Quantum of evolution

The concept of the metasystem transition (MST) originated with Russian cyberneticist, computer scientist, and physicist Dr. Valentin Turchin in his groundbreaking 1970 book, The Phenomenon of Science: A Cybernetic Approach to Human Evolution. The idea was to introduce a kind of objective quantitative measure of evolution that distinguishes between evolution in the positive direction (progress) and evolution in the negative direction (regression).

The metasystem transition can be illustrated as follows:

Suppose we have a system S and that it is possible to make multiple copies of it, possibly with variations. As the independent systems interact with the environment, suppose that they also discover each other and begin to form associative connections, or at least, mutually influencing ones. Finally, suppose after a sufficient interval of time, the systems begin to operate in coordination, uniting in a new system S', which has the S systems as its subsystems and an additional mechanism C that controls the behaviour and production of the S subsystems. Then S' is a metasystem with respect to S, and the creation of S' is a metasystem transition.

+----------------------------+
| S'                         |
|         +-------+          |
|         |   C   |          |
|        /+-------+\         |
|       /    |      \        |
|      /     |       \       |
|  +----+ +----+     +----+  |
|  | S1 | | S2 | ... | Sn |  |
|  +----+ +----+     +----+  |
|                            |
+----------------------------+

Each metasystem transition creates a new type of activity. If S is the activity on the top level of control in some system, then in a metasystem transition a new activity emerges: that of the new control level. Let it be referred to as S'. Therefore:

Control of S = S'

As the entry on Principia Cybernetica notes, the classic example of an MST is the emergence of multicellular organisms, where independent living cells are integrated into an organism and in the course of further MSTs, become specialized, creating a hierarchy of structures and functions.

In The Pheonomenon of Science, Dr. Turchin uses the following sequence of MSTs to outline human evolution:

• Control of position = movement
• Control of movement = irritability (simple reflex)
• Control of irritability = (complex) reflex
• Control of reflex = associating (conditional reflex)
• Control of associating = human thinking
• Control of human thinking = culture