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

CONTROL (Intrinsic) 2)4)

"Self-regulation as distinguished from mere regulation" (St. BEER, 1968, p.262).

C. FRANÇOIS observes that we should find out how the system is naturally regulated before trying to control it… and this leads us to quite a tricky problem: we must evaluate how our controls would eventually impinge on the natural regulators (1978, p.4).

BEER observes that natural systems have "implicit controls" (p. 299) and error controlled negative feedback: "equilibrium is restored in the act to be lost" (p.353).

This is also the reason why in so many cases, authoritarian plans do not work in the long run and why human control frequently plays havoc with many natural systems, as for example with endemic malaria, agricultural pests, or so called "developing" countries economics and social systems.

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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