Homeokinetics is the study of
complex systems, such as universes, galaxies, social systems, people, or even
those that seem as simple as gases. The entire universe consists of
atomistic-like units bound in interactive ensembles to form systems, level by
level in a nested hierarchy. Homeokinetics treats all complex systems on an
equal footing, animate and inanimate, providing them with a common viewpoint.
The complexity in studying how they work is reduced by the emergence of common
languages in all complex systems.
What
is it and who uses it?
Iberall's Homeokinetic's Video
Arthur
Iberall (1918-2002), who with Warren McCulloch
(1898-1969) and Harry Soodak
(1920-2008), developed the concept of homeokinetics as a new branch of physics. It began through Iberall's
biophysical research for the NASA exobiology program into the dynamics
of mammalian physiological processes. In 1981, Iberall was invited to
the Crump Institute for Medical Engineering of UCLA, where he further
refined the key concepts of homeokinetics, developing a physical
scientific foundation for complex systems' systems of nature, life,
human, mind, and society.
Scientists using
homeokinetics debate their own disciplines with each other in the
context of a theoretical framework of systems science, with an emphasis
on viable or self-organizing systems. They pay attention to physics
(with its conservations of energy, mass, and momentum), chemistry (with
its making and breaking of bonds), and to general 'input-output'
schemes. Emergence within each field is a topic that intrigues them all.