhere at every
moment.
Preventing any single entity in nature from using its self-organising power to grow
without limit is the principle of interdependence. In theory it is possible for any one entity
in nature to use all the energy that exists simply to embody its unique self in all the
matter that exists.
This perpetual challenge limits the ability of any single systém in the universe to use
energy to embody itself into more and more matter.
In fact, the interactions of unique identities transform a propensity for extensive growth
into a universal capacity to generate new things – new entities that did not exist before
these interactions. Nature combines a cyclical dynamic – the imperative to relate – with a
linear dynamic – the imperative to self-organise – in a recursive process that generates
endless newness. For example, within galaxies, the interaction among hydrogen and
helium atoms generates stars: among sexually reproducing organisms on Earth, the
interaction of partners generates new offspring: and among humans the interaction that
occurs in conversation generates new thinking.
Newness continually arises from the constant interaction of unique entities. This
remarkable production of new entities occurs because everything is related to everything
else, and relationships among self-organising entities generate diversity, the third
principle underlying the unfolding universe.
According to the diversity principle, nature‘s process never produces the same output the
same way twice. Nature never repeats itself because, being a recursive process, it
continually acts upon the output of its own operation. In other words, nature self-
organises unique output in a cyclical process that continually re absorbs its own output as
feedback. Compound interest is an example of a recursive process. So too, is learning,
acquiring a new skill, learning a language and learning to play a game.
For further analysis, the reader is invited to look at: Profit Beyond Measure – Extraordinary Results through
Attention to Work and People
http://www.amazon.com/Profit-Beyond-Measure-Extraordinary-Attention/dp/068483667X
Zen Cafes – for investors in sustainable enterprise
In nature, no matter how many billions of recurrences there are of one phenomenon –
galaxies, carbon atoms, stars, humans, snowflakes, whatever – no two are the same.
Moreover the species of phenomena themselves seem to diversify without limit. Indeed,
diversification produces constant chane – the central discovery modern science has made
about the nature of the universe.
Businesses that emulate the principles of natural systems as Toyota have done can
achieve the rich ends from simple means
such as variety at mass production costs
–referred to by Naess.
For further analysis, the reader is invited to look at: Profit Beyond Measure – Extraordinary Results through
Attention to Work and People
http://www.amazon.com/Profit-Beyond-Measure-Extraordinary-Attention/dp/068483667X
Zen Cafes – for investors in sustainable enterprise
In contrast to such thinking, modern science now offers a fresh worldview that can
liberate and transform the waÿ we think about and conduct economic activities. If we
view a business organisation as an evolving self-organising system, not as a mechanical
collection of parts, we would jettison the misguided notion that order derives exclusively
from human intervention. Instead we would realise that pattern and order - Harmony –
emerge spontaneously when an organisation conforms to nature s principles and is
managed in accord with those principles. Indeed the order evidenced by living systems is
not externally imposed.
Rather, this order emerges from within, from a process
that embodies self-organising pattern in material
substance. A living organism can be described, then, as
an embodied pattern. In other words, its design is not
separate from its material substance, which itself evolved
from relatively homogenised cosmic dust at the time of
the big bang into the diverse manifestations we now
perceive in the universe.
Were design separate from, and external to, matter, one
would expect to find identical fingerprints, retinal
patterns, and mating calls among different organisms.
The fact that individual living organisms are unique
suggests that a pattern embodies itself distinctively in the
substance of every particular organism.
Looking at a business as an embodied pattern – as modern scientists now view a life
systém – would imply that the natural way to manage would be to discover and nurture
appropriate relationships and wait for results to emerge sponstaneously, like a skilled
gardener who knows that properly caring for the soil is enough, the rest is up to nature.
For further analysis, the reader is invited to look at: Profit Beyond Measure – Extraordinary Results through
Attention to Work and People
http://www.amazon.com/Profit-Beyond-Measure-Extraordinary-Attention/dp/068483667X