Bifurcation points

The self-organization feature of a dissipative structure includes the ability of self-balance and self-amplification of its feedback loops. The latter may push the system further and further away from equilibrium until it reaches a threshold of stability. In other words, if a system behaves in a certain way for long enough time, it will reach a point of crisis or transformation sooner or later. This point is called a “bifurcation point” because the system’s behavior as a whole “bifurcates,” or branches off, in a new, unpredictable direction.

The notion of systems is not a-temporal; or rather temporality is embedded in, or simply is the structure of the system. Each dissipative structure has its history: a sequence of structural changes that the system has passed through held together by a particular set of consistent organizational rules. A structure is essentially made as a record of its previous structural changes and it directs the possible bifurcations that may appear when the system is caught in a self-amplifying loop. The system’s history determines what can happen at a critical point. The path it has taken to reach the point of instability determines the branch(-es) it will create and follow across the threshold of stability.

At the points of instability a new order may emerge spontaneously and complexity may increase, or the system may simply break down, if its history does not provide enough flexibility to change. At this threshold the existent balance of the structure is put to the test, and this manifests itself as an organizational crisis: the system can either re-organize itself or implode.

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