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

HIERARCHIC MODELS VS. PARALLEL ONES 2)

Since long time, and still on-going, there is a controversy between the proponents of hierarchic or parallel models or organization, in general.

A specific case, i.e. "Cognitive systems architectures" has been considered by Marta OLIVETTI BELARDINELLI (1998, p. 11-26). She advocates for an "integration of perspectives". Historically the hierarchic view has been dominant, at least in western thinking. This was probably a result of the search for short -cuts in the management of complex situations of all kinds, as the hierarchic ordering leads easily to unconscious or conscious algorithms of treatment ("Act according to the rules and so, avoid problems")

It should however be observed that:

1- Any hierarchical order has been constructed in a historical dimension

2- The hierarchical view, when strongly established, tends frequently to block needed adaptation

In turn the parallel way implies the possibility of unlimited adaptability. In OLIVETTI BELARDINELLI's words: "There maybe some justification for claiming the superiority of hierarchical structuring, which relies on input-specific systems with differentiated processing, interconnected according to a structure compatible with the classical architecture of the nervous system. However, the limitations imposed by this type of structure on the explanation of adaptation processes seem far more serious than those characteristic of connectionism, that is, regarding the optimization of processes as complexity increases"(p. 17)

In short, hierarchic structures and models could represent the more or less periodic summing-up of the stabilized results of adaptation processes through parallel activity.

Bottom up; Parallel distributed processing; Top down

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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