Self Organization
Year of Creation:
2025
Media:
Custom Software, Monitor, 4-Button Controller
Dimensions:
Variable
Interaction Type:
Handheld Controller
Duration:
Ongoing / Real-Time
Description:
Self Organization is a software-based simulation of emergent behavior. Thousands of particles, rendered in four colors (red, green, blue, yellow), follow only two simple rules: attraction and repulsion based on distance. Each color is assigned a set of relationships toward itself and others, generating complex formations that shift from cellular clusters to planetary swirls, insect-like swarms to life-like systems. What unfolds is not predesigned but emergent—self-organization from simplicity. A four-button controller allows participants to intervene: randomizing rules, randomizing particle positions, changing both, or toggling Newton’s Third Law. With asymmetric attraction/repulsion, chaos erupts, echoing human relationships where desire is rarely reciprocal. The work functions both as playful system and metaphysical speculation: perhaps our universe, too, is nothing more than atoms in motion, endlessly self-organizing.
Core Question:
How much of life is emergent order arising from simple rules?
Loop Analysis
Structure:
Emergent Feedback Simulation
Definition:
A rule-based system where simple inputs (attraction/repulsion) create unpredictable, self-organizing patterns.
Leverage Point:
Minimal rule changes generate radically different systemic behaviors, revealing sensitivity and complexity.
Inputs / Outputs:
Color-coded particles + attraction/repulsion rules → simulation engine → emergent behaviors → participant observation and intervention
Effect:
Awe, curiosity, and recognition of order arising from apparent chaos
Ethical Valence:
Exploratory and contemplative—invites reflection on systems (ecological, social, cosmic) without imposing moral judgment
Design Note:
The toggle for Newton’s Third Law metaphorically parallels human relationships, where asymmetry destabilizes equilibrium and accelerates complexity.
