Syntropy (pt. 2)- The Physics of the Brain

In the last blog we discussed the fundamental assumption in classical thermodynamics- that structures move in a temporal progression from states of organization to disorganization.  This is known as the state of entropy.  While our high school experiments certainly showed that nothing contradicts the second law of thermodynamics within the realm of stable, closed systems, things are different in open, complex systems.  In complex systems, the direction is typically from disorganized to better organized.  We referred to this process as Syntropy.

Let's dig a little deeper.

Enter, Systems Theory and Systems Neuroscience,  since I, and many brilliant minds in this field (including some MIT and Harvard brains), see this as the future for research and therapeutic application of the Brain and Nervous System.

First, we must postulate.

"The nervous system is a pattern forming, self-organizing, non equilibrium system governed by nonlinear dynamical laws."


This concept of nonlinear governance of systems is not new to those familiar with Chaos Theory and its sub-branch Complexity theory.  There have been proponents of the idea that self organizing systems move towards increasing complexity and integration for years.  However, it is fair to say that most of what we know about the brain and its physiological operation has been discovered using linear methods.  The relationship between the parts and the whole has been a much debated topic (especially among reductionists and vitalists), and the field of Neuroscience is no exception.  Most studies in the past were carried out within either a top-down or bottom-up framework.

The new story of brain physics, with its new "postulatory"set of lenses, takes us on a new pioneering and groundbreaking journey.  This is because the complex behaviour of a dynamic system cannot easily be predicted or deduced from the behaviour of individual lower level entities, which is something chiropractors have been suggesting for years.  Yet now we no longer need to resort to religious entities or intangibilities to try and explain this Syntropic concept.

In open, complex systems (such as the brain) the constituents are interdependent on many levels.  The brain's emergence and evolution is based upon the cooperation and competition among it's parts.  There is bidirectional interaction between parts and the whole.  And then when this open, complex brain interacts with its environment, special things begin to happen.

The environment (which encompasses the outside world and other people) and the perturbations it provides allow the nervous system to show off its remarkable capacity for learning and growth despite being confined to relatively narrow homeostatic boundaries and simple rules.  In fact, it is this confinement where we witness certain brain "parts" gain dominance over others-  we call this inhibition.  Hermann Haken refers to this as "synergetics" or "order parameter"- essentially the simultaneous action of emergence and downward causation.  In this model, emergence through self-organization, as we have said, is bidirectional.

So now imagine the "bottom up" directional development of a child's nervous system interacting with its environment  where we have local to global causation creating novel and emerging dynamics.  As development progresses, we simultaneously create "above down" global to local determination which, essentially, "enslaves" the constituent parts and effectively governs local interactions.  There is no "agent" causing this "order", IT IS self-organized.  It is circular causation or what is known as "non symmetrical reciprocal causality".

It is this learning and growth or adaptive property of the brain where something greater than the sum of its parts can emerge and this "emergence" is thus qualitatively different from the level it springs from.  The evolving nervous system can now adapt its internal structure so that its dynamics can PREDICT more and more effectively  the consequences of the external perturbative forces acting upon it.  This has spawned some interesting papers with regards to intentionality and free will and caused some in the community to call for a reworking or novel approach to its meanings.

As a chiropractor, I am on pins and needles because  we are not only engaged in the understanding of this ground breaking  theoretical and experimental model of the brain but we have the tools and most rational application to bring it to the world and make an even bigger difference than we already have.

In my next post, I'd like to elaborate more on The Physics of the Brain and how it relates to what we do as chiropractors.  Stay tuned.