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

FEEDBACK (Unforeseen) 1)4)

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In many complex systems – particularly natural systems manipulated by man – unforeseen feedbacks appear after some time.

Most human interventions in natural systems take place without a satisfactory understanding of the intricacies of the same. There is an implicit belief that some supposedly isolated interaction can be modified without serious side effects. Such a belief is a consequence of the hitherto dominant paradigm of lineal sequential determinism.

Many human made disasters are results from such unforeseen feedbacks (C. FRANÇOIS, 1989). Some examples are acquired resistance of insects and pathogens to insecticides and synthetic drugs, negative results of irrigation schemes, economic measures fuelling inflation, etc…

One of the most dangerous aspects of this problem is that unforeseen consequences emerge only with a time lag, sometimes a very long one. Moreover, they may diffuse in unsuspected ways to many parts of the system. As a consequence, they can be quite difficult to control when they surface, specially when their true nature is still not yet clearly understood.

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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