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

FEEDBACK (Positive) 1)2)

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A feedback that accelerates or increases some process.

Positive feedback unavoidably is a disequilibrating phenomenon.

It implies an accelerated pumping of some specific resources from the environment by the system, generally feeding a runaway growth which finally escapes from any possible control.

Such a situation leads normally and swiftly towards the exhaust of the critical resource and, consequently to the collapse, or even destruction of the system.

One may give as examples: a nuclear or chemical explosion; the inordinate growth of a population; a runaway bull or bear market (mind the 1929 and 1987 crashes); a fire; a cancer.

Fortunately, but possibly somewhat optimistically in some cases, in J.H MILSUM's words: "Upper and lower constraints always exist in real systems which prevent true runaway" (1968, p.39). A good knowledge of these constraints, – in many cases located in the metasystem – and their proper use, is very useful in maintaining the stability of a system. On the contrary, unawareness of their existence may lead to their unwitty removal, triggering the runaway process.

For practical purposes, feedbacks, natural or introduced, specially positive ones, should always be closely monitored, in order to avoid unforeseen and unwanted quantitative effects, leading ultimately to qualitative ones.

Positive feedbacks can be controlled, but only a priori, by well conceived design, not a posteriori.

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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