Organisation can arise from the bottom up, emerging from local
interactions without help from an outside planner or guide. This
kind of self-organisation
is a
distinctive feature of life itself:
a
cell,
maybe the minimum form of life, maintains its boundaries with
its environment by taking energy from the same environment to
literally make itself (autopoiesis).1 In this sense, organisation
–
and
particularly self-organisation
– is a
fundamental property of life,
a
biological concept
reflected
in the word ‘organism’.
It is
at the
heart of the conceptual puzzle connecting physical matter to life.
Studies of self-organisation are abundant: from synchronising
fireflies,
mating mosquitoes and bird swarms to human
interactions such as posture and speech coordination when having
a
conversation. But self-organisation
is
also used to explore the
relationship of mind and matter in theories of perception and even
consciousness. How does
a
physical arrangement of atoms give rise
to an individual experience of the self? For example, what creates
that ‘sensory feel’ we get when we see the colour red as opposed to
just imagining it?
Many would suggest this
is
caused by the activity of neurons
in the brain. But what
is it
about neural activity that creates the
distinct ...
