Meditations on a Page
“General System Theory” c.1968 by Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Page 96: – The way of deductive systems theory was followed by Ashby(1958b), and informal presentation(1962), lends well to analysis:
“”Ashby asks about the “fundamental concept of machine””
The internal(in-box) and external(surrounding) states; define uniquely the next state it will reach. Uniquely, in that when variables are continuous(analog) “the definition corresponds to the description of a dynamic system by a set of ordinary differential equations with time as the independent variable.”
Unfortunately for ordinary differentials(one-edged-sword) dynamic is a big word. Dynamic systems in biological organisms, as well as neural-networks(black-box) involve discontinuities co-occurring all the time.
Therefore the “Machine with Input” is defined as I x S into (S). Where a set I of inputs into a set S of internal states, and a mapping (f) into (S). Where f is the (black-box) in self-organizing-systems.
A “self-organizing-system” can, according to Ashby, have two meanings.
- System start, parts separate, changing to form connections. “Changing from unorganized to organized” ex; (flocks-of-birds)(atmospheric-currents)(rhizomes)
- )System start, parts in entropic-positive-feedback, changing to rewire connections. ex; (neuroplasticity)(post-traumatic-growth)(academic-review)
So for adaptation we start with S states, and f changes into g, so that the organizing principle is a variable. A function of time a(t)=f and as f becomes the input to S, it does so in homeostasis, “changing into g” so to speak.
Interpereting Ashby through Bertalanffy in a single page is rather obtuse, but is also within the concept of emergence in complex systems. The human consciousness is one such system. Maybe I will do page 97… later g.
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