Self-organization: The unfinished revolution

Life is held together on its various levels - cells, organs (e.g., the brain or immune system), organisms, societies and ecosystems - by general mechanisms of organization, mechanisms that also information technology will eventually have to exploit in order to overcome its complexity barrier. There are good reasons to believe that organization in all its forms can be understood by a common set of general con- cepts and principles. For various reasons, this topic has slipped through the academic cracks and we don't have a science of organization, in spite of many isolated relevant efforts and activities. The methodology of physics is very appropriate to take up the challenge. Recent decades have seen a change in perspective on the origin of structure in this world, from hetero-organization to self-organization, but this revolution is un- finished, both in terms of its conceptual development and due to its failure to invade the fields of information technology and molecular biology. The time is ripe to start a new intellectual venture. Due to its great scientific and commercial importance and due to its neglect in classical academic fields, the science of organization is an ideal opportunity for an institute like FIAS.