something fundamentally new, something that is not found in the constituents or the
"parts" of the previous level. For example, in a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen there
is no water. The mixture gets a new identity, which, in practice, sacrifices the "parts",
hydrogen and oxygen. The only way to get the parts back is to ruin the water. In
other words, it was not obvious in the equations of quantum mechanics that a
“quantum arrow of time” emerges. Prigogine notes that in the theory of relativity as
well, time is irreversible and space and time are alternating mutually. This theory led
to the formulation of the theory of Big-Bang, which in practice gives an irreversible
sense to the history of the universe.
Prigogine’s first challenge concerns the phenomenon of irreversibility. The
second challenge has to do with the sense of simplicity.
Since Democritus and Aristotle’s era, scientists believed that beneath the complexity
of our world there should be simple objects and simple forces. Initially, scientists
thought that the atoms are the simple structural stones. Later on, when it was
discovered that the atoms consist of smaller parts, simple particles such as the
proton and the electron became the structural stones. After that, when the quantum
mechanics led to the unexpected discovery of an impressive world of particles at the
subatomic level, the physicists invented the grand unified theory and began to look
for the unique, simple power - the "superpower" which is supposed to have given
birth to that number of interactions of elementary particles. Prigοgine points out that:
“the idea of simplicity dissolves. Whichever direction we chose, there is complexity.”
Complexity is the key idea for the understanding of his theory.
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According to him, an organism is born, grows to its maturity and passes away,
namely, it has a history… Both the classical Newtonian physics and the physics of
the 20th century with quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, are expressed
by equations, which are symmetrical with respect to time, i.e. they are reversible and
deterministic. In those theories there is no discrimination between the past and the
future.
Thermodynamics, from approximately the half of the 19th century had posed the
problem of the irreversible processes and the arrow of time. But the fundamentally
nonlinear character of natural processes and the different behavior of natural
systems, when they are away from the equilibrium state, were not yet recognized.
The discovery, in the 19th century, of the non reversible time – in evolution and
entropy - did not change the belief of the physicists that in the most basic levels of
matter, time is reversible, while the irreversibility we can see around us is a kind of an
illusion, as Einstein once pointed out.
As Prigogine mentions, “the study of systems away from the equilibrium state led me
to the belief that this cannot be the right view. Irreversibility plays a constructive role.
It creates a form. It creates human beings. How could our simple ignorance of the
initial conditions be the reason for this? Our ignorance cannot be the reason we
exist." Prigogine goes on: “If we could raise the knowledge, i.e. create a computer
powerful enough, in order to write equations for the motion of all reversible and
probabilistic individual molecules that compose a system, then would our ignorance
disappear, would the illusion of irreversibility remain vague, and would life, evolution,
death and time itself disappear? This is weird.”
This time paradox resulted in the development of physical theories during Newton’s
era and thereafter. Particularly the time paradox refers to the fact that while the
classical equations are reversible with respect to time, from numerous physical data
the arrow of time seems to exist.
So, the question raised by Prigogine is the following: Does the arrow of time arise
simply as a result of a phenomenological approach to the natural processes or does
it represent a fundamental element which we must incorporate in the descriptions of
these processes?
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The claim of Prigogine is summarized: “Al laws of physics must be compatible to the
existence of the arrow of time”. This means that the laws have to be redrafted in
order firstly to contain the arrow of time (i.e. not to be symmetrical with respect to
time) and secondly, the various levels of description can lead to the same future
state.
The Role Of The Dispersing Structures And Of The Bifurcations.
According to the second law of thermodynamics, in an isolated system (i.e. which
does not exchange matter and energy with its environment), the total entropy
increases progressively, while the free energy decreases until the system reaches
the equilibrium state, when its entropy acquires its maximum value. In
thermodynamic equilibrium state, the system is homogeneous and idle. If we also
suppose, as Clausius did, that the whole universe is an isolated system of gigantic
dimensions, then, according to the second law, the progressive degradation of the
energy, i.e. the maximization of entropy inevitably leads to the "heat death" of the
universe. In classical thermodynamics the arrow of time, i.e. the decay, the disorder
and the death, is introduced. Classical thermodynamics referred to isolated and
closed-linear systems.
However, how can we explain the “weird” behavior of the open systems? These
systems are located far from the equilibrium state and continuously exchange matter
and energy with their environment. They do not tend to a state of minimum free
energy and maximum entropy, but, on the contrary, they use some energy inputs and
fluctuations not only in order to maintain their structural stability but also in order to
evolve towards new dynamical states. The open thermodynamic systems are the
rules, not the exception. Those systems contain not only the living organisms and the
human societies, but also the greatest part of the “simpler” physicochemical systems.
Prigogine proved that on conditions away from thermodynamic equilibrium state, the
matter acquires new unexpected properties, organizes itself and produces complex
structures from random fluctuations.
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He will name these structures dissipative structures. Basically, we are talking about
systems which consume energy. The dissipative structures are states which reflect
their interaction with the environment, with which they interchange energy, sustained
through an endless dynamic flow.
The simplest forms of dissipative structures are some rather simple physicochemical
systems in which minimum disturbances and fluctuations in microscopic scale lead to
the emergence of new unexpected macroscopic structures. The living systems are
open systems, organization complexes that are far from the equilibrium state and
Prigozine, as it is said, classifies them in the “dissipative structures.”
Prigozine mentions that these random (unpredictable) processes show that the open
systems and therefore the greatest part of our universe are not mechanistic but
random. He uses the idea of randomness in a more different manner than the other
scientists do. For
example, for Jacques Monod, author of the book “Chance and
Necessity”, chance means a world governed blindly and implies a universe, which
according to human terms, is meaningless, namely it is very close to the illogical
world of existential philosophy.
However, for Prigozine, chance is a synonym for non-determinism, for spontaneity,
for innovation and creativity. Prigozine’s universe is not far from being a living
organism, just because it has got space for the random behavior. This allows the
dissipative structures – which can be anything – from a chemical solution to a cloud,
a brain or a human – to recreate themselves according to unpredictable models.
These new models are usually caused by small changes or disturbances. These
small changes or disturbances create an unpredictable type of behavior which
challenges a mechanical interpretation of entropy, as well as a conventional
interpretation of the arrow of time.
This way, the dissipative structures introduce continuous creativity in nature. This
means that nature is not something stable, inert molecules that are governed only by
impulses and attractions, but something energetic and alive. In those open systems,
the matter is not isolated, but on the contrary it is rewarding, and correlative self -
changing, with respect to the activities of the rest matter. In those “out of balance”
systems, the minimum change can "destabilize" the system and bring about a result
that has not been foreseen by the logic of linear equations.
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Examples of dissipative structures
The key to the answer to the time paradox is located in the study of systems that are
far from the equilibrium state. In systems like that self - organizing processes as well
as dissipative structures are possible to come out. In order to understand this
meaning, at first we shall refer to a system which is located close to the equilibrium
state, e.g. a pendulum with frictions. If we remove it from the equilibrium state, after a
certain period of time it will return to the above state. However, in systems which are
not far from the equilibrium state, there are bonds which do not allow them to return
to the equilibrium state. Prigοgine mentions the ecosystem on the surface of the
earth as an example of the above phenomenon. As the ecosystem gets the influence
of the solar radiation, it is removed from the equilibrium state and it is lead to the
creation of complex structures. “The important thing”, Prigοgine mentions, “has to do
with the fact that away from the equilibrium state, when the system is disturbed, there
is no guarantee that it will return again in its former condition. On the contrary, the
system starts exploring new structures, new types of organization in space - time,
which I named dispersing structure
Bifurcation: Window of divided routes
An important factor in the emergence of new structures is the contribution of
fluctuations or disruptions, namely of sudden illusions that allow something new to
appear, even there where the existence of entropy would exclude it. This happens
because the dispersion structures are non linear systems, the order of which
emerges from chaos. If we add only one fluctuation to other fluctuations, then this
fluctuation will become so strong that it will manage to organize the whole system
under a new model. These points are called by Prigogine Bifurcation points and they
are points at which the deterministic description collapses and then the system
follows one of the several possible Bifurcations of the road.
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As an instant window into the whole, the strengthening of the bifurcations leads to
order or chaos. In Prigogine's perception of things, the bifurcation – a word meaning
Point of disunity or division – is a basic notion. The bifurcation in a system is a
moment of critical importance when something as small as a single photon, a slight
variation of the external temperature, a change in the density, or the fluttering of a
butterfly in Hong Kong expands so much by repetition that a fork is created – and the
system gets a new direction. As time goes by, the torrents of Bifurcation points
makes the system either get fragmented resulting in chaos or stabilize a new
behavior through a series of feedback loops (like self – abolition, cross catalysis and
self – interception).
If a system that has gone through a Bifurcation gets stabilized by its feedback, it can
resist to other changes for millions of years, until some new critical disorder
enhances the feedback and creates a new Bifurcation point.
At its Bifurcation points, the option to “choose” between different types of order is
actually offered to the system. The inner feedback of some choices is so complicated
that there is basically an infinite amount of degrees of freedom. In other words, the
order of the choice is so high that we are talking about chaos. Other Bifurcation
points offer options where the coupling feedback creates a lower degree of freedom.
These choices can make the system seem simple and normal.
This, however, is a fraud because the feedback in obviously simple orders, such as
a solitonic wave, is also very complicated. The pure effect of the Bifurcations in the
evolution of the living cells was the creation of organic chemical reactions that have
been created in a complex and stable manner in the cell environment. Prigogine by
the notion “communication” means this exact creation of feedback loops. Towards
such communication the system remains unharmed.
The Bifurcation points are landmarks in the evolution of the system and imprint its
history. The historical record of the human Bifurcations is engraved on human
fetuses. These undergo stages on which initially they look like fish, later like
amphibians and finally like reptiles.
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Thousands upon thousands of Bifurcation points that compose a vivid recounting of
options, through which we evolved as a system from the initiative cell to our current
being, can be found imprinted in all forms and processes – in our cell chemical
reactions and in the form of our neural networks - that make us unique. In every
Bifurcation point during the past of our system, there was a course in which there
were several futures. By the repetition and the support that the system got, one
future was chosen while the other possibilities disappeared forever. This way our
Bifurcation points compose a map of non reversibility of time. The dynamic of the
Bifurcation points reveals that the time is irreversible but it is able to make
summaries. It also reveals that the movement of time is not measurable. Every
decision made in a Bifurcation point contains a support to something small. Although
causality works every time, the Bifurcation occurs unpredictably.
Prigogine points out that: “This mixture of necessity and chance composes the
history of the universe.” It also composes the creativity of the universe. The capability
of a system to reinforce a small change constitutes a creative lever. Only one bee
which enters a beehive and interacts with thousand other bees can pull the beehive
across the air by making small movements that indicate the location rich in pollen.
The systems are also very sensitive near those parts which consist the crystallized
"memory" of Bifurcations of the past. The nations evolved mainly due to Bifurcations
which included heavy conflicts. As a result, they are very sensitive towards several
types of information which reproduce those Bifurcations. A mere newspaper title can
motivate a whole nation to go to war.
The role of the Bifurcations in the evolution of life.
The belief that the secret of the creativity of nature hides in the laws of
unpredictability, chaos and time and not in the mechanistic laws of classical
dynamics lies beneath Prigogine’s claims. He mentions as an example of the
creativity of the chaos and of the non reversibility, their role in the emergence of life.
The dissipative structures arise as a result of processes in systems which are
characterized as releasing systems, i.e. systems that show energy losses.
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In such systems, when they are away of the equilibrium state, interactions (long-
range cοrrelatiοns), which have a long range and play a crucial role in creating new
structures, take place. The appearance of life in our planet became possible through
such natural processes.
Self – Organising And life
An example of self - organising is the appearance of currents and eddies in fluids
where we can see billions of particles “cooperate.” The matter is blind near the
equilibrium state. However, far from the equilibrium state we have correlations of
great range that are basic for the creation of new structures. Self organizing takes
place because when we are far from the equilibrium state, the system has got lots of
choices, of which, anthropomorphically talking, it selects one.
Self – organizing is closely connected to the phenomenon of life. The creation of
complexity, which is necessary for the creation of life, is connected to the process of
storing information in molecules of which the living cell is constituted. All living
systems, either unicellular or multicellular organisms, are extremely complex systems
compared to all the other species of the non living matter that exist in the Universe.
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