DOI: 10.33917/es-6.172.2020.68-77

Microorganisms and cultivated cells from human or animal tissues form complex network structures (colonies, biofilms, flocs, granules, etc.) that are characterized by efficient communication and behavior coordination in the absence of a central pacemaker. The decentralized (flat) network organization of such structures is due to the functioning of (a) information-transmitting intercellular contacts, (b) a signal field created by distant communication systems, including the quorum-sensing system; and (c) a biopolymer matrix that cements the cells of the whole network structure. Microbial network structures exist in the human organism, especially in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. The cellular networks engage in complex interaction with the host organism. The organism represents a complex combination of hierarchical structures and decentralized networks and includes the brain, the peripheral nervous system, the immune system, and the endocrine system.

The interaction between the microbiota and the host may produce both positive and negative effects on the host’s physical and mental health, because decentralized networks are known to possess not only useful but also potentially harmful properties. Communication between microbial cells and the host organism involves neurochemicals, i.e., chemical compounds, whose functions include impulse transmission between nervous cells. In the final section, the cellular paradigm of network organization is envisaged as the conceptual basis of organizational technology aimed at creating efficient non-hierarchical creative teams that are cemented by common values and goals (the network matrix).

The present work focuses on the applications of decentralized network structures with split leadership to various spheres of society. They are denoted herein as hiramas (High-Intensity Research And Management Associations). Special emphasis is placed on the use of hiramas in the organization of nontraditional interdisciplinary creative labs and NGOs in civil society, interactive teaching, and in business. It is stressed that the importance of traditional hierarchical institutions exemplified by universities and academic research institutions is not diminished by the spread of alternative decentralized network structures. Hierarchical institutions are to be held responsible for the consolidation and self-identification of the national scientific community, for furthering the interests of the scientific community in the face of external and internal challenges, and for evaluating the performance of decentralized network structures to select the hiramas that should receive material and ideological support.

This article is concerned with decentralized network structures. Emphasis is placed on their matrix, i.e. the system of ideological attitudes, values, myths, behavioral norms, and tacit knowledge that is exemplified by software development techniques in the networks of IT specialists. The knowledge exists at the level of the whole network and is not completely accessible to each individual network member. The advent of digital technology is currently giving a new impetus to the development of decentralized cooperative structures. Of paramount importance are the mechanisms of non-hierarchical behavioral coordination that operate in network structures. Special attention is to be given to psychological techniques that secure the dominance of group-level goals, values and creative processes over the individual behavioral trends of network members. Such techniques that involve subconscious brain modules can be facilitated by regulatory social structures, referred to as social chaperons. Promoting the chaperons’ optimal functioning and enhancing their soft guiding and stimulating influence could be the mission of a novel social institutions including the Committee for Promotion of Network Structures, the Research Institute for Network Structures, state-supported counseling bodies for network developers, and public network associations. These innovative state-level bodies should aim to (i) legalize the status of decentralized cooperative network structures, (ii) optimize their organization and (iii) harmonize their interaction with non-network structures such as centralized hierarchies, including the “President’s vertical” power structure and local bureaucratic structures, as well as quasi-market structures.

Decentralized, distributed network structures possess significant creative and innovative potential in solving various problems of modern society, including organization of interdisciplinary creative laboratories, interactive techniques in education and the establishment of inter- and intrafirm networks. Of special interest are biological models (paradigms), i.e., organizational options for network structures in diverse biological systems. These models can be used creatively to establish networks in various spheres of human society. It is emphasized that the dissemination of network structures in society promotes the implementation of the principles of socialist economy.