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

STABILITY (Dynamic) and CONNEXITY 1)

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H. SIMON states that "Interesting results have been obtained showing that dynamic stability of a large class of complex systems depends on their components connexity: For the lesser levels of connexity, they will be stable, but upon a given level, they will suddenly become unstable. This phenomenon was demonstrated by simulation by GARDNER and ASHBY and later on, analytically proved by MAY".

MAY's result "shows that, among highly interconnected systems, only some quite specific systems will be stable. Because unstable systems have a fleeting existence only, we must expect that many of the effectively observed systems will offer relatively low degrees of connectivity among their components"(1990, p.137-138).

Cohesion rests on connexity. However, while insufficient connexity implies scattering and eventual dislocation of the system, an excess of connexity provokes its freezing. This problem, specially in the very huge systems, seems related to slowdown in communication and over-saturation in communication channels.

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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