Observation of morphological and topological transitions within a wide range of natural phenomena has led to the general idea that development and transitions can be represented as a series of discrete steps determined by an initial set of predefined rules. Applying these rules and subjecting a system to parametric inputs from its environment will guide it through well-defined subsequent states and transitions. It may occur, however, that neither the initial set of rules nor the parametric inputs suffice to achieve this effect : at some critical point, there is not enough information available to decide whether a transition towards a new state is possible.
In this article, we propose a new paradigm to describe such transitions. According to this paradigm, transitions are always preceded by a fundamental period of non-determinedness which is prolonged in a situation where a lack of information prevents a secure transition. The strain caused by the resulting contradiction may provoke an external informational input leading to a spontaneous decision that breaks the symmetry of the non-determined period. The result can be a new state which is not necessarily contained in the initial process.