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

MONOCULTURE 1)4)5)

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"The cultivation of a single crop to the exclusion of other crops on the land, i.e. in contrast to having a variety of different crops on the same land" (UNESCO – UNEP, 1983, p.18).

"Monocultures are often very susceptible to pests and diseases because of their concentration" (Ibid).

Monoculture is a typical violation of ASHBY's Principle of Requisite Variety. It is also a typical case of suboptimization in the name of maximization.

This problem is of much wider scope than agricultural. One could speak of mono-anticulture in the fight against pests and pathogens, where we produce evermore resistant strains by a kind of "inverse selection".

One may even wonder if the present human overwhelming population explosion is not the result of a kind of gigantic and unconscious "monoculture" experiment. It is at least characterized by a massive destruction of biological variety and seems to lead to an increased susceptibility to global "pests and diseases because of… concentration"

The UNESCO-UNEP glossary proposes "multiple use" as a corrective policy, i.e. the "coordinated management and planning for the most judicious and harmonious use of the land on a long term basis under the concept of combining two or more uses and/or purposes with attention to sustainability and nonimpairment fo the natural resources" (Ibid).

A general understanding of the systemic and cybernetic concepts and models seems a prerequisite for the adoption by economists, politicians and social leaders of corresponding politics worldwide.

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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