%A Jean-Paul Vanbremeersch
%A Jerry Chandler
%A Andree Ehresmann
%T Are interactions between different time-scales a characteristic of complexity?
%X A self-organized complex natural system, such as a biological, a neural or a social system, is characterized by the fact that its dynamics is generated by a network of competitive regulations, each one acting as a 'simple system' (in the Newtonian sense) at a given level of complexity and with its own time-scale. A dialectics dependent on specific structural temporal constraints is established between them, punctuated by local fractures imposing a change of strategy. Such systems are capable of anticipation and adaptation thanks to the development of a memory.  
The Memory Evolutive Systems (MES) defined by Ehresmann and Vanbremeersch in a series of papers since 1986 represent a mathematical model for such systems, based on the Theory of categories. This model takes into account the above properties, and it allows to study the problem of emergence; an analysis of causality attributions shows that MES satisfy the definition given by Rosen for an 'organism'.

%N 1
%K Caegory, complex system, causality, organism, memory
%P 162-167
%E Andree Ehresmann
%E George Farre
%E Jean-Paul Vanbremeersch
%V 1
%D 1996
%I Ehresmann
%L cogprints954

<script src="//archive-bar.soton.ac.uk/archive-bar.js"></script>