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

DETECTION (Delayed) 2)3)4)

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In many systems submitted to study by observers, some effects are not, or only very lately, registered.

The causes may be of different orders:

- the effects are small and only accumulate in the long term, thus escaping the gaze of the circumstancial or casual observer

- the effects are of a new type and the observer lacks the mental reference frame for their understanding, or even their perception

- the effects are still potential, as possible consequences of other events ignored, misunderstood or considered irrelevant by the observer. This is particularly true for new technologies or faraway events.

These various factors produce some common results. The observer is taken by surprise and frequently quite unprepared to react efficiently. Such a situation may be very damaging for the observer and/or for the system itself.

However, as noted by K. MATSUNO, when various effects of different nature are acting simultaneously in a system and, in cases, out of the phase, a global possibility for adaptation, or even evolution, becomes stimulated (1998). In such a situation, early detection is even more important.

→ Time horizon; Time lag

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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