Self-organization

1. Two meanings must be distinguished: (a) a system that starts with its parts separate (so that the behaviour of each is independent of the others' states) and whose parts then act so that they change towards forming connections of some type (the change is from unorganized to organized); (b) a system in which the progressive connection between the parts is conditioned by the connections already formed (this may be characterized as self-connection).

2. The property of a system in which the rate of change of its redundancy is positive.

3. A comprehensive, general concept for the properties of self-reproduction, production of structural order, or growth in connection with mechanisms and systems. Self-organizing systems are based on (a) an exchange of information between the system and its environment permitting adaptation to the situation at hand, and (b) the ability to recognize and to learn, and thus can be regarded as the preliminary steps toward achieving artificial intelligence.