Jul 12 2011
Autopoietic=Self-creating and Allopoietic=producing something other than themselves
Autopoietic are self-operating and self-contained. For example, living organisms are autopoietic in the sense that they can be born and die on their own. In contrast, allopoietic processes depend on aspects outside of themselves in order for their survival. According to Guattari (1995) there is a relationship between autopoietic and allopoietic in that most assemblages contain both aspects (as cited in Murphie & Potts, 2003). Examples of both processes are illustrated in the Internet and people (i.e. communities that we are all a part of). Murphie & Potts (2003) states that we and our communities are essentially “autopoietic and allopoietic machines” (p. 197).
Also, a quick check of the online Encyclopaedia Britannica (2011) reveals the following:
“A newer definition of life revolves around the idea of autopoiesis. This idea was put forth by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela and emphasizes the peculiar closure of living systems, which are alive and maintain themselves metabolically whether they succeed in reproduction or not. Unlike machines, whose governing functions are embedded by human designers, organisms are self-governing. The autopoietic definition of life resembles the physiological definition but emphasizes life’s maintenance of its own identity, its informational closure, its cybernetic self-relatedness, and its ability to make more of itself. Autopoiesis refers to self-producing, self-maintaining, self-repairing, and self-relational aspects of living systems.”
References
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2011). Autopoietic. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/340003/life/279344/Autopoietic
Mariotti, H. (n.d.). Autopoiesis, culture and society. Retrieved from http://www.oikos.org/mariotti.htm
Maturana, H. R. & Varela, F. J. (1980). Autopoiesis and cognition: The realization of the living. Hingham, MA: Kluwer Boston Inc. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=nVmcN9Ja68kC&lpg=PR9&ots=_mpZ3QEf2f&dq=Autopoietic%20autopoiesis%20culture&lr&pg=PR4#v=onepage&q=Autopoietic%20autopoiesis%20culture&f=false
Murphie, A. & Potts, J. (2003). Culture and technology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Thomson, K. R. (2007). System type: Allopoietic system. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~aptac/glossary/atisAllopoieticSystem.pdf
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