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

WORLD ENGINE 1)2)

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This striking concept, a forerunner of LOVELOCK's GAIA, was formulated as early as 1924 by A. LOTKA, who thus introduced the first ecological model of the planet as a globally connected system, as shown in figure (1956, p. 331).

LOTKA understood moreover that the world engine functions cyclically, and is a gigantic dissipator of energy. He added: "… in detail the engine is infinitely complex, and the main cycle contains within itself a maze of subsidiary cycles. And, since the parts of the engine are all interrelated, it may happen that the output of the great wheel is limited, or at least hampered, by the performance of one or more of the wheels within the wheel… If the working substance, or any ingredient of the working substance of any of the subsidiary transformers, reaches its limits, a limit may at the same time be set for the performance of the great transformer as a whole. Conversely, if anyone of the subsidiary transformers develops a new activity, either by acquiring new resources of working substance, or by accelerating its rate of revolution, the output of the entire system may be reflexly stimulated" (Ibid).

This is LOTKA's Principle of selection for maximum power output, which refers to ecosystems, i.e. complex networks of complex systems.

LOTKA perceived clearly that the world engine undergoes a permanent evolution which improves it, through an increase of complexity.

The correlations with Prigoginian thermodynamics of systems far away from equilibrium and with BENARD's dissipative structuration are obvious.

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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