INTRODUCTION
The following is a list of complementary pairs, or squiggles, found in the science of coordination dynamics, as we published it in TCN (2006). In TCN, we refer to them alternatively as the complementary pairs of coordination dynamics (CP of CD) and also the base set. The list is still considered ‘open’ for additions and possible consolidations and adjustments.
While there is much to say about the squiggles, the bottom line, the really crucial point to make about them is that they all have very specific meanings in the science of coordination dynamics. Just as time~space, energy~matter, particle~wave and particle~antiparticle have very specific meanings in physics that connect directly with the mathematical and phenomenological theory~experiments of quantum mechanics (QM), the following squiggles connect directly with the mathematical and phenomenological theory of coordination dyanamics.
This is one example of “grounding the philosophy of complementary pairs with the science of coordination dynamics.” Note that squigglesof the ‘base-set’ obviously have a unique status, for they will be found anywhere coordination dynamics is applicable. The range and scope of coordination dynamics is growing rapidly. This is actually a topic of its own here at The Squiggle Sense blog for you to explore~discover. But the point here is that of all the squiggles out there to reflect upon we feel most comfortable talking about those found in coordination dynamics itself.
The complementary prospect, or the coordination dyanamics of complementary pairs (CD of CP), deals with how the science of coordination dynamics helps us understand squiggles wherever they are found, (i.e. whether they have any obvious connection to the field of coordination dynamics or not!)
We are calling this strategy a project because it is unfinished. It still needs a lot more work, more research and development. Taken as a collective, can they help us to see a previously invisible design, a pattern between all of them? While it is very likely that such a list collapses into a single all encompassing squiggle (like yin~yang), a ‘Squiggle Of Everything’, it is possible that our growing list may indeed represent a fuzzy set of fewer fundamentals. This is an open area of research.
MUSINGS ON THE RELEVANCE OF THE CD BASE SET
Using our squiggle sense and a little imagination, one could study the following list side-by-side with a study of coordination dynamics and precisely where and in what context each squiggle is applicable. Such efforts are already underway. Could we use the squiggles of coordination dynamics to discover something like a Periodic Table of Elements only rather than physical elements we have squiggles of Coordination Dynamics?
Well, in that case, it would have to be something like The Metastable Table of Squiggles, since complementary pairs wouldn’t be completely periodic in principle. (It goes against their complementary nature!)
The possibilities are enticing, indeed. But what is needed first is more effort to work with the base set itself. A place to begin is to study the list as a whole, and at the same time look at each squiggle individually and try to describe what we know about each so far. To this end, the squiggles with links (this is an on-going process remember) will take you to posts for each one, which includes our original summary statements from TCN as quotes. Eventually, we will begin to add other relevant pieces, like other TCN excerpts, quotes from the literature, and new thoughts and insights of our own regarding the CD base set.
SQUIGGLES OF CD TO HELP YOU LEARN CD
Have you read TCN yet? Do you study coordination dynamics at CCSBS or beyond? Are you person who would like to know more about coordination dynamics and how it might help you comprehend the complementary nature, your nature? Here’s a hint: Instead of trying to grok the mathematical underpinnings, the scientific graphs, reading the journal articles…um, just study the list of squiggles below. Note the one’s that might be interesting to you.
DON’T STOP AT YIN~YANG & DIALECTIC
Note: You might well look at such lists of squiggles and think, “Well, that’s just yin~yang they are talking about here…” or “This is just a rehash of Dialectic, or “shucks, those are just opposites, (contraries, dichotomies, dyads, pairs, etc.) and so what?”, we propose the following response: Yes, sure and of course. But wait! For once…there is something more. Because that squiggle symbol says a whole lot more than that you have named a set of complementary contraries.
It says that coordination dynamics is at play. It not only tells you that bistability can and is happening–but in its entailment of and by coordination dynamics–is giving you a way to see how the bistability comes about, where it comes from how it alters a system, and how it is eventually transcended again as dynamics patterns live out their pattern dynamics.
JOIN THE QUEST!
If you have questions and comments on the list below, please follow the links and place your comments with the squiggle you are interested in. If you have suggestions for the overall list, please leave them in the comment box below.
THE SQUIGGLES (COMPLEMENTARY PAIRS) OF COORDINATION DYNAMICS
agency~self-organization
attraction~repulsion
between~within
bifurcation~path
birth~death
bistability~monostability
bottom-up~top-down
context~universality control parameter~coord. variable
convergence~divergence
cooperation~competition
correlative ~ populative
coupling~components
creation~annihilation
deterministic~stochastic
discrete~continuous
dwell~escape
dynamic patterns~pattern dynamics
emergentism~reductionism
fluctuations~states
functional information~self-organization
gradual~abrupt
homogeneous~heterogeneous
horizontal~vertical
individual~collective
information~intrinsic dynamics
intention~dynamics
integration~segregation
learning~memory
linear~nonlinear
linearity~nonlinearity
local~global
macro~micro
metastability~info creation
multifunctionality~multistability
multistability~metastability
organism~environment
part~whole
perception~action
persistence~change
planning~execution
preferences~exploration
qualitative~quantitative
reaction~anticipation
recruitment~annihilation
reduction~construction
simple~complex
source~sink
space~time
stabilization~destabilization
stability~instability
stable~unstable
states~tendencies
structure~function
symbolic~dynamic
symmetry~dynamics
symmetry~broken symmetry
togetherness~apartness
within~between
