In science, homeokinetics is a method of applying the laws of thermodynamics to all self-organizing systems of the universe, including human systems, with focus on the vertical movements and exchanges between hierarchic systems. [1] The following quote is subject originator American engineer-physicist Arthur Iberall's circa 2000 video interview description of homeokinetics: [7]
“Ordinary physics is a flatland physics applying to any particular level. Homeokinetics physics is associated with that is the up down processes that bind the levels; the up down movements implies thermodynamics, among other things.”
In 1995, Iberall defined homeokinetics as a “generalized thermodynamic approach to complex systems.” [4] Homeokinetics is described as the study of complex systems, such as universes, galaxies, social systems, people, down to simple systems such as gases. The entire universe consists of atomistic-like units bound in interactive ensembles to form systems, level by level in a nested hierarchy. Homeokinetics treats all complex systems on an equal footing, animate and inanimate, providing them with a common viewpoint. [2] The subject of homeokinetics, in this sense, seems to be similar to Russian physical chemist Georgi Gladyshev's circa 1977 hierarchical thermodynamics.
Complex system
Iberall describes a complex system as an association of “atomisms” or unit atomisms (atomistic like entities or structures of similar atomic nature), which are small and relatively common among each other, engaged in interactions, or in the simplest form colliding with each other because there are things bringing them together and pushing them apart, thus creating interplay in a large game. [6] In human system, then, each person would be described as an "atomism" or human atomism, in the Iberall scheme, similar to the terms: human atom, social atom, or modern human molecule. [4]
History
The seeds of the homeokinetic theory seem to stem from the 1965 work of American neurophysiologist Warren McCulloch who outlined a cybernetic introduction to a physical science of the mind. [5] Iberall considers himself to be “one of McCulloch’s inheritors”. [4]
The main theme of the homeokinetics was initiated in the 1970s by American engineer-physicist Arthur Iberall, who is described as the “founder of homeokinetics”, considering himself to be “one of McCulloch’s inheritors”, and American nuclear physicist Harry Soodak. Iberall and Soodak, who seem to have envisaged homeokinetics as a new branch of physics that deals with the movement and dynamics between the different hierarchies of systems, up and down, in the universe, wrote one of their their first joint articles on the subject in 1978. [6] Iberall outlined the subject further in his 1998 booklet Primer for Homeokinetics: a Physical Foundation for Complex Systems. [3]
See also
● Complexity theory
External links
1. Kugler, Peter N. (2007). “Complex Systems, Self-Organization and Emergence through Measurement: A Study in Semantic Modeling”, Arthur S. Iberall Distinguished Lecture Series on Life and the Sciences of Complexity, Dec 07, University of Connecticut.
2. Arthur Iberall Lecture series (2003-2009) – International Society for Ecological Psychology, Trinity College, Harford Connecticut.
3. Iberall, Arthur S. (1998). Primer for Homeokinetics: a Physical Foundation for Complex Systems. 45-pgs. Cri-de-Coeur Press.
4. Iberall, Arthur S. (1995). “A Physical (Homeokinetic) Foundation for the Gibsonian Theory of Perception and Action”, Ecological Psychology, 791): 37-68.
5. McCulloch, Warren S. (1965). Embodiments of Mind (pgs. 72-87, 87-136). MIT Press.
6. Soodak, H, Iberall A. (1978). “Homeokinetics: A Physical Science for Complex Systems” (abstract), Science, 201(4356): 597-82.
7. Iberall, Arthur. (2009). “On Homeokinetics” (V), valscds2, Feb 22.
External links
● Homeokinetics: the Physics of Complex Systems – International Society for Ecological Psychology, Trinity College, Harford Connecticut.
● Homeokinetics – Wikipedia.
