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

CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE IN THE BRAIN 2)5)

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J. ECCLES sums up these two basic features in neuron networks, as follows

"Principle of convergence: the feature of the nervous system in which many nerve cells project to a single neuron

"Principle of divergence: the feature of the nervous system in which one neuron branches to be distributed widely to other neurons"(1977, p. 241)

The complementary of convergence and divergence transforms the neuron network into a gigantic graph potentially and conditionally connected in a practically infinite number of ways.

Both principles taken together are obviously a general condition for any network, i.e. for any social communication net. It is suggestive that:

- either we model our social exchanges in accordance with our neural organization

- or that our neural organization clearly allows us to create mental means conducive to sociality

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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