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

STEADY STATE and ENVIRONMENT 1)4)

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The steady state of a system can be maintained only as much as its environment remains mostly homeostatic, i.e. characterized by a rate of change very inferior to the adaptive capacity of the system. This is consonant with:

- ASHBY's Law of requisite variety

- VENDRYES' concept of counter-aleatory reserves

Furthermore, the system must be very small in comparison with its environment, as its own transformations should not disturb it seriously.

An interesting example is the relatively small total mass of the living beings, compared with the total mass of the planet. Thus, these living systems are able to maintain their steady state. However, the enormous power of the human mass presently growing on the planet, could possibly alter some aspects of the global steady state of the latter.

In any case, the steady state of a system involves a set of permanent imbalances between the system and its environment.

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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