Self-organization and Evolution : Connecting Living and Non-Living Systems

Granular materials, such as interacting particle assemblies like sand, provide an illustrative example. Despite their apparent simplicity, these systems exhibit remarkable emergent behaviors when subjected to external stresses. Under continuous loading, granular assemblies can transition from homogeneous deformation to localized shear bands, highlighting the role of stored elastic energy and memory effects. These observations show how a system’s internal structure can reorganize unexpectedly in response to external constraints.

Similarly, living systems reveal analogous principles. Collective behaviors in populations, influenced by memory, culture, and interactions, can generate emergent patterns comparable to phase transitions observed in granular materials. At large scales, these behaviors appear independently of individual differences, illustrating the role of interactions and memory in structural organization.

By combining concepts from statistical physics, mechanics, and evolutionary theory, researchers show that universal principles of self-organization, emergence, and adaptation can apply to complex systems. These systems, whether biological or composed of particles, can evolve out of equilibrium, generating structures that optimize energy dissipation while respecting the laws of thermodynamics. This approach broadens Darwin’s theory of natural selection : diversity and adaptive self-organization emerge as fundamental drivers of evolution, common to both living and non-living systems.

These studies open interdisciplinary perspectives, linking materials science, biology, and physics. Understanding the universal rules governing complex systems could illuminate diverse fields, from geophysics to ecology and artificial materials, revealing the hidden order that structures our world.