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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SINGULARITY 1)2)

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"Specific locus where a radical transformation takes place, called bifurcation by mathematicians" (C. BRUTER, 1989, p.438).

A singularity is in most cases the result of a repetitive positive and non compensated feedback bringing about an accelerating accumulation; it is an exceptional phenomenon. The function or system thus reaches a runaway "point of no return ", or threshold, locus and moment of sudden discontinuity, or catastrophe, which may destroy the system or trigger a deep structural and functional transformation, corresponding to a bifurcation.

The singularity is necessarily the result of a dynamic process, leading to an "extremality".

CI. BRUTER states that "… the most interesting and significant phenomena in our universe are those of genesis or end of things ("generatio" and "corruptio")" (Ibid).

He adds: "We must note, in case of a singularity, the increase of the potential capacity for evolution… In any common point, the direction and value of growth are fixed "(NOTE: in mathematical terms, the function representative of the process is continuous and derivable) "At the singularity point, we are in an expecting situation. Crossing this point, there will be growth or decrease" (Ibid., p.441).

BRUTER enumerates as follows the basic physical properties of singularities:

"By its extremality's properties. a singularity is visible.

"By its uncommon character, it is valuable: the spatio-temporal costs of its making is high

"By the specific geometry in its vicinity, it plays the role of an organizing center around itself, as well structurally as functionally, due to the fact that the local transformation potential is generally higher than at regular points" (Ibid).

Insects molting or a revolutionary change of political regime are examples of singularities.

→ "Nucleation mechanism; Nucleation principle".

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

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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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