A Spin Glass consists of a set of entitites, each of which has a property whose value is influenced to be like that of its neighbours, here represented by a vector direction.
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The property can be anything. In physics it is often the direction of electron spin in a ferromagnet, and the boundaries define magnetic domains. But it could be such a thing as a personal attitude,perhaps toward a social or religious convention, since a person is likely to conform to the views and practices of family, friends, and neighbours. Conflicting influences are experienced by entities near domain boundaries. |
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The influence strength of one entity on its neighbour can be thought of as a coupling constant. When the coupling is weak (e.g. when most people are tolerant of cultural and religious differences) domains can interpenetrate. But so long as there is some influence, there will be a tendency for domains to form and to maintain themselves. The value of the "vector" property characteristic of any entity will tend toward that of the majority of the entity's neighbours. |
There can, of course, be coupling relations in which each entity prefers an orientation opposed to that of its neighbours. In physics, this is the situation in an anti-ferromagnet. Similar possibilities exist for the more "social" properties that we consider in the following pages, but we will not pursue them yet.
A new-born organism is born into a "society". If the baby organism acts in certain ways, the other members of the society act in ways that bring the baby's perceptions near their reference levels. If the baby acts in other ways, the other members of the society act so that at least some of the baby's perceptions move away from their reference levels (if you want to call that "coercion" it's fine by me; it's just what always happens in any environment, whether that environment consist of other control systems or of inanimate objects). The baby tends to reorganize so as to avoid the actions that spoil its ability to control its perceptions. Or to put it another way, it learns to be a "responsible" member of the society. It has no "intrinsic variable" need for socialization, but if it does socialize properly as expected for its age, it gets its perceptions better under control than if it doesn't. It helps others, and they help it. It learns the language and the culture into which it is born, as if there were some innate drive for it to do so, though there need be none.
The baby belongs to a societal domain in the same sense as an atom belongs to a magnetic domain. If it behaves in ways unsuited to the domain, it is less able to control than if it conforms, and therefore reorganization pulls its "vectors" back into line. If the same baby had been born somewhere else, it would grow up to belong to a different domain--a different "culture." But after a century of easy intercontinental travel and mass migration, many babies grow up influenced by many different cultures. We now have a situation akin to that of the second diagram, whereas in earlier centuries almost everyone lived in a well defined domain, akin to those illustrated in the first diagram.
Keep the concept of a Spin Glass in mind as you read through Part 2. The vectors of the glass will return.
