Systems & Control

Biological First Principles

This book - and the series it begins - applies biological first principles to organizational growth. Not as metaphor. Not as inspiration. As literal o...

Cavitation and Embolism

Failure mode for xylem transport. Negative pressure in xylem is extreme (-30 atm = -450 psi). If air enters xylem (via damaged roots, freeze-thaw cycl...

Distributed Pacemaker Control

The heart's rhythmic beating arises from distributed control. The heart contains specialized pacemaker cells - primarily in the sinoatrial (SA) node -...

Ecosystem Distributed Function

Ecosystem function illustrates pure distribution. Ecosystems lack any central coordinating authority; no organism directs ecosystem-level processes. Y...

Ecosystem Multifunctionality

Ecosystems provide many functions simultaneously (productivity, nutrient retention, carbon storage, pollination, pest control, water filtration), and...

Edge of Chaos

Complex systems perform best at 'the edge of chaos' - between rigid order and pure randomness. Too much order, and systems become frozen - every chang...

Emergence

Emergence is the appearance of complex, system-level properties that arise from the interactions of simpler components following local rules, but whic...

Feedback Loops

The mechanism is simple: sensor → control center → effector → sensor. The sensor detects change, the control center processes it, the effector acts to...

Fractal Dimension

Fractal dimension measures how aggressively a pattern colonizes available space - 'spatial greediness.' A smooth curve is dimension 1.0, a plane is di...

Hybrid Respiratory Control

Breathing exemplifies hybrid control combining centralized and distributed elements. The basic respiratory rhythm is generated by brainstem respirator...

Just-In-Time Manufacturing

Mycorrhizal networks enable just-in-time nutrient delivery in forests. Trees don't stockpile nutrients in their tissues; instead, fungal partners deli...

Mission Command Doctrine

Modularity Hierarchy

While emergence often involves decentralized interactions, biological systems exhibit modular and hierarchical organization that shapes what emerges a...

Near-Decomposability

Herbert Simon's concept of near-decomposability describes systems where interactions within subsystems are stronger and more frequent than interaction...

Negative Feedback

Walk into a cold room. Your body temperature starts to drop. Thermoreceptors in your skin detect the change and send signals to your hypothalamus - a...

Neural Criticality

Neural avalanches - waves of activation spreading across neuron networks - show power law size distributions in cortical slice preparations. The neura...

Phase Transitions

Water doesn't gradually become ice. At 0°C, it undergoes a phase transition - a qualitative transformation from one state to another. Below threshold,...

Positive Feedback

On December 7, 1941, the USS Arizona exploded at Pearl Harbor. The forward magazine ignited, triggering a detonation so massive it lifted the 608-foot...

Power Law Distributions

Power law distributions follow the form P(x) ∝ x^-α, where P(x) is the probability of observing value x, and α is the scaling exponent. When plotted o...

Radical Transparency

Radical transparency attempts to replicate the information symmetry in primate grooming networks where relationships and hierarchies are constantly vi...

Rank and Yank

Rank and yank mirrors despotic primate hierarchies where dominance is enforced through aggression and fear. It creates the same physiological stress m...

Scale Invariance

Scale invariance means the relationship has the same form at all scales. In metabolic scaling, doubling body mass increases metabolic rate by factor o...

Self-Organization

Self-organization through local rules is the most fundamental mechanism of emergence. Each individual processes information only from its immediate en...

Stability Cascade

Diversity mechanisms interact and amplify each other. The portfolio effect stabilizes total abundance, which reduces competitive exclusion, which main...

Synchronization

Synchronization is the emergent coordination of rhythmic behavior across many individuals, arising from simple coupling mechanisms. In Southeast Asian...

Wright-Fisher Model

The mathematical foundation of genetic drift comes from the Wright-Fisher model, developed independently by Sewall Wright and Ronald Fisher in the 193...