Candidates running for election to Ashby Ponds Residential Advisory Council (RAC) are not told how many votes each candidate received. In any case RAC is NOT in compliance with Code of Virginia § 38.2-4910.A. at https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title38.2/chapter49/section38.2-4910/, that requires the Resident Advisory Council (RAC) be “self-organized”.
On July 21, 2023, the State Corporation Commission's (SCC) Daryl Hepler responded to my complaint, filed pursuant to State Corporation Commission (SCC) Consumer Guide (page 05) at https://scc.virginia.gov/getattachment/6c1252ee-0060-41c9-b3db-28fb3379cbb7/CCRC-Guide.pdf, that "Chapter 49 of Title 38.2 does not define the term, and a search of Title 38.2 does not reveal a definition."
Until “self-organized” is defined, the SCC complaint procedure that VaCCRA lobbied for will lack enforcement power. To be effective, the Ombudsman proposed by VaCCRA will also need a definition of “self-organized."
The study of self-organization spans various scientific disciplines, and its roots can be traced back to different fields and time periods. Here are a few key points in the history of the study of self-organization:
1. Physics (19th Century): The idea of self-organization has roots in physics, particularly in the study of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Scientists like Ludwig Boltzmann and Josiah Willard Gibbs made contributions to understanding how order can emerge from disorder in physical systems.
2. Biology (20th Century): In the mid-20th century, biologists started to explore self-organization in living systems. Conrad Waddington, a developmental biologist, introduced the concept of "epigenetics" and "canalization," which referred to the self-regulation and robustness observed in biological development.
3. Cybernetics (20th Century): The field of cybernetics, which emerged in the mid-20th century, also played a role in the study of self-organization. Cybernetics focused on the communication and control in living organisms and machines, and it contributed to the understanding of self-regulating systems.
4. Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Theory (late 20th Century): In the latter half of the 20th century, advances in the study of nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory further deepened the understanding of self-organization. Scientists like Edward Lorenz and the development of the Lorenz attractor highlighted the sensitivity to initial conditions and the emergence of complex behavior in dynamic systems.
5. Complex Systems and Network Theory (late 20th Century to present): The study of complex systems, including self-organizing systems, gained momentum towards the end of the 20th century and continues to be a vibrant area of research today. Network theory, which explores the relationships and interactions between elements in a system, is often used to understand self-organization in various contexts.
Self-organization, is a phenomenon in which a system or a collection of individual components autonomously and spontaneously arranges or restructures itself into a more organized or coherent state without external guidance or central control.
Systems lacking self-organization can have order imposed on them in many different ways, not only through instructions from a supervisory leader but also through various directives such as blueprints or recipes, or through pre-existing patterns in the environment (templates). Such systems would not be called self-organized.