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.

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REPRODUCTION 1)2)

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"Production by an object x1 of class X of an object x2 also of class X" (R.L. ACKOFF & F.E. EMERY, 1972, p.22).

Reproduction should not be confused with self-reproduction.

ACKOFF and EMERY observe that reproduction occurs many times through coproducers, which they define as: "Two or more objects, properties and/or environments that are producers of the same product" (Ibid., p.23). This becomes closer, but not identical, to autopoiesis. Sexual reproduction for instance, can be considered an autopoietic mechanism, but then only at the species level.

As observed by H.T. ODUM, error-free reproduction has a cost and, moreover becomes impossible in the long run, at least as to the elements of complex systems (1971, p.142).

The case of practically eternal correct reproduction of amoebas or bacteries remains a puzzle: Why does division, leading to total separation, maintain some kind of identity without limit in time, while autopoietic complex systems are always finally doomed to destruction?

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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