Publisher's Synopsis
Synergy arises from positive reciprocal and synchronized feedback loops in a network of diverse actors that exchange information, energy and matter. Its effect is to increase in a non-linear way (greater than the sum of the parts) useful work (free energy) and order (decrease entropy) of the systemAfter an extensive exploration of synergy and from the analysis of examples in many areas of science, including physics, biology and economy, I postulate that the common elements in all those examples are essential for the existence of synergy. These fundamental elements or roots of synergy are:1. Open stable systems2. Cohesion3. Diversity and Assortation4. Complementarity5. Communication and Synchrony6. Freedom and Self-Organization7. Dynamics with decreasing entropy and growing free energy. This point may be considered essential in defining synergy, as it can be measured and thus, the proposal is falsifiable and might be refuted empirically.
