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

SYSTEMS BEHAVIOR (Modifying) 1)4)

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The behavior of a complex system should be modified only according to a global perspective. Introducing any limited local changes will merely lead to their uncontrolled propagation to the whole system, sometimes with disastrous results. This is the key explanation of global disasters, as for example the Aral Sea one. The following systemic norms, intended to modify complex systems behavior, are adapted from P. BÜTTNER, as resumed by J. BRIGGS and F.D. PEAT (1991, p. 177, French translation used):

-In any system there is a very limited number of trigger points that can be used to produce significant and lasting modifications of the systems behavior

- In more complex systems, effects are more distant from causes in time as well as in space

-Even very few feedbacks within the system reduce much its predictability

- Neither the trigger points, nor the ways to operate on them are obvious

- Worsening of the system's behavior after an intervention frequently precedes any improvement.

A good understanding of all these points is a sine qua non condition for any hopefully efficient attempt at management of complex systems.

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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