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

ENTROPY PRODUCTION 1)4)

It is generally assumed that "order" corresponds to a "diminution of entropy", through the incorporation of material, energetic and/or informative inputs into a system. While this may be true in the sense that the system may thus maintain its internal organization or even increase it by dissipative structuration, global entropy is effectively increasing.

R. SWENSON accordingly stated that: "Order produces entropy faster than disorder" (1989, p.125). Or better, more order produces entropy faster than less order.

F. ROBB explains it in the following way: "Entropy production is much accelerated when a new higher order entity emerges from lower order interaction, and, where conditions in the field permit. This is the preferred route to be selected for the maximization of the rate of entropy production. The emergence of a new entity constraint the microscopic interactions in the field whence it emerged. For a new entity of a higher order to emerge there must be (1) circular relations of mutual causal processes, (2) enough free energy to sustain these processes, and (3) the conditions in the arena of the microscopic interactions, its configuration and the presence of adjacent higher order entities, must allow such processes to proceed: there must be room for emergence" (1993, p.1).

If these conditions exist: "… then the emergent entity which can produce the maximum entropy is preferentially selected from all others afforded by the constraints present in the field" (1990, p.392).

This is perfectly coherent with PRIGOGINE's thermodynamics of open systems faraway from equilibrium.

These concepts seem to be the basic explicative key to human evolution if one considers the two following complementary aspects:

1) Since the appearance of man, evermore complex social forms of organization did emerge and this trend is constantly accelerating since about 200 years ago;

2) This phenomenon is matched at the same time by an exponentially growing use of energy and an also accelerating global entropization of the planetary environment.

One wonders if this is a runaway process and where it will lead us: to global disaster or to a Meta-System Transition (TURCHIN)?

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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