Thus the box has now substantially or catastrophically changed its adjacent
stable position on the down side to a new stable position on the adjacent
opposite side.
Adaptive Behaviour
Introduction
Systems which engage in adaptive behavour are called adaptive systems
or
complex adaptive systems
to emphasise that they are a species of complex
systems. Being adaptive means that they have the capacity to change and learn
from experience. The term complex adaptive systems
was formulated at the
interdisciplinary Santa Fe Institute
(SFI), by John H. Holland, Murray Gell-
Mann and others
There are numerous examples of complex adaptive systems. They are also
diverse since they include economic systems (for example, the stock market),
animal kingdoms (social insect and ant
colonies), the biosphere, the
ecosystem, various parts of the human body (for
example, the brain, the
immune system, the cell
and the developing embryo), a human community,
and human institutions such as a government agency, a business firm or a
For a complex adaptive system the agents within the system itself as well as
the system overall are adaptive. Essentially they are adaptive because their
capacity for self organisation steers them to an adaptive state. This takes place
because in the face of perturbation, the system engaged in communication,
cooperation, specialization, spatial and temporal organization, and of
course
reproduction. This brings it to a new stable adaptive state (so it has the
characteristic of homeostasis).
Adaptive Capacity
In human social systems, adaptive capacity rests on a number of
characteristics. These consist of the the ability of institutions and networks to
and experience, as well as the ability to recall it when required, creative
flexibility in decision making and problem solving and the existence of power
structures that are responsive to the needs of stakeholders.
Self Organisation
Self organisation means that a system has its own dynamic that tends by itself
to increase or at least strive to maintain the inherent order of a system. Rene
Descartes, the philosopher, mathematician and scientist, made one of the
earliest statements of this idea in the fifth part of his Discourse on Method. In
that text Descartes presented the idea hypothetically. He then elaborated on the
idea at some length in a book called Le Monde that was never published.
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