BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

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ADAPTATION (Second level) 1)

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In case of necessity a long-term adaptation may replace a short-term one. G. BATESON gives the example of high altitude acclimatization, as a human being will after some time, replace panting and heart acceleration by complex physiological changes. This 2nd level adaptation is more permanent than the 1st level superficial changes.

BATESON calls this type of adaptation "defence in depth" (1973, p.321).

This kind of adaptation is somehow hierarchical, as thus explained by W.T. POWERS:

"… lower-order reference levels become the means by which higher-order systems act; the higher systems freely adjust the lower-order reference-levels, to create the lower-order elements of perception which will result in the specified higher-order perception. This creates a hierarchy of adaptation" (1976, p.84)

Ethological examples are also known and it would be interesting to try to find cultural ones.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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