Please find below the text of the talk Prof dr ir Nico Baken gave at TEdxAmsterdam, on 20 november 2009.
The video and additional links are also available.
“Holons and Holarchies, Complex Networks Unraveling the Origin of Knowledge and Culture”
Dear TEDsters, I like to start with a quote from a famous and influential French thinker, Lévi-Strauss who passed away last month at the amazing age of one hundred years: “The individual becomes meaningful as part of the network that transcends it.” So far, the quote.
In the next couple of minutes, I want to achieve three goals. That after my presentation you understand:
- What are holons?
- How holons are organized and structured? and
- What we can learn from holons?
Definition: What are Holons?
So firstly … What are holons? Their definition is quite simple! Holons are logical entities that are both a whole … and a part. The word holon was coined by Arthur Koestler in 1967, but as he points out himself, the concept has a long and distinguished history. Now let’s get practical and give you some examples!
Examples, Structure & Organization
Surprise …, you! … you are all holons. You are all logical entities, wholes that distinguish yourself from your environment. Yet you are also a part, for example we, as we sit here, we form a larger whole, a TEDx-community.
But also something completely different such as a hydrogen atom is a holon. Let us look at a water-molecule H2O. We see in it two autonomous hydrogen atoms, that are also part of the water molecule. And the water molecule again is a whole but also a part of say a water droplet, which can be seen as part of a rain shower, a river or an ocean.
The houses we live in are holons too, part of our neighbourhood, cities et cetera.
We conclude for the organization of holons that we first can organize holons in networks and secondly, the networks on their turn in an infinite array of aggregation levels. How beautifully and artistically this has been demonstrated in 1977 through the animation of Ray Eames in The Powers of Ten! Here we travel roughly through 51 aggregation levels, up from level zero to level 25 and down again to zero and subsequently descending to level -25. Can we then characterize human civilization by number of 25? And how far can we get?
Now, the three holon-examples I just mentioned, of humans, atoms and houses are obviously physical holons. We can also discover conceptual holons, such as letters of the alphabet that are parts of words, which are parts of sentences et cetera. Another example: the sectors that support our society such as the ICT-, Healthcare or Energy sector. Let us look at them and their structure. First we look at the complete set of twenty two sector holons that carry our economy and society.
In the overall view, the 22 sectors together constitute, as a part, the infra-structure, this solid basis carries the supra-structure: our economy and society. Zooming in into the sectors, we see that each sector is a holon in itself, that has an tangible infra- and an intangible supra-structure. Let us study one of the sectors, say the Telecom sector.
It started as a sector with one dominant service: telephony. The infra- and supra-structure of the sector, being the tangible network and the intangible telephony service respectively, were fully & vertically integrated in monolithic, state owned incumbents. New services arose such as TV and Internet on top of dedicated networks. Under pressure of competition the stovepipe structures tilted and transformed into one Multi-service Platform.
We see again the four horizontal layers that we recognize in ancient philosophical works: two layers in the infra- and two layers in the supra-structure
- the est layer for the passive infrastructure, representing copper wires and glass fibers,
- the vivit layer for active infrastructure, representing a bit transporting and switching network
- the sentit layer for single Value Added Services in the first supra-structure layer
- the intelligit layer for sophisticated packages of combined Value Added Services in the second supra-structure layer, customized ict-solutions.
The described cyclic development in the Telecom sector is not unique. In fact it occurs, may happen or happened in any other sector and will happen with the 22 sectors as a trans-sector whole, and even stronger in any other holon. And yes, we do recognize in all complete holons the four layers and the continuing cyclic developments that we can associate with the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter or identically the four BCG-stages: problem child, start, cash-cow and dog. The step towards a 3-dimensional spiral movement of concatenating s-curves is now easily made, from one aggregation level to the next. Virtuously holons circle in an upward direction and viciously, in the downward direction. This brings me to state here a new, strong generic Holon Lemma:
If we observe a fact, law, development or phenomenon in an arbitrary holon H of network N at aggregation level A, this fact, law, development of phenomenon may have, has or has had its counterpart in any other holon H’,
no matter the network N, no matter the aggregation level A. ………………………….
Obviously, we lack the time to try this Lemma thoroughly, e.g. through imagining what the phenomenon of the tilting stovepipes means for our houses. I guarantee you, it will lead us to the concept of Smart Living within 20 years time, Master plans generating an innovative and huge green industry!
Grasping this holon Lemma will generate for you a spectrum of ideas worth spreading. In fact, the Lemma is an infinite source, the origin of knowledge and culture. Now would you not like to take a bite in the fruits of this free tree?
Dear TEDsters, I like to end quoting Lévi-Strauss again, slightly modified and enforcing the Lemma:
“The holon becomes meaningful as part of the (complex) network that transcends it.”
How right he was! And I hope you see that now. Six minutes ago, most of you did not know what a holon was. Now you do and we discovered that you yourself are holons. An assignment for all of you: I challenge you to transcend your very own holon, virtually climb on top of it and oversee the huge complex networks, in which it takes part. Apply then the Holon Lemma. It will benefit you and the network, bring scientific, social and economic insights, crush prisoners’ dilemmas and as a bonus it will bring us understanding, trust and love for all our fellow holons.
THANK YOU!!
Prof Dr ir Nico H.G. Baken
November 2009,
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
NING
Youtube
Flickr