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.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

AGGREGATION 1 1)

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A progressive process of interconnections between formerly unconnected elements or systems.

Aggregation is related to the existence of a critical distance between the elements. The process takes place when crowding becomes such as to hinder the fully independent relation of each element with its proper environment.

A famous example of aggregation – in living systems – is the life cycle of the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. The growing proximity of the individual amoebas (due to a combination of population explosive growth and the exhaustion of food) induces reciprocal perception of biochemical products and gregarious reactions leading to social behavior, in accordance with H. PATTEE's statistical closure. Aggregation thus seems to be a process basic for the shaping of social living systems.

One wonders if the massive intercommunication process presently in progress between human groups does not herald global mankind aggregation in the same way.

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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