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

SELECTION (Multi-level) 1)2)

The existence of the mechanism of selection at different levels in life's evolution and organization

The idea that natural selection operates not only on individuals but also on groups has been first suggested by DARWIN. Groups may adapt to much more extended and complex environments than individuals. And, as some groups are more apt to discover good collective adaptations than others, being a member of a successful group brings a supplementary advantage to an individual.

A powerful objection to the value of group selection was that it would encourage cheats to benefit from the group without contributing to its progress. It seems in effect that most groups have their cheats (Be them "selfish genes" or parasitic bureaucrats). However, incase of coping with a really harsh environment, the group becomes much more intolerant to internal parasitism by cheats. Moreover, the group which tolerates too much cheating easily loses its selective advantage and may be eliminated by those who demand more solidarity of their members.

The collective and individual gains from group collaborative behavior or solidarity may even explain why groups tend to appear at different levels of organization and could be considered as the main root of sociality.

Evolution could finally offer an alternance of level selection among individuals and emergence of more complex forms of organization, later on again submitted to selection at a higher hierarchic level (J. MAYNARD SMITH & E. SZATHMARY, 1999)

Cooperation as an evolutive process

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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