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

GROWTH (Divergent) 2)

← Back

A mode of growth related to the FIBONACCI series, for example in vegetals.

Divergent growth is a radial movement from a center towards periphery. It reflects a logic of space occupancy through the time dimension.

The result is a progressive structural construction through iteration: The time dimension is reflected in helical forms. The growth ratio responds to the so-called generative helix, characterized by a divergence angle, which remains constant during growth.

In most cases, the subjacent rules of growth seem to respond to FIBONACCI series and produce spiraled forms, which probably result from intertwined energy fields, rooted at the physico-chemical level, in accordance with TURING's concept about "The chemical basis of morphogenesis" (1952).

The rate of growth, which is nonlinear, is under two constraints: one corresponds to energy inputs and the other to the limitation of available space. As a result, space occupancy takes place on a space-time curve akin to a geodesic. (In vegetals, converging towards the apex).

In plants, the limited space available for growth is defined by a fraction consisting of two FIBONACCI series: one as numerator, the other as denominator.

Divergent growth, as a mode of space occupancy, could probably be usefully researched in many other disciplines.

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