Super-organisms as analogies or metaphors?

Francis Heylighen (fheyligh@VNET3.VUB.AC.BE)
Wed, 2 Oct 1996 16:16:20 +0100


Don Mikulecky:
>I humbly suggest that super-organism/super-brain ideas
>are NOT analogies but metaphors.
>
>Here's why:
>A true analogical model finds an equivalent FORMAL system to model
>different NATURAL systems. There is an encoding of the natural system
>into the formal system and then a decoding. In the formal system we
>manipulate by implication to try to duplicate causal events in nature.
>If the whole thing "commutes" we have a successful model.
>
>In the cases being discussed there are mainly one way codings from
>the body and/or organism to larger natural systems. These correspond
>to decodings in an analogical model, but there is no encoding.
>Furthermore there appears to be confusion between the natural systems
>sought to be understood and the formal systems used to model them.
>I see little hope for progress in the discussion until this all gets
>sorted out.

If I understand your definition of analogy, the comparisons made between
organisms and societies ARE analogical, not merely metaphorical. The
"formal system" in this case is the theory of metasystems (which is
formally still poorly developed, but exists on a more abstract level than
any natural system). It is decoded into two different types of natural
systems, multicellular organisms on the one hand, society on the other.

Even if we forget about the shared formal system, there are *two way*
mappings, from organism to society and back. Until now the discussion has
been focusing on the direction: properties of organisms -> properties of
societies. Yet, we should not forget that many people have tried to analyse
organisms by using concepts describing societies. For example, Minsky's
"Society of mind" uses society as a metaphor for the brain, many people
have applied the market metaphor to biological systems such as the immune
system, and the unbiquitous concept of "hierarchy" which is applied to
organisms and all kinds of complex systems is originally derived from
social hierarchies.

________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Francis Heylighen, Systems Researcher fheyligh@vnet3.vub.ac.be
PESP, Free University of Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
Tel +32-2-6292525; Fax +32-2-6292489; http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html