Introduction to synergy

We live in a world of instability and irreversibility, in a world of evolution and catastrophe, where development and destruction go side by side, and the one is impossible without the other. In European science, the main results were obtained for closed stable systems ^* that are in conditions close to equilibrium. Such systems unambiguously react to strong disturbances, returning to a state of equilibrium. On these foundations, classical European science was built, the beginning of which can be conditionally attributed to the times of Galileo, that is, to the XVII century. A strong impetus to the development of natural science brought the work of Newton, the celestial mechanics of Laplace, work in the field of thermodynamics and electromagnetism in the XIX century, Darwin's evolutionary theory in biology. The formation and development of the mathematical apparatus was adapted to serve the processes, the evolution of which is quite calm. However, later it turned out that when such systems are removed from the state of equilibrium, when they are exchanged with the environment, energy, matter and information (open systems), the situation changes dramatically, we go into a world where instability prevails, the slightest fluctuations do not quench, but instead begin to grow, forming qualitatively new structures, as a result of which the restructuring of even the entire system and its behavior as a whole is possible, that is, the evolution scenarios become ambiguous. In such systems, matching effects are possible when, for example, particles seem to communicate with each other at distances significantly exceeding, for example, the action of intermolecular interactions.

Such cooperative coordinated behavior can be found in systems formed from the most seemingly different elements - molecules, cells, neurons, social groups, etc. This striking phenomenon leads to the formation of highly ordered structures from embryos that are in a chaotic state.

The study of such systems is carried out in a relatively young science, called synergetics . This term is derived from the Greek word "synergetic", which loosely means "joint", "concertedly acting", "joint cooperative action", or, in Russian, "collaboration". Synergetics is a new scientific direction that took shape about 20 years ago. This area is integrative in nature, uniting different fields of science with general laws: physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, social sciences, astronomy, philosophy, etc.

Synergetics can be characterized in different ways, namely:

• synergetics is the science of self-organization of physical, biological and social systems; the science of collective, coherent behavior of systems of different nature;
• synergy of thermodynamics of open systems far from equilibrium;
• synergetics is the science of unstable states preceding a catastrophe and their further development (catastrophe theory);
• synergetics is the science of universal laws of evolution in nature and society.

Let us dwell on some very impressive findings and statements of this young science.

In most of the currently existing sciences, it is customary to divide all phenomena of the inert (nonliving) and living world that surrounds us into deterministic ^* and random. Such a division can be found in such classical sciences as mechanics or, for example, physics; from there it migrated to the so-called modern sciences of cybernetics, computer science, radio engineering, etc. In the vast majority of textbooks, the section between deterministic and chaotic phenomena is emphasized in every possible way.

At first glance, this seems obvious and self-evident, all the more so as the following seems to be the indisputable rationale: the stochastic ^* nature of the processes in different systems is explained by the huge number of elements of the system and their numerous degrees of freedom. Multidimensionality, it turns out, seems to be the essence of the complex. However, it turns out that the behavior of even a single particle, described by Newton's laws, may turn out to be unpredictable. Recently it was shown that very simple deterministic systems of low dimensionality (n = 3) can in principle have essentially random stochastic motions without any external influence. This discovery was a sensation in the scientific world and essentially changes the picture of the world and the view on evolution in nature. This discovery allows us to explain and reveal new unexpected phenomena in the world around us, as well as to create technical systems and devices with properties that are unusual by modern standards.

On the other hand, there are also opposite processes in multidimensional and obviously stochastic systems. Let us give examples of some such synergistic systems from various fields of knowledge.

In hydrodynamics, this is the phenomenon of turbulence; in physics, coherent oscillations in lasers, the formation of ordered states in a plasma, etc. In engineering, the phenomenon of flutter in aviation, sharp deformations of shells; coherent electromagnetic oscillations in radio engineering; in chemistry this is the formation of macroscopic oscillatory structures; in biology, the formation of highly ordered structures during morphogenesis, population dynamics, etc. All these systems consist of a huge number of elements and subsystems, and ordered structures spontaneously arise in them.

In synergistic systems, both ordered and chaotic processes can occur. The self-organization of such different systems can be studied from unified mathematical positions. In our eyes, in a short time, synergetic is turning into a general theory of development with very broad ideological implications. In particular, synergetic was the first to formulate the universal laws of evolution, which are also valid for the physical (inert, dead) world, and for the biological (living) and for society. In general, in other words, synergetics is the science of the evolution and self-organization of Nature as a whole.

Let us briefly consider a look at this process in the XIX and first three quarters of the XX century.

The inertial world evolved according to the second law of thermodynamics, i.e. its development was accompanied by an increase in entropy, which led to the alignment of all gradients in Nature: the differences in temperature, pressure, energy, etc. were aligned, and the inert world irreversibly shifted to a state of equilibrium, to gray, homogeneous chaos. This provision has been called the "thermal death of the universe."

However, when analyzing the development of the living world, experience shows the exact opposite, namely: the entropy can decrease, the order grows; evidence of this diversity of forms and continuous enrichment of the living world.

Greater vagueness is also present in the views on the evolution of society: their range extends from the expectations of the fatal death of society (we will destroy ourselves, or Mother Nature, and this will come out) and to its over-perfection and merging with the Divine Essence. From the point of view of synergnets, it is natural to assume that the unified laws of evolution should be observed in a single Nature. Synergetics tries to formulate these laws in the form of the laws of universal evolutionism: the general evolutionary process as a process of self-organization, despite its spontaneity, has a certain direction, i.e. There is an increase in the diversity of forms and complexity of structures. As you can see further, this statement is true for the development of the inert world, and of the living, and of society.

Synergetics also affects the problems of knowledge of the world by Man, while the latter is considered as one of the parts of a single system, and for him the universal laws of evolution are valid. Man, therefore, studies the world not from the outside, but from within, that is, his ideas about the world are representations of the part about the structure of the whole. It is from here that difficulties arise in the formation of personal and social consciousness.

As you may have already noticed, the term “system” is the most common in the text, in which different readers usually have different meanings. In order to facilitate the further understanding of this course, it is appropriate to give the definition of the system given by the outstanding Russian physiologist P. K. Anokhin: "The system can only be called such a complex of selectively involved components, in which the mutual action and relationship take on the nature of the mutual interaction of the components to obtain a fixed useful result ". Here it is necessary to emphasize two fundamental properties of effective systems of any nature: energy, matter and information (that is, open systems) and interaction with the environment, and interaction between the components, ie, coexistence with the environment.

Despite the fact that so far there are many unsolved problems in synergetics, and it is in the stage of intensive development, its basic position - the unity of the world requires the unity of science, various branches of natural science and the humanitarian sphere must unite - more and more confirmed. In modern natural science intensive processes of humanization occur, i.e. Many natural scientists are engaged in social science, and in the humanities the logic of natural sciences becomes generally accepted. This process may lead to the emergence of a new paradigm ^* .

Synergetics allows you to see how closely connected many branches of knowledge, how great and one circle of science. It makes it possible to understand that every scientist comes into contact with a number of interpenetrating scientific fields, and, if it is not always available to know them, then at least it is realistic and necessary to understand their tasks. Therefore, the methods of synergy can be considered as a kind of synthesis of sciences.

There is reason to believe that in the XXI century there will be some kind of metanauka, uniting humanitarian and natural-science knowledge, the science of preserving the civilization of people on the Planet, the science of human development and the preservation of all life. Perhaps synergy will be one of the stones laid in the foundation of this science.

Given the generalized nature of synergetics, as a theory of self-organization of systems of any nature, it can be recommended for the indispensable study by all students and graduate students of any higher educational institution, moreover, knowledge or at least familiarity with it is important for every cultural person today.

To date, despite the fact that there is an extensive literature on synergy, consisting of monographs, scientific articles, as well as selected popular brochures and books; The material presented in them is not suitable for a training course. This caused the need to create on their basis, as well as on the basis of practical experience of reading the course "Synergetics" of this electronic textbook.

We wish you success!