We’re making it happen.  ”Sporder,” is short for “spontaneous order” and is used to describe any scenario where such an order can be found.  It’s catchy, economical, and intuitive and it requires but 2 syllables as opposed to 7.  We have come up with a precise definition for a sporder, as well as categories the various types of sporder found within our universe.

Definition

To be classified as a sporder, a system must exhibit the following certain behaviors:

• Collection of Agents – the system is composed of nothing more than individual elements, or agents.  Each agent may be pursuing its own individual goals, but there is no overall goal or end-state of the system.
• Rule-Based Action – each agent follows a set of abstract rules and constraints which governs their behavior.
• Feedback Mechanisms – the actions of each agent can affect other agents, which adjust their actions in response
• Emergent Properties – the system exhibits properties that none of the individual agents possess individually, and changes through time.  The system spontaneously arises and defined by the abstract relations between agents.

Classification

We have come up with a taxonomy of sporders that can be found across all aspects of life.  Our classes are more or less arbitrary, but make sense from our point of study.  We will be analyzing two categories of sporders – virtual and real, and various sub-categories within them:

• Virtual Sporders – are artificial environments constrained by the rules of computer software.  They are significantly different from ‘real’ sporders, because the rules of the universe in virtual sporders are designed and imposed by humans.
• Social Sporders – are sporders where humans are agents.  Examples include the market, language, law, culture, and traditions.
• Biological Sporders – are sporders where living organisms are agents.  Examples include symbiosis, animal herd behaviors, and evolution.
• Mathematical Sporders – involve nonliving agents and may involve temporal or geometric systems.  Examples include fractals, quantum mechanics, and molecules.

Words Matter

We have chosen to rely on and popularize the word “sporder” for a definite reason.  The words that we use influence our thoughts and actions as humans.  One of our goals is to increase the general awareness of sporders in our world.  We can begin to do this by introducing the word “sporder” to both the scholarly and popular lexicon.  We envision a day when sporder is not just a word, but an concept ingrained in the common person’s understanding of how our world operates.

Let a thousand sporders bloom.