Abstract

This chapter discusses morphogenetic structures in biological and social systems. Morphogenesis, in its widest sense, is the generation of pattern and form in a population of interacting elements. It has been most extensively studied in the context of developmental biology. Within biology, mathematical formulations originally developed in a developmental context are currently being applied to such diverse questions as the distribution of species in space, the propagation of polymorphisms in the “gene pools” of species, and the spread of epidemics. It is natural to explore the parallels that arise between morphogenesis in biological systems and cognate phenomena that arise at the level of the human sciences. When someone is dealing with individual systems of any complexity, such as individual organisms or individual human cultures, there is a tendency to utilize all the information at the disposal in an attempt to understand particular behaviors of the system. It is not only usually unnecessary but it also serves to obscure the actual roots of the behavior and the relations between the given system and others.

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