Could Nature’s order be the prescription for change?
Posted on November 21, 2016
Slime mold in culture: Physarum polycephalum; plasmodial wandering stage, (seeking food).
The term bottom-up is typically described as a strategy proceeding from the bottom upward, and, useful in psychology as a way to explain how the brain processes information.
Sensory input leads to information processing, assembling and integrating the information using patterns for recognition to make sense of things for understanding.
In order to fully understand bottom-up, one must also know what is meant by its counterpart – top-down – in psychology, top-down describes using models, ideas and expectations to interpret sensory information.
In other words, one could see these concepts as sensation and perception in the body. Perception, or, in this case, top-down- can be affected by physical state or experiences, so may be largely subjective –for example distances may seem farther if walking alone or in unpleasant weather conditions. Sensations – representative of the bottom-up, self-organizing method- occur in response to a signal that has been triggered by an external or internal force and passes along the information to other parts of the body for a response. The human brain therefore is able to repeat circuits over and over again, to prompt consistent reactions or thoughts through a feedback loop. This repetition allows for the establishment of permanent circuits, and, ultimately results in patterns or habits.
One can infer then that this concept of bottom-up in the brain can also be applied to other forms and examples, such as social movements, city development, ant colonies, slime mold and so forth.
The key to the predictability of self-organizing networks is the interconnection between the parts and the resulting feedback loop. Both of which are lacking in a top-down system.
The body uses a feedback system – mainly negative – to maintain a state of homeostasis, this state of equilibrium ensures predictability.
Moving away from this physical example- in which other ways might we visualize bottom-up forces?
Johnson uses the ant colony as a model of a complex system of collective intelligence or ‘swarm logic’. The activities of the colonies result from individual ants and their interactions with each other- over time the colony’s behavior becomes consistent and predictable when exposed to changes in the environment. As generations of ants come and go, the colony becomes more stable and organized without any semblance of hierarchical organization.
Systems might react to some sort of change and demonstrate a new type of global behavior. This demonstrates the system’s ability to adapt.
Ant colonies, our body’s cell processes and cities possess this type of ‘emergent intelligence’ – the ability to store and retrieve information, to recognize and respond to patterns. This adaptation is key to the longevity and resilience of such systems.
The growing technological forces of the world demonstrate the lack of adaptivity possible within a top-down approach, and, reflects the top-down’s shortcomings in allowing for growth and flexibility within ever-evolving systems. The exceptions to the rule, interestingly share common characteristics with the bottom-up forces and demonstrate a strong interconnection and ability to self-organize.
Applying these principles to policy change and social change is key to addressing the quickly evolving landscape of advancements. Adaptivity, the key to lasting systems, does not depend on predictability, but rather reactions to outside forces to return to homeostasis or create better environments just as our bodies have evolved to do.
In conclusion, using this model found within our bodies and individual cells as a means to understanding bottom-up forces, indicates the degree of unpredictability is exactly why these decentralized, distributed and collective forces work. What truly matters is the ability to evolve and to “learn” collectively.
This has never been more relevant than now, in an age where humanity’s advancements require us to rename the current era – introducing ‘The Anthropocene’ – organizations, corporations and small businesses must allow for change in their systems, proportionate to the ever-evolving changes of society and its needs.
