Structural coupling

Towards a definition of Maturana & Varela's helpful term

We speak of structural coupling whenever there is a history of recurrent congruence between two (or more) systems (Maturana & Varela, 1987)

Maturana, H., & Varela, F., (1987), "The Tree of Knowledge; The biological roots of human understanding", Shambhala Publications, Boston, Mass.

Quotation 1

The term for structure-determined (and structure- determining) engagement of a given unity with either its environment or another unity. The process of engagement which effects a "...history or recurrent interactions leading to the structural congruence between two (or more) systems" (Maturana & Varela, 1987, p. 75). It is ‘...a historical process leading to the spatio-temporal coincidence between the changes of state..’ (Maturana, 1975, p. 321) in the participants. As such, structural coupling has connotations of both coordination and co-evolution.
Borrowed from the Cybernetics & Human Knowing - Thesaurus pilot project

Quotation 2

During the course of structural coupling, each participating system is, with respect to the other(s), a source (and a target) of perturbations. Phrased in a slightly different way, the participating systems reciprocally serve as sources of compensable perturbations for each other. These are ‘compensable’ in the senses that (a) there is a range of ‘compensation’ bounded by the limit beyond which each system ceases to be a functional whole and (b) each iteration of the reciprocal interaction is affected by the one(s) before. The structurally-coupled systems ‘will have an interlocked history of structural transformations, selecting each other’s trajectories.’ (varela, 1979, pp. 48-49)
Borrowed from the Cybernetics & Human Knowing - Thesaurus pilot project

Quotation 3

Structural coupling, then, is the process through which structurally-determined transformations in each of two or more systemic unities induces (for each) a trajectory of reciprocally-triggered change. This makes structural coupling one of the most critical constructs in autopoietic theory. This is particularly true when approaching the phenomenological aspects of the theory. For example, structural coupling is the foundation for Maturana’s account of linguistic interaction as ‘languaging’ (Maturana, 1978)
Borrowed from the Cybernetics & Human Knowing - Thesaurus pilot project

Evaluating Structural Coupling

• In evaluating Structural coupling we may need to register:

1. 1. the given transaction's frequency, over a given period
2. 2. the given transaction's intensity, over a given period
3. 3. the given transaction's multiplicity, over a given period
4. 4. the given transaction's duration, over a given period
5. 5. the given transaction's perceived (reciprocal) usefulness, over a given period

QUESTION

• Can structural coupling be used as a building block for group consciousness??