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

SURROGATE WORLD 1)2)

← Back

A constructed model of a factual situation.

This important concept has been introduced by St. BEER (1973), who described the fictional way in which models are used by many people. BEER writes: "The model intervenes between the manager and the situation. It must do this: it is a kind of filter intended to cut out noise and enhance perception of meaningful patterns"(p. 199)

Of course, as explained by BEER, two very serious problems appear in many cases:

- "the model may be no good". This is because it depends on the mental frame or reference frame of the modeller, which may be incomplete, inadequate and/or distorted

- "people often begin to mistake the model for the reality- and start managing the model instead"(Ibid)

Obviously, reality follows its own course meanwhile, either impervious to our mirage, or worse, reacting to it in an unexpected way

Many mistakes and even disasters in business, economy, politics and generally human affairs do result of this kind of misguided use of models which are not recognized as incorrect surrogates

→Model

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