Self-Organization
Etymology
The phrase entered science through cybernetics — W. Ross Ashby wrote of the "self-organizing system" in 1947 — and thermodynamics. It names order generated internally by a system’s own parts rather than imposed from outside. The idea now spans physics, biology, economics, and computing.
noun · /self-or-guh-nih-ZAY-shun/
The spontaneous arising of order and structure from local interactions, without any central designer or controller.
What it names
A tool for seeing how coherent patterns — flocks, markets, cities, snowflakes, traffic jams — form from the bottom up, so you stop looking for the hidden planner that isn’t there.
Example
No one directs the footpaths across the quad; they self-organize where enough people choose to cut the corner.
Related idea
The process behind emergence: self-organization is the bottom-up mechanism by which parts arrange themselves, while emergence names the higher-level property that results.