International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

741 Pages·2004·38.243 MB·English

by  Charles Francois

International Encyclopedia
of
Systems and Cybernetics

International Encyclopedia
of
Systems and Cybernetics
2nd Edition
Charles FRANQOIS
Editor
Parti
A - Metron
K G· Saur München 2004
The editor would be grateful for all corrections
and additions offered by the readership.
Please contact directly:
Charles Frangois
Libertad 742
1640 Martinez - Argentina
E-Mail: [email protected]
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek
Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie
detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.dbb.de.
©
Printed on acid-free paper
Alle Recht vorbehalten / All Rights Strictly Reserved
K.G. Saur Verlag GmbH, München 2004
Printed in the Federal Republic of Germany
Typesetting by bsix information exchange GmbH, Braunschweig
Printed and bound by Strauss GmbH, Mörlenbach
ISBN 3-598-11630-6 (Set)
Table of Contents
Volume 1
Academic Committee of Encyclopedia 7
Introduction to Second Edition 8
Introduction 10
Main Part: A - Metron 19
Volume 2
Main Part: Milieu - Ζ 381
Bibliography 665
Index of Persons 727
About the Author 741

7
ACADEMIC COMITTEE OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mieczyslaw BACEWICZ- Polish Systems Society, Michael JACKSON- Editor of "Systems Research Markus SCHWANINGER- Institute of Management,
University of Technology, Wroclaw, Poland and Behavioral Science", University of Hull and University of Sankt Gallen, Switzerland
Humberside, United Kingdom
Heiner BENKING, Berlin, Germany G.A. SWANSON- College of Business
Anthony JUDGE- General Secretary of the Union of Administration, Tennessee Technological
Sören BRIER- Editor of "Cybernetics and Human International Associations, Brussels, Belgium University, Cookeville, TN, USA
Knowing", Copenhagen, Denmark
Magdalena KALAIDJIEVA- Institute for Control and Eric SCHWARZ- Centre Interfacultaire d'Etudes
Gerhard CHROUST- General Secretary of the Systems Research, Bulgarian Academy of Systemiques, Universite de Neuchätel, Suisse
International Federation for Systems Research, Science, Sofia, Bulgaria
University of Linz, Austria Robert TRAPPL- President of the Austrian Society
Gianfranco MINATI- President of the Associazione for Cybernetics and Systems, University of Vienna,
Daniel DUBOIS- President of CHAOS, Centre for Italians per la Ricerca sui Sistemi, Milano, Italia Austria
Hyperincursion and Anticipation in Ordered
Systems, Institute of Mathematics, University of Matjaz MULEJ- President of the Slovenian Society Stuart UMPLEBY- Center for Social and
Liege, Belgium of Systems, University of Maribor, Slovenia Organizational Learning, George Washington
University, Washington, D.C., USA
John van GIGCH- Professor (Em.) of Management, Nicolas PARITSIS- Vice President of the European
California State University, Sacramento, USA Union of Systems, Heraklion, Creta, Greece Robert VALLEE- Director of the World Organization
of Systems and Cybernetics, Universite de Paris-
Ranulph GLANVILLE- Cybernethics Research, Francisco PARRA LUNA- Facultad de Sociologia, Nord, France
Southsea, United Kingdom Universidad Complutense, Madrid
John WARFIELD, Director of the Institut for
Ernesto GRÜN- President Asociacion Argentina de Ricardo RODRIGUEZ ULLOA- President of the Advanced Study in the Integrative Sciences,
Cibernetica y Sistemas, Buenos Aires, Argentina Institute Andino de Sistemas, Lima, Perü Fairfax, Virginia, USA.
8
Introduction to the Second Edition
The challenge to reason ple interactions among a great number of ele- nary viewpoints, can be connected and put
ments within a specific area of activity and in into a general perspective.
The first edition of this Encyclopedia has been accordance with some rules of communication This is at least the feeling I acquired after
well received and, I dare hope, useful to those and action. more than 45 years of reflexion on the sub-
who took interest in it. I quickly discovered that neural networks ject.
During the seven years after its appearance, could help to transform analogies into models - In a parallel way. the "world out there"(of
so many events happened worldwide, that this for very different kinds of situations. They bet- Heinz von FÖRSTER) has been massively
kind of work can now be seen in a quite differ- ter the understanding of insects societies, but transformed during the last 150 years
ent light. also the propagation of epidemics (AIDS for ex- through the impact of a more and more ex-
I never believed that it would concern only ample) using the complementary model of tended use of energy. Thousand of small,
scholars and, among them only those not af- "small world". They better explain the progress and more or less isolated communities and
fected by specialized tunnel vision. of forest fires, or stock market crashes, or the tens of supposedly "independent" nations-
It has not of course reached Jane and John swift diffusion of ideologies or fads, with the states are being forcefully connected within
Citizen, at least not yet. help of "memes". It makes clearer the chang- a "one world" in the making (as clearly seen
Their world, our own world, has been how- ing world economy, or the workings of the already by Wendell WILLKIE, unsuccessful
ever violently shaked and deeply troubled by world-wide electronic web. US presidencial candidate in 1940.)
new challenges as well as by insidious but per- It also changed the understanding of this ed- This is at the same time a "creative destruc-
vasive doubts about basic beliefs and even per- itor about communication means and codes, be tion" process (Joseph SCHUMPETER) and the
haps about the very survival or our species in them pheromones, pathogens, money, elec- emergence of a hyper-complex whole sys-
the near future. tronic pulses or human languages. tem through "dissipative structuration" (llya
As stated by Bertrand RUSSELL (quoted by Many other examples of this kind could be PRIG0GINE). Both aspects reflect a powerful
Sören BRIER): "The whole problem with the offered. new structural dynamics.
world is that fools and fanatics are always so - Caught in the throes of such a dramatic
certain of themselves, but wiser people so full transformation, human societies seem to
of doubts". This is still truer today than it was The conceptual toolkit in perspective suffer a kind of overpowering social pathol-
when Russell was observing the confuse and ogy and are probably starting to undergo a
confusing spectacle of mankind, i.e. until his In short, systems and cybernetic models, when groping inmunological process somehow
disappearance in 1970. organized into a coherent language, become an similar to the biological acquisition of anti-
Meanwhile the challenge to reason is wor- exceptionally valuable methodological toolkit bodies.
sening day by day. It is not merely its negation for the study of any complex issue. - In my opinion the appearance of systems
by the "fools and fanatics". As Stafford BEER By the way, let us not anymore sink into the and cybernetics thinking during the 2nd half
pointed out, it has even more to see with the morass of controversy about so-called "theory of the last century is an important- and pos-
ill-informed, sloppy and/or devious use of rea- of systems", what it is or not, what it should be sibly even one of the decisive events in this
son itself. Moreover such a fake rationality is or not. The topic is of course interesting, but it self-protection process. In fact, it is obvious
frequently put at the service of ill-conceived should not detract us from practical purposes, that the ongoing deep and general transfor-
(and in cases, abusive) designs, proposals and nor make us appear as abstruse and inconse- mation of man and societies evoques and
decisions. Just to take an example, let us pon- quential. tends to produce new ways of thinking and
der the massive Aral Sea disaster, ("see site As the spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset acting. Similar processes have been ob-
http://www.dfd.dlr.de/app/land/aralsee/) once said, let us go to the "matters"("a las Co- served worldwide all along the historical
sas", i.e. to the issues at hand) evolution of societies and their cultures.
We are evermore victims of what Jean It is nevertheless also important to under-
FOURASTIE called "the ignorance of ignoran- stand that systems thinking (and acting) intro-
ce"(much worse than simple ignorance, as it duces a new approach to the "matters" and is The progress of systems thinking
leads to insolence and imprudence). In a similar arguably the most significant conceptual muta-
way we sink into the swamps of "underconcep- tion in Western thought, at least since Renais- A significant evolution during the 10 to 15 more
tualization"(John WARFIELD) sance. recent years has been the nascent and/or
I tackled this subject in my 1997, 1998, growing interest in systems thinking in coun-
2002 and 2003 papers, in order to make tries where it was practically unknown, or at
Personal musings on the systemic path clearer my own mind (and hopefully my readers least undeveloped.
minds) about the deeper meaning of this new In Europe for instance, very useful work has
Now, how could Systems and Cybernetics be of way to manage our ideas and behavior. been produced in Belgium, the Czech Republic,
any use about all this? In this sense, I am struck by some significant Denmark, Finland, Greece, Poland, Russia,
Of course, it could help to ward off the terri- aspects: Slovenia and Switzerland, in addition to what is
tories of ignorance and deepen the understand- - Systems thinking operates a general mental done since many years in Austria, France, Ger-
ing of what happens, and why we are generally and psychological re-orientation (or "re-po- many, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain,
so helpless about it. larization") that implies a kind of implosive Sweden and the United Kingdom.
At least my own inquiry has brought me food self-reference about one's own way of think- Meanwhile Canada and the United States re-
for thought about a number of brand-hot ing. This leads to the conscience of a con- main fully active.
present issues. ceptual implicate order (more or less in the Another very important development is pres-
Only one example will do. I became in the sense of David BOHM's cosmic implicate or- ently taking place in China, Corea and Japan,
recent years more and more interested in the der) in which the more specific "explicate" where significant correspondances are discov-
so-called neural networks, as models for multi- models create from specialized or discipli- ered with the traditional oriental philosophies.
Introduction to the Second Edition 9
Latin America is also waking up. The oldest The quite limited diffusion of the systemic Conclusions
systems society, the argentinian, is now in and cybernetic journals (some of which have
good company with the active peruvian one even perished) is completely insufficient. Accordingly, Systems thinking does not offer
and more informal groups in Brasil, Chile, Co- Much more should be done, particularly by recipes for "solutions". What it proposes is a
lombia, Mexico and Venezuela. creating a general repository of all existing past methodological approach that help us to con-
Signs of activity have also been registered in and present material. And of course, the www. duce our thoughts in an ordered, renovated and
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In all should be used in a much more extensive (but more efficient way when confronted with new
these countries original work is produced and precise) way. issues that are much more intricated and wide-
interest is growing. Moreover, notwithstanding the fact that eng- embracing than even in a recent past.
In short, we seem to be on our way toward a
lish is now the "lingua franca" of communica- In short, we must reconstruct our own men-
worldwide awekening.
tion, the information needs of non-english tal and psychological competence if we are to
Now only Central and North Africa, the Mid-
speakers or readers should be taken care of. assume efficient and personal responsability in
dle East, Central Asia, India and Indonesia re-
As conversation and creative debate at all our behavior and decision making. If not, we
main largely absent
levels and places are essential, adequate basic would merely contribute to the growing general
The foregoing "stock taking" could indicate
material should be produced in the most impor- disorder and evermore turn into helpless social
that we are slowly nearing the critical mass
needed if systems and cybernetics were to be tant languages: arabic, Chinese, french, ger- puppets. This is indeed also becoming true for
recognized as useful mental and practical man, Italian, japanese, Portuguese, russian and the very puppeteers who believe that they ail-
tools. spanish. Ideally the list should also include bul- pervasively control our strings. In fact we have
garian, hindi, hungarian, iranian, kiswahili, ma- frequently seen their power slowly eroded, if
lay, polish, rumanian, turkish and urdu. not suddenly destroyed by the unexpected re-
The Road ahead The International Federation for Systems Re- actions (for them!) of the social groups or sys-
search (IFSR) could play an important role, tems that they fancied themselves to manage
Of course, we still need to fulfil some basic
helping those who would like to translate sig- at will. This was the final fate of nearly all of
conditions before reaching such a stage in our
nificant papers and books into their own lan- the major political leaders during the last cen-
progress.
guage, or produce original information of gen- tury.
1) Concepts and models must be translated into
specific methodologies for design and action eral scope. As a conclusion, preparing this second edi-
in administration, business, ecological and In this Encyclopedia's second edition, at tion has been for me a constant process of
social issues, and politics. What has already least much more references in french, german, self-critical thinking. I had to evaluate in a re-
be achieved must be diffused much wider. Italian and other languages have been in- cursive way what was significant, and how,
The United Nations and specially UNESCO cluded. and why , and applicable to what and when...
would have to play an active role in such trans- But anyhow this will be useful only for those and also what is connected to what else and in
lation and diffusion of the results. able to read this book in english, to begin with. which stable or transient way. Moreover, inte-
Unesco already made a good start with the On the other hand, the inordinate prolifera- grating new ideas to the already existing mate-
edition of the small but substancial books on tion of information and particularly doctored rial was frequently an arduous process.
education by Edgar MORIN and the publication pseudo-information that characterizes our Finally, the global result is again merely of-
of the "Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems" present time is now a problem in itself. Until-let fered as "food for thought", but now also more
(EOLSS), whose conceptual foundation is sys-
us say- 1950 lack of information was the main intended as tools for reflexive and responsible
temic.
hindrance. intervention in better understood situations and
The Union of International Associations
On the contrary nowadays we are in danger issues.
(Brussels) possibly could still expand its valua-
to drown in a deluge of propaganda of the most I must once again tribute my gratitude to the
ble Encyclopedia of World Problems and Re-
various intentions, as well as proposed "good many friends who helped me in a way or anoth-
sources, which structural organization is also
for all" models or pseudo-models offered by er to prepare this updating; to the valuable sup-
quite systemic.
so-called "gurus". port of the International Federation for Systems
2- All that has been gathered until now in sys-
temics and cybernetics must be transmitted to From one side, our disponible time to gather Research, to my patient publisher, and once
the new generations, who will need it still much information is strictly limited. We are thus ob- more to my wife Gloria in her triple quality of
more than their predecessors. liged to select those inputs that are really sig- librarian, typist and generously understanding
If this is not done, they would lose critical nificant and seem potentially useful to us. This spouse.
years to rediscover an already existing knowl- is in itself a time consuming process.
edge, ready for use, and on which they could We need also to adapt and readapt more and
start creative work of their own. more frequently to shifting conditions in general
3- The already disponible information should and in our specific field of activity. As said by
be ordered and made available in more easy Gerrit BROEKSTRA, "no fit is forever". He could
and convenient ways. have added..."not even for long time". Charles Frangois, June 2004
10
INTRODUCTION
"Socrates complained about writing. He felt it It is now confirmed that "complexity" is the of an ever growing number of very specialized
forced one to follow an argument rather than master-concept. Emergence of complexity: disciplines, whose increasing isolation was al-
participate in it, and he disliked both its alien- 1) paralleled the emergence of a better percep- ready denounced many years ago by Kenneth
ation and its persistence. He was unsettled by tion of complex systems in nature (Living BOULDING.
the idea that a manuscript traveled without the beings, ecosystems, animal societies) and It must however be recognized that the sys-
author, with whom no argument was possible. man-made (in business, economical, social, temic movement still suffers from chronic un-
Worse, the author could die and never be talked political). systemism also denounced many years ago by
away from the position taken in the writing" 2) led to the dawn of our understanding of the Margaret MEAD, at the time President of the
(Alan C. KAY, Sc. American, sept. 1991) intricate character of natural entities, either S.G.S.R. ("Who shall systemize the system-
closely packed (a plant, an animal) or loosely ists?"). There exists practically no global over-
"It is the confusion of (the) different meanings interconnected (biota). view of the whole field, even if some quite syn-
that causes an intolerable babel ruling out any I have in this way been driven to the conclusion thetic theories have been proposed (MILLER,
possibility of the strict explication of appropri- that Systemics and Cybernetics were intercon- HAKEN, SABELLI, Mc NEILL, for instance).
ate concepts. We believe that the way out lies nected and adaptive responses to complexity, It seemed of utmost importance to try to put
in singling out that part of the content of these either newly built in artefacts, or newly per- together a kind of encyclopedia about the sys-
concepts which makes them specifically sys- ceived in nature. temic approach, embracing as much informa-
temic ones, and in carrying out the necessary A serious problem for me, and probably for tion as possible in order to:
systematization on this basis" most of the would-be users of these new ap- - create an introductory compendium and
(I.BLAUBERG etal., 1977, p.287") proaches has been the piecemal appearance of source book for any interested newcomer
numerous concepts and models, all somehow - put information until now widely scattered in
My first motive to start compiling a "Encyclope- referred to complex entities, but in a haphazard time and space at disposal of seasoned sys-
and unconnected way. In effect, many systemic temists.
dia of Systemics and Cybernetics" has been
grounded in my own doubts about various as- concepts have been elaborated under various - open the field as a whole to comparative and
guises and from different viewpoints by a num- creative debate.
pects of these new approaches, as reflected in
ber of systemists, or even by non-systemists. Accordingly, the three basic aims of the ency-
the writings of numerous authors.
In some cases the correspondences are less clopedia are to define (when possible and use-
To begin with: Why did they appear and why
than obvious, and many are probably yet to be ful); to comment and discuss; and to intercon-
did they so during the second half of this cen-
discovered. nect systemic and cybernetic concepts, models
tury?
For example, as an afterthought, feedback and meanings. This last aspect is properly the
We can perhaps go back to the founding fa-
seemed to be somehow related to dissipative systemic one.
thers. Ludwig von BERTALANFFY was obviously
structuration and hierarchies; variety to control;
wondering why very similar concepts and mod-
information to entropy; entropy to dissipative Practical realism has been another important
els were appearing independently in many dif-
structuration; information to variety; etc... But motive to tackle this work. I had to see myself
ferent disciplines. And which was the basic na-
these "somehow" should better be explained! with many critical real life situations, including
ture, of such similarities? It seemed that some
Many authors brought in numerous new no- war, civil strife, decolonization, transcontinental
common substrate existed and, being this the
tions, but it seemed to me quite difficult to find emigration, authoritarian regimes, learning new
case, that it could be useful for creating valua-
the significant linkages between them all. languages and trades, enduring painful person-
ble synthesis and short-cuts in a number of
While, after all, a science of complexity must al losses, etc...
disciplines.
necessarily be complex itself, the crux of the I am also very much afraid that the present
BERTALANFFY never stated very clearly that
matter is to discover a meaningful conceptual slide towards a general and worldwide crisis of
all "systems" have in common their complexity,
structure for the whole, if any. civilization has still to reach its nadir - perhaps
which is different and much more than compli-
with a global ecological crisis in a still more or
cation, because it reflects some basic and co-
Another very serious problem is that even less distant future: 50, or 100 years?
ordinated types of internal organization and in-
nowadays, most self-styled "systemists" are Meanwhile, the present situation is charac-
teresting similarities in the basic nature of ex-
interested in Systemics and(or) Cybernetics on- terized by a piecemal approach to all complex
ternal contexts, whatever their particular na-
ly within the limits of their own disciplinarian situations, generally commanded by short-term
ture. He did however perceived these general
activity. This is understandable, but by doing political or economic expediency, if not down-
features as the common basis for his inquiry.
so, they cut themselves out from the main and right by strictly limited personal goals (many
As to Norbert WIENER - particularly inclined
most important meanings of the new approach: times non-sancti). This is a trap from which es-
to mathematics and engineering - he observed a) a general understanding of their personal lo- cape will prove very difficult, and probably im-
the seemingly universal character of some spe- cation within global science and global soci- possible without previous vastly-embracing
cific relationships, that could be modelized ety; "educative" catastrophes. If and when these
through similar mechanisms in very different b) the emergence of a meta-language opening occur, the short-term and narrow view will
kinds of systems. He thus introduced feedback, the real possibility for conversation, and prove useless and the systemic understanding
leading to the basic notions of "Control and most important, for true transdisciplinarian could become a decisive factor, if clear-minded
Communication in the Animal and the Ma- conversation. and very courageous people happen to be at
chine". It became immediately clear that the hand. Our present responsability is to handle
feedback relation implied a closing loop, lead- Such metalanguage is now a much needed tool over "food for thought" to the new generations.
ing to nonlinearities and complex devices, that to compensate for the growing Tower of Babel Accordingly, I feel it very important that sys-
could be found in natural organisms or created syndrome which is a very unfortunate result of temics and cybernetics as a new "Weltan-
to steer artifacts. the evermore reduced and particularist scope schauung" should as quickly as possible ex-