Self-organization at its finest_

Tim Hutton - 2012-09-28 09:25:09+0000 - Updated: 2012-09-28 09:26:16+0000

Self-organization at its finest.

複数のメトロノームを動く台の上に乗せてメトロノームを動かすと，やがて全てのメトロノームが同期して同じタイミングで音を刻むことが知られています． 池口研究室では，メトロノームを乗せる台を左右から吊るすことで台が動くような実験装置を作成し，同期実験を行いました．本動画では32個のメトロノームが同じタイミングで音を刻みます．

Shared with: Public, Hiroki Sayama

+1'd by: Dr Nick Hammond, Gitesh Khodiyar

Reshared by: Ning, Mikael Hvidtfeldt Christensen, Gitesh Khodiyar

Hiroki Sayama - 2012-09-28 10:39:55+0000

Is this worth one million views!? I am shocked.

Tim Hutton - 2012-09-28 12:41:14+0000

+Hiroki Sayama: A fair question. I think it's like what they said about A Brief History of Time - that every equation would halve the sales. Here the same thing is true with words: this video needs no words but neatly demonstrates perhaps the single most profound and beautiful fact about our universe - that things can self-organize against the destructive force of entropy. Also - turn the sound up, it's hypnotic! :)

Hiroki Sayama - 2012-09-28 13:53:15+0000

Right, I agree that this video is so cool to watch. But IMHO, this doesn't quite capture the true complexity of our universe. This is a dilemma of scientific communication for complex systems: How to demonstrate the complexity and richness of the real world without  too much simplification and explanation...

Hiroki Sayama - 2012-09-28 14:45:50+0000

I meant, "simplification OR explanation"

Tim Hutton - 2012-10-02 11:38:55+0000 - Updated: 2012-10-02 11:39:50+0000

+Hiroki Sayama: I agree that this video only shows one single mechanism. I've been trying to think of the other basic mechanisms that are relevant. Ratcheting is perhaps the most obvious. A 2006 paper showed how a water droplet could roll uphill: http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/going-against-the-flow
Feedback in general. Pattern generation as in reaction-diffusion is a higher-level phenomenon. All these overlap of course. ... But I'm just listing the contents of a complexity course, aren't I. :)

Hiroki Sayama - 2012-10-02 11:43:30+0000

List of concepts available here :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Complex_systems_organizational_map.jpg

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