Principia Cybernetica Web

Correspondence between Organism and Society

The analogy between society as a complex control system consisting of individuals and an organism as a complex control system consisting of cells is made more explicit in the tables below. The tables list general functions characterizing all "living" or "autopoietic" systems, and for each function gives the corresponding subsystem in an organism and in society. The functions are loosely based on the 20 critical subsystems proposed by James Miller in his Living Systems Theory, although I have left out some of the less important ones (e.g. timer), and added a few which seemed missing in Miller's list (e.g. "Immune System", "Energy carrier"). I have also renamed some functions to more traditional system terms (e.g. "sensor" instead of "input transducer"). I hope that the below correspondence shows that the "superorganism" model of human society is more than a vague metaphor, but rather an accurate framework for analysing the collectivity as a living system in its own right.

General System Properties

Example
Function

Organism
Society
Units
Cells
People
Differentiation
Tissue types
Division of labor
Subsystems
Organs
Organizations
Boundary
Skin
Walls, Covers, ...
Defenses
Immune system
Army, Police

Metabolism: processing of matter-energy

Example
Function

Organism
Society
Ingestor
eating, drinking, inhaling
mining, harvesting, pumping
Converter
digestive system, lungs
refineries, processing plants
Distributor
blood circuit
transport networks
Energy carrier
hemoglobin, ATP
oil, electricity
Producer
cell growth
factories, builders
Extruder
urine excretion, defecation
waste disposal, sewers, chimneys
Storage
fat, bones
warehouses, containers
Support
skeleton
buildings, bridges...
Motor
muscles
machines, people, animals

Nervous System: processing of information

Example
Function

Organism
Society
Sensor
sensory organs
reporters, researchers
Decoder
perception
experts, politicians, public opinion
Channel and Net
nerves, neurons
communication media
Associator
synaptic learning
scientific discovery, social learning
Memory
neural memory
libraries, collective knowledge
Decider
higher brain functions
government, market, voters
Effector
nerves activating muscles
executives

Reference: Heylighen F. (1997): "Towards a Global Brain. Integrating Individuals into the World-Wide Electronic Network", in: Der Sinn der Sinne, Uta Brandes & Claudia Neumann (Ed.) (Steidl Verlag, Göttingen) [in press]


Copyright© 1997 Principia Cybernetica - Referencing this page

Author
F. Heylighen,

Date
Jan 15, 1997

Home

Metasystem Transition Theory

The Future of Humanity

The Social Superorganism and its Global Brain

Up
Prev. Next
Down



Discussion

Add comment...