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

CHANGE 1)

← Back

The transition from one state to another in a system, or from one value of some variable to another in a function.

Change can be periodic or aperiodic; random or determined; swift or slow (according to some time scale); local or global, i.e. affecting some structure and function, or the system as a whole.

It can also be cyclical in a simple or complex way. It may remain channeled within limits, or escape from them.

The most radical changes, as stated by I. PRIGOGINE, occur when: "nonequilibrium macroscopic conditions create new microscopic processes which in turn change the macroscopic conditions, and so on" (1984, p.61).

Each type of change is related to some specific cybernetic and/or systemic behavior.

The perception of change depends on the capacities of our senses, possibly aided by artefacts; on our specific training and on the correlation between our own time scale and the scale of change. We are ill equipped to perceive very small or very large change, as well as very swift and very slow ones. As a result we are exposed to be surprised by delayed or mass effects and catastrophes.

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]

We thank the following partners for making the open access of this volume possible:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint