"The whole is more than the sum of its parts" (Aristotle).
"Interaction is, in fact, what prevents a whole from being the sum of its parts" (Jorge Wagensberg).
"Nature has only one department and one language" (Richard Buckminster Fuller).
Synergy and Synergy
The concept of synergy goes back to Aristotle: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts" (Metaphysics).
Synergy −from the Greek "syn", simultaneity, and "ergon", work− means "cooperation" or "working together". Synergy is the collaborative work among the components of a system aimed at achieving a common goal.
Synergetics is the science that studies synergy in systems. Synergy is a property of every system. A system implies synergy.
According to the DRAE, synergy is: 1) "Action of two or more causes whose effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects"; 2) in Biology "Active and concerted competition of several organs to perform a function".
Some examples of synergy are:
A living organism, where the work of each of the organs is oriented to keep the body alive and able to perform its functions.
Team sports. It is the team that is important, not each individual athlete.
An orchestra. A system is an orchestra and not an ensemble of soloists.
A vehicle. The ensemble resulting from the assembly of its parts or components is what is important.
Social systems, such as a company, a supermarket, a hotel, etc.
James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, all species on Earth are coordinated with each other in such a way that globally it behaves like a living organism. Species cooperate with each other to evolve rather than compete with each other.
Synergy is a bottom-up process: from the particular to the general. In this process, emergent properties appear that were not in the components of a system separately. These emergent properties can be static or dynamic, and are structures, qualities, processes or functions. For example:
The water molecule (H2O) only creates the inherent properties of water the moment it associates with four other molecules, when the original properties of that molecule are purely electromagnetic. Thus, properties such as surface tension, fluidity, dissolvability, etc. emerge, properties that are non-existent in its monomolecular state.
The dodecahedron is the union of 12 pentagons. The resulting figure is a new, emergent figure. This happens in general with the 5 Platonic solids (cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron and dodecahedron). This is an example of a static system and the resulting figure is of a qualitative type. In spite of being a static system, there is an internal dynamics (real or virtual) that links each pentagon with its 5 neighboring pentagons.
There is a relationship between synergy and complexity. When the synergy increases, the relationships between its components increase, and therefore the complexity increases.
Synergetics deals with the formation of complex structures from simple structures or components. And it tries to find the general laws governing the formation of structures. Synergetics gives priority to the global, the holistic, where internal components are related to each other to produce patterns at the external level.
Synergetics is an interdisciplinary science that applies to all kinds of systems: in physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, cognitive science, medicine, computer science, economics, ecology, philosophy, linguistics, information theory, neuroscience, etc. Synergetics can be presented in a system, in a set of systems or in scientific disciplines.
There are two schools of thought of Synergetics: that of Haken and that of Fuller. The first deals with thermodynamic systems. The second deals with thought and geometry.
Haken's Synergetics
Synergetics was founded by the German physicist Hermann Haken, inspired by laser theory. The laser is a coherent beam of light (of a single frequency) arising from an initial wave that is fed back throughout the system until all atoms vibrate at the same frequency.
Haken interpreted the laser as an example of self-organization of a nonlinear system away from thermodynamic equilibrium. Self-organization occurs when the different components of a system interact with each other in a nonlinear fashion to respond to stimuli from the environment or external control parameters. Self-organization implies reduction of degrees of freedom, which results in increased order and pattern formation.
According to Haken:
Synergetics is an interdisciplinary science that explains the formation and self-organization of patterns and structures in open systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium.
Synergetics is the science of spontaneous self-organization and spontaneous cooperation of components (or subsystems).
The main principle of Synergetics is the "enslaving principle" by which one of the possible modes (or parameters) of the system limits or "enslaves" other possible alternative modes.
Fuller's Synergetics
The architect, engineer, mathematician, designer, futurist visionary and humanist inventor Richard Buckminster ("Bucky") Fuller −considered the Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century− also called his universalist system, based on what he called "geometry of thought" and which he claimed to be as universal as General Systems Theory (GST), and also more practical, "Synergetics".
Fuller [1975] defines synergy as "the behavior of whole systems impredicated by the behavior of their parts taken separately." And he defines Synergetics as "the empirical study of systems in transformation, with emphasis on the behavior of the total system not predicted by the behavior of isolated components, including the role of man as participant and observer."
Fuller's Synergetics is a philosophy of systems created by a top-down process, from the general or universal to the particular, and from the simple to the complex.
The characteristics of Fuller's Synergetics are:
Universalism.
Everything derives from generalized or universal principles.
Holism.
It is systemic thinking, thinking in global, holistic terms. It is a new design strategy in science that starts with wholes rather than parts, and a new way of approaching experience, a more intuitive, more conscious experience.
Geometric model.
It is a geometric view of systems with the maximum possible significance. It presents the thought process in terms of a geometric model. It is thought reflected in geometry.
It is a language for communicating experiences using geometric concepts. It is a philosophy in which geometric concepts serve as central metaphors. It is an empirical mathematical system in which geometry and arithmetic mesh without fractions. It considers the lines of geometric figures to be energy vectors.
Hierarchy of polyhedra.
At the geometric level, synergy is based on a volumetric hierarchy of concentric polyhedra. The regular tetrahedron is the main unit of volume. The tetrahedron is the simplest and most economical way to enclose a 3D space, it is the simplest and most stable structural system. Its dual is also a tetrahedron. The tetrahedron and its dual form a cube. And with the cube and its dual (the octahedron) we obtain the dodecahedron and the icosahedron.
Two tetrahedra forming a cube
The deepest layers are the simplest, the simplest and deepest being the tetrahedron. The shallowest are the most complex. To think is to highlight a spherical layer of the continuum, select a channel.
Union of opposites.
Geometry is the key to connecting the opposites: the inner world and the outer world, the mental and the material, the rational and the intuitive, the deep and the shallow, etc. Maximum power with minimum resources is achieved when the opposites are united.
Fuller attempted to relate all aspects of reality, including the ideal and the material, the container and the content, unity and plurality, the observer and the observed, the human microcosm and the universal macrocosm, science and humanism.
Minimalism.
It is a minimalist principle, the principle that nature follows: to achieve the maximum with the minimum possible resources (conceptual, energetic, spatial and temporal). At the spatial level it is the maximum packing, the minimization of space.
Consciousness and structure.
Consciousness is associated with form, with structure. Architecture is the construction of macrostructures by means of microstructures. The world is built with stable and finite structures.
The minimal tetrahedron is formed with only 4 packed spheres, which is a stable figure. The minimal cube corresponds to 8 packed spheres in an unstable cube.
Order is an implosive (or compressive) action. And disorder with an explosive action of radial type.
Electromagnetic spectrum.
The continuum of the electromagnetic spectrum can be represented as concentric spherical grids. The higher frequency systems are in the center, in the deep. The larger scale phenomena (what is visible to the human eye) occupy the surface layers.
Space.
Space is always experienced volumetrically and not as 0, 1 or 2 dimensional objects. Space is intuitively 4D, by the tetrahedron, its simplest shape. Shapes are defined by angles. Instead of the Cartesian representation of orthogonal axes and planes, one must use a 60º isotropic vector matrix, a lattice defined by the centers of packed spheres of equal radius.
Tensegrity.
Fuller discovered some universal principles of design, some eternal principles projected on a temporal level. One of these principles is "tensegrity," a term combining "tension" and "integrity," which means "tensional integrity. Tension and compression are the eternal complements in any structure. Tensegrity is the use of internal forces to overcome external forces.
"Tensegrity is a structural principle based on the use of isolated compressed components that are within a continuous tensioned network, in such a way that the compressed members (usually bars) do not touch each other and are joined only by means of tensioned components (usually cables) that spatially delimit the system" [Gómez-Jaúregui, 2008].
Fuller attempted to describe the universalistic scope of Synergetics in his two-volume work "Synergetics", an attempt to explain the universe through geometry, the study of the structure and relationships between objects in space. It understands the universe through the tetrahedron, the generic and simplest form of 3D space. The tetrahedron is the foundation of all structure.
Geodesic sphere
Soccer Ball
Geodesic Dome
His best known work is the geodesic dome, a structure based on the geodesic spherical, which has the shape of a soccer, formed by 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons (32 faces in total and 60 vertices). It is a truncated icosahedron. It is incredibly light and strong at the same time. It is made with triangular components that result from radially dividing the hexagons and pentagons. Its construction is based on the basic principles of tensegrity structures, which allow simple structures to be assembled while ensuring their tensile integrity. Fuller coined the term "Dymaxion" (short for "Dynamic Maximum Tension") to refer to this construction philosophy.
Fuller is considered the official inventor of geodesic domes, having patented them in 1954. One of Fuller's best-known geodesic domes was the U.S. pavilion at the 1967 Montreal World's Fair.
The geodesic sphere is a geometric structure known since ancient times. Special mention should be made of the 15th century painter and mathematician Piero della Francesca, considered one of the first artists of the Renaissance. One of his books, "Libellus de quinque corporibus regularibus" (1480), preserved in the Vatican Library, contains the figure of a 60-sided polyhedron in the shape of a modern-day soccer ball.
Fullerenes are the third most stable form of carbon, after diamond and graphite. They are so named because the molecule C60 has the shape of Fuller's geodesic sphere. Its relative size is about the size of a balloon with respect to the Earth.
Fullerenes have become popular among chemists, both because of their structural beauty and their versatility for the synthesis of new compounds. They come in the form of spheres, ellipsoids or cylinders. Spherical fullerenes are often called buckyballs and cylindrical fullerenes are often called buckytubes. The first fullerene (the C60) was discovered in 1985 by three researchers at the University of Sussex (England), which earned them the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1996.
Fullerene C60
The fullerene C60 is the symbol of structured order, unity and totality; it is, together with the dodecahedron, one of the symbols of the universe, of totality and of synergy.
Fuller's work inspired many researchers who worked on specific aspects of Synergetics, far from Fuller's original universalistic conception.
MENTAL, a Synergistic Language
MENTAL is a synergistic language that has many analogies with the Fuller school:
Foundation.
It is not founded on geometry, but on the primary archetypes, the archetypes of consciousness. But, as in Fuller's Synergy, it is founded on the simple.
Primitives.
For Fuller there is only one primitive: the tetrahedron. In MENTAL there are 12 primitives. This is so because at the physical level there are only 3 degrees of freedom. At the mental level there are more dimensions, more degrees of freedom, where it is possible to express or represent geometries of higher order.
Every structure (expression of MENTAL) is sustained by the primitives, from the deep. All expression is a manifested energy from the primordial source of primitives.
Universalism.
It is based on the universal and archetypal to produce the particular. It is a systemic thinking, in global or universal terms. To think is to "collapse" the general into the particular. Fuller said that to think is to select a channel.
Union of opposites.
The power of language is based on the union of its components (the universal semantic primitives and their duals). The ultimate power, consciousness and synergy is based on the union of opposites. It is also the union of science and humanism, as in Fuller's philosophy.
Minimalism.
It is a minimalist language that uses the minimum of conceptual resources to achieve maximum results. Fuller's Synergetics is a minimalist principle, the principle that follows nature.
Simplicity.
It is a language of consciousness and simplicity, where consciousness is linked to form, to the primary archetypes or archetypes of consciousness. It starts from the simple and universal to create the complex and particular. Fuller conceived reality as concentric spherical layers of increasing complexity.
Addenda
Geodesic domes and sacred geometry
Geodesic domes are closely related to sacred geometry. In their constitution are the pentagons (associated with the pentacle, the 5-pointed star, symbolizing self-consciousness) and the hexagons (associated with the Star of David, symbolizing the consciousness associated with the union of opposites). The hemisphere confined in the geodesic dome symbolizes the mother's womb.
Dual platonic solids
The dual polyhedron P' of a polyhedron P is formed by taking the centers of the faces of P and considering them vertices of the new polyhedron P'. In the Platonic solids cube and octahedron are dual, as well as the icosahedron and the dodecahedron. The tetrahedron is dual of itself.
If we have a Platonic solid P (other than the tetrahedron) and generate the P', the dual of P' (P'') is equal to P'. In this way a bipolar fractal of infinite levels is created. In the case of the tetrahedron, a fractal of tetrahedra is obtained, in which one level is inverted with respect to the next.
Platonic solids and their duals.
The merkaba −from the Hebrew, "chariot"− is a figure formed by two intersecting tetrahedra (whose vertices form a virtual cube), one pointing upwards (masculine) and the other pointing downwards (feminine). It is a 3D Star of David. It is also called a "tetrahedral star".
According to esotericism, the merkaba is a vital energy field around the physical body. The energy flows in a rotating form. In the tetrahedron pointing upwards, the energy flows clockwise. In the other tetrahedron, the energy flows counterclockwise.
Merkaba
Shungite
Shungite [Almund, 2010] is a relatively light, black stone that outwardly resembles coal. It is the only organic mineral that contains all the elements of the periodic table and also contains C60 fullerenes. Its structure is similar to graphite. It is superconducting (more so than gold). It is claimed to have healing and protective properties.
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