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

NETWORK and PARTS 1)2)4)

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No part in a network is able to understand fully the network. This is the case for everyone of us, as an element of social networks of different kinds. We may only form working hypothesis about any network of which we are part.

Networks acquire emergent properties. H.T. ODUM writes: "The network of society has a form of thinking since it is a computer network in itself, quite over and above those it encompasses – the electronic computers of industry and the even more remarkable computer, the mind of man" (1971, p.245).

The metaphor could be somewhat overstretched, but in due time it may prove correct… and is in any case suggestive.

H.T. ODUM adds: "The network is doing things to keep itself regulated, adapted, and consistent with energetic laws that the individual cannot envision" (p.245).

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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