Jim Rutt defines 'self-organization' as the process by which a system intrinsically, without external directive or control, undergoes a structured development that results in complex and often adaptive behaviors or patterns. According to Rutt, such systems leverage local interactions among their components to spontaneously create order and cohesive structures out of seeming randomness. He highlights that these systems exhibit emergent properties, meaning that the collective outcomes are richer and more intricate than the sum of individual actions. Rutt posits that self-organization is foundational in fields as diverse as biology, where it governs cellular processes, to social systems, where it influences the dynamics of human networks and economies. In essence, Rutt sees self-organization as nature’s blueprint for complexity and adaptive resilience.

See also: emergence, edge of chaos, self-organizing, evolutionary computing