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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BRAIN METAPHOR 3)

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As the hypercomplex system that it is, the brain is not yet fully understood. This is probably why it has been extensely used as a metaphor for different concepts of regulating and deciding devices. The hierarchical brain metaphor extols the brain as the all powerful chief controller and commander, who should know and decide about everything.

Another and newer metaphor is the brain as a learning and adaptable network of elements. This seems to be a more adequate analogy, but the unifying and regulating powers of networks should not be forgotten. It is quite possible that future research into brain physiology could lead us to a still different metaphor or analogy, not necessarily incompatible with the existing ones.

Our metaphors should not blind us to some other important facts, as for instance the necessary connections of the brain (and other learning-regulating-deciding devices) with other critical subsystems and their significance.

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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