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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CHAOS (Free will and) 1)3)

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J CRUTCHFIELD et al. state: "Innate creativity may have an underlying chaotic process that selectively amplifies small fluctuations and molds them into macroscopic mental states that are experienced as thoughts. In some cases the thoughts may be decisions or what are perceived to be the exercise of will. In this light, chaos provides a mechanism that allows for free will within a world governed by deterministic laws" (1989, p.49).

This hypothesis could be well grounded if the brain's neuronal nets are the seat of chaotic processes. (This subject would justify a thorough investigation). It would be the case if various interconnected subnets should simultaneously show independent periodic oscillations whose frequencies would not have a common divisor.

As to "deterministic laws" it is now obvious that the meaning of the word "deterministic" direly needs a careful revision, precisely in the case of chaotic behavior in complex systems: determinism is not abolished, but it becomes relativized in a way which is not yet quite clear.

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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