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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ERROR SIGNAL 2)

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The difference between the reference value of some controlled function and the value observed by the control system's comparator.

The perception of an error signal triggers a specific correction, but only through a well constructed regulator.

Atlernatively W.T. POWERS describes it as a signal that "produces an action that tends to correct the error" (from POWERS homepage).

"If the control system is very sensitive to small errors, it won't take much of an error to produce an output large enough to prevent any further drift… "(Ibid)

In fact, the basic point is about the degree of complexity of the environment, as related to the system.

In a thermostat, the error signal is obtained from a very simple device measuring a unique well defined variable, easy to install and to organize for perceiving specific inputs.

In a human driver - the example given by POWERS - the error signal becomes much more complex in itself and supposes an also highly complex integrated regulator: the nervous system, including the whole of the neuronal network in the brain.

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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