I took the post about condensing the field to another list, one dedicated to creativity and creative problem solving. Those folks often express Gestalt related thinking, and I wondered what might result from making the same observations and asking the same questions I had asked here. Consider it an experiment. Here is the reply from one of those list members, and I found it quite interesting. I wonder if any of you have thoughts about what he shared:
To me, gestalt theory is an earlier expression of self-organization and the properties of what we are these days calling complex, adaptive systems. As I understand this field, one thing that is known is that the rate of flow of information in such systems directly impacts the probability of self-organization. The more information that flows among agents in a complex adaptive system, the better chance they have of both coming together around an equilibrium point AND of moving to a new equilibrium point (an "attractor" in a complex, chaotic system).
If information flows freely over the internet, then naturally (from complexity theory) there will be more self organization and more flips to new points of self-organization.
Paul Plsek paulplsek@DirectedCreativity.com Visit my web page at < http://www.DirectedCreativity.com>