An important factor in the emergence of new structures is the contribution of fluctuations or disruptions, namely of sudden illusions that allow something new to appear, even there where the existence of entropy would exclude it. This happens because the dispersion structures are non linear systems, the order of which emerges from chaos. If we add only one fluctuation to other fluctuations, then this fluctuation will become so strong that it will manage to organize the whole system under a new model. These points are called by Prigogine Bifurcation points and they are points at which the deterministic description collapses and then the system follows one of the several possible Bifurcations of the road. As an instant window into the whole, the strengthening of the bifurcations leads to order or chaos. In Prigogine’s perception of things, the bifurcation – a word meaning Point of disunity or division – is a basic notion. The bifurcation in a system is a moment of critical importance when something as small as a single photon, a slight variation of the external temperature, a change in the density, or the fluttering of a butterfly in Hong Kong expands so much by repetition that a fork is created – and the system gets a new direction. As time goes by, the torrents of Bifurcation points makes the system either get fragmented resulting in chaos or stabilize a new behavior through a series of feedback loops (like self – abolition, cross catalysis and self – interception).
If a system that has gone through a Bifurcation gets stabilized by its feedback, it can resist to other changes for millions of years, until some new critical disorder enhances the feedback and creates a new Bifurcation point. At its Bifurcation points, the option to “choose” between different types of order is actually offered to the system. The inner feedback of some choices is so complicated that there is basically an infinite amount of degrees of freedom. In other words, the order of the choice is so high that we are talking about chaos. Other Bifurcation points offer options where the coupling feedback creates a lower degree of freedom. These choices can make the system seem simple and normal. This, however, is a fraud because the feedback in obviously simple orders, such as a solitonic wave, is also very complicated. The pure effect of the Bifurcations in the evolution of the living cells was the creation of organic chemical reactions that have been created in a complex and stable manner in the cell environment. Prigogine by the notion “communication” means this exact creation of feedback loops. Towards such communication the system remains unharmed.
The Bifurcation points are landmarks in the evolution of the system and imprint its history. The historical record of the human Bifurcations is engraved on human fetuses. These undergo stages on which initially they look like fish, later like amphibians and finally like reptiles. Thousands upon thousands of Bifurcation points that compose a vivid recounting of options, through which we evolved as a system from the initiative cell to our current being, can be found imprinted in all forms and processes – in our cell chemical reactions and in the form of our neural networks – that make us unique. In every Bifurcation point during the past of our system, there was a course in which there were several futures. By the repetition and the support that the system got, one future was chosen while the other possibilities disappeared forever. This way our Bifurcation points compose a map of non reversibility of time. The dynamic of the
Bifurcation points reveals that the time is irreversible but it is able to make summaries. It also reveals that the movement of time is not measurable. Every decision made in a Bifurcation point contains a support to something small. Although causality works every time, the Bifurcation occurs unpredictably. Prigogine points out that: “This mixture of necessity and chance composes the history of the universe.” It also composes the creativity of the universe. The capability of a system to reinforce a small change constitutes a creative lever. Only one bee which enters a beehive and interacts with thousand other bees can pull the beehive across the air by making small movements that indicate the location rich in pollen. The systems are also very sensitive near those parts which consist the crystallized “memory” of Bifurcations of the past. The nations evolved mainly due to Bifurcations which included heavy conflicts. As a result, they are very sensitive towards several types of information which reproduce those Bifurcations. A mere newspaper title can motivate a whole nation to go to war.
