The Ron Paul campaign for the American Presidency is a vivid example of how a complex system can self-organize and grow toward a common goal. With far fewer resources than the so-called major candidates, Dr. Paul, through a mechanism of self-organization, has made amazing progress in the last few months. Practically unknown just a few months ago, the Republican Congressman is raising money at an increasing rate, appearing almost every week on a nationally televised program and most importantly is gaining support at the "grass roots" level through the many meet-up groups that are spontaneously forming all over the country. All of this has been possible because of the existence of the internet.
The internet has made it possible for many millions of individuals in America to have a real voice, whereas in the past before this resource was available, an individual's only way of expression was through an anonymous vote that was often a choice between the "lesser of two evils". Now the average person can do much more than that by using the internet to form real groups or groups in cyberspace and actually have an influence on the opinions and actions of these groups.
The scientific community that has been studying complex systems intensely for the last twenty-five years is familiar with this sort of phenomenon, but this is perhaps the first time that it has been made apparent on such a large scale. Before all is said and done many traditional thinkers such as a recent television host, who said quite confidently to Dr. Paul that his winning was "not going to happen," could be quite surprised. One important characteristic of complex systems is so-called "emergence," that is the spontaneous appearance of novel and coherent structures. The political force that is forming and growing around Dr. Paul's "message of freedom" is an example of emergence. This phenomenon is most likely growing exponentially, and given enough time will become a major political force in the world. Whether or not there will be enough time for this to become large enough for Dr. Paul to win the Republican nomination is yet to be seen. I personally hope so, because I feel that what he is proposing is of vital importance not only to America but to the rest of the world as well.
As a scientist who has been studying complex systems for many years, I am very excited to observe this for two reasons: first of all I am a big supporter of Dr. Paul, and it is very gratifying to see in practice something that I have been dealing with for many years at a research level.
July 17, 2007
