Systems, Cybernetics, Control, and Automation: Ontological, Epistemological, Societal, and Ethical Issues (River Publishers Series in Automation, Control, and Robotics)

518 Pages·2017·72.466 MB·English

by  Spyros G. Tzafestas

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This book provides a consolidated and concise overview of SCCA, in a single
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ethical, and general philosophical issues. It is appropriate for use in engineering
courses as a convenient tutorial source providing fundamental conceptual and
educational material on these issues, or for independent reading by students and
scientists.
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• Background material on philosophy and systems theory
• Major ontological, epistemological, societal and ethical/philosophical aspects
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Systems, Cybernetics, Control,
and Automation
Ontological, Epistemological, Societal,
and Ethical Issues
RIVER PUBLISHERS SERIES IN AUTOMATION,
CONTROL AND ROBOTICS
SeriesEditors
SRIKANTAPATNAIK ISHWARK.SETHI
SOAUniversity,Bhubaneswar OaklandUniversity
India USA
QUANMINZHU
UniversityoftheWestofEngland
UK
Indexing:AllbookspublishedinthisseriesaresubmittedtoThomsonReutersBook
CitationIndex(BkCI),CrossRefandtoGoogleScholar
The “River Publishers Series in Automation, Control and Robotics” is a series of
comprehensive academic and professional books which focus on the theory and
applicationsofautomation,controlandrobotics.Theseriesfocusesontopicsranging
from the theory and use of control systems, automation engineering, robotics and
intelligentmachines.
Books published in the series include research monographs, edited volumes,
handbooksandtextbooks.Thebooksprovideprofessionals,researchers,educators,
andadvancedstudentsinthefieldwithaninvaluableinsightintothelatestresearch
anddevelopments.
Topics covered in the series include, but are by no means restricted to the
following:
• RobotsandIntelligentMachines
• Robotics
• ControlSystems
• ControlTheory
• AutomationEngineering
Foralistofotherbooksinthisseries,visitwww.riverpublishers.com
Systems, Cybernetics, Control,
and Automation
Ontological, Epistemological, Societal,
and Ethical Issues
Spyros G. Tzafestas
NationalTechnicalUniversityofAthens
Athens,Greece
Published,soldanddistributedby:
RiverPublishers
Alsbjergvej10
9260Gistrup
Denmark
RiverPublishers
LangeGeer44
2611PWDelft
TheNetherlands
Tel.:[phone]
www.riverpublishers.com
ISBN:978-87-93609-07-5(Hardback)
978-87-93609-06-8(Ebook)
(cid:13)c2017RiverPublishers
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin
aretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,mechanical,
photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionof
thepublishers.
“WithoutthebeliefthatNatureissubjecttothelaws
therecanbenoscience”.
“Wechangedourenvironmentsoradically
thatnowwehavetochangeourselvestolive
inthisnewenvironment”.
“Letusrememberthattheautomaticmachine
isthepreciseeconomicequivalentofslavelabor.
Anylaborwhichcompeteswithslavelabormustaccept
theeconomicconsequencesofslavelabor”.
NORBERTWIENER(1894–1964)
FatherofCybernetics
GREEKINVENTORSOFMECHANICALANDFEEDBACK
MECHANISMS
AncestorsofClassicalandModernSystemsandControlEngineers
287–212BC
SCREWLEVERS
COMPOUNDPULLEYS
SCREWPUMP
285–222BC 10–85AD
WATERCLOCK AUTOMATOPOIETICA
SUCTIONPUMP WINDPOWERORGAN
HYDRAULIS AEROPILE
Contents
Preface xiii
ListofFigures xv
ListofTables xxvii
ListofAbbreviations xxix
NamesandAchievementsofSCCAPioneers xxxiii
Abstracts xxxv
1 IntroductoryConceptsandOutlineoftheBook 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 SystemsTheory,SystemDynamics,andCybernetics:
APreliminaryLook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 SystemsTheoryandSystemDynamics . . . . . . . 2
1.2.2 Cybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 ControlandAutomation:APreliminaryLook . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.1 Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.2 Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.4 SocietalandEthicalIssues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.5 SystemsPhilosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.6 ControlandCyberneticsPhilosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.7 OutlineoftheBook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Reference.s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2 BasicsofPhilosophy,PhilosophyofScience,andPhilosophy
ofTechnology 29
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2 WhatisPhilosophy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3 PrincipalBranchesofPhilosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
vii
viii Contents
2.4 FurtherBranchesofPhilosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.5 PhilosophyofScience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.5.1 GeneralIssues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.5.2 WhatisScience? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.6 PhilosophyofTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.6.1 HistoricalNote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.6.2 WhatisTechnology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.7 FundamentalQuestionsinPhilosophyofScience
andPhilosophyofTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.7.1 PhilosophyofScience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.7.2 PhilosophyofTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Reference.s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3 BackgroundConcepts:SystemsOntology,History
andTaxonomy 55
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.2 WhatisaSystem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.3 Systems’OntologicalElements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.4 BriefHistoricalReviewofSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.1 Precursors’Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.2 Pioneer’sPeriod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.4.3 Innovators’Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.5 SystemsTaxonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.6 AComprehensiveListofSystemCategories . . . . . . . . . 81
3.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Reference.s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4 GeneralSystemsTheoryandSystemDynamics 87
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2 WhatistheGeneralSystemsTheory? . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.3 WhatisIsomorphisminGST? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.4 WhatisSystemDynamics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.5 WhatisSystemsThinking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.6 AxiomsofGeneralSystemsTheory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Reference.s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Contents ix
5 Cybernetics 121
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.2 WhatisCybernetics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.3 BriefHistoricalReviewofCybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.4 First-andSecond-OrderCybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.4.1 First-OrderCybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.4.2 Second-OrderCybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5.5 SocialSystemsandSociocybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.5.1 SocialSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.5.2 Sociocybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.5.3 OrganizationalCybernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Reference.s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6 Control 155
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6.2 FeedbackandControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
6.2.1 WhatisFeedback? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
6.2.2 WhatisControl? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.3 BriefHistoricalReviewofFeedbackControl . . . . . . . . 161
6.3.1 PrehistoricandEarlyControlPeriod . . . . . . . . . 161
6.3.2 Pre-ClassicalControlPeriod . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.3.3 ClassicalControlPeriod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.3.4 ModernControlPeriod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.4 ClassicalControlEpistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.4.1 TransferFunctionsandStability . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.4.2 Closed-LoopControlledSystemsandPerformance
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.4.3 Root-LocusandFrequencyResponseMethods . . . 175
6.4.4 Compensators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.4.5 Discrete-TimeControlSystems . . . . . . . . . . . 188
6.5 ModernControlEpistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
6.5.1 StateSpaceModeling,Controllability,
andObservability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
6.5.2 LyapunovStability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6.5.3 StateFeedbackControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
6.5.4 OptimalandStochasticControl . . . . . . . . . . . 199
6.5.5 Model-FreeControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
6.6 NetworkedControlSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216