Holon
– A complexity unit
Although Wolfram’s book shows how to generate
complexity, it says very little how to reduce or simplify it. Which
is a pity since I encounter it in my practice.
Among other my task is to reduce the extreme complexity
of the human organism to a manageable number of components, otherwise
cure is unthinkable.
In the search for ideas and methods to simplify the human organism, I discovered
Arthur Koestler’s
notion of the Holon.
A Holon
is something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. Viewed from the perspective of larger things,
the Holon
is a part. Viewed as an entity in its own right, it is a whole that has parts.
Like an atom which when viewed from above (chemistry) is a
unit, while when viewed from below (quantum
mechanics) it is an universe of quanta.
The cell which may be regarded as an atom of life, has similar properties. From the viewpoint of the organism
it is a unit, while encompassing a universe of sub cellular structures.
Life is a Holon
The organism may be structured into the following Holons: organism ->
organ -> tissue -> cell. Facing the higher hierarchies each Holon is
viewed as an atom. "The members of a hierarchy, like the Roman god Janus,
all have two faces looking in opposite directions: the face turned toward
the subordinate levels is that of a self-contained whole; the face turned
upward toward the apex, that of a dependent part" Each Holon is a node
in a hierarchical tree, or Holarchy. Arthur Koestler.
The definition of a Holon and Holarchy is arbitrary. It is a way to simplify
complexity.
v. CA-holon
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