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

TRANSITION (Principle of asymmetric) 2)

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"The probability of transition from a less stable configuration A to a more stable one B is larger than the probability for the inverse transition" (F. HEYLIGHEN, 1992a, p.5).

HEYLIGHEN comments: "The conjunction of energy conservation and asymmetric transitions implies that configurations will tend to dissipate energy (or heat) in order to move to a more stable state" (Ibid).

This is why systems of higher complexity, while producing more entropy than systems of lower levels of complexity, will settle to the least possible level of entropy production compatible with their level of complexity.

This however does not impede the process of dissipative structuration in systems submitted to excessive inputs of energy in relation to their level of complexity. In such cases, instability sets in until a new sustainable level of complexity is attained. Thereafter, the principle of asymmetric transition is reinstated.

A different way to asymmetric transition described by E. PESSA (1992, p.437) is the "disappearance of chaotic behavior and the emergence of ordered ones (e.g. limit cycles)" through the "mechanism of noise-induced transitions". This seems to be closely related to the nucleation mechanism described by PRIGOGINE.

→ Order from noise principle

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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