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

REWARD 1)

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A positive return obtained by a system through some adequate action.

The search for reward necessarily implies relevance criteria about what should be defined as a reward. Such criteria would be based on results of former experiences (not necessarily always a perfect source of decision-making).

According to G. PASK there is "a basic distinction between reward, as used in computer programme to mean that a rewarded event becomes more probable, and reward as it used in a system able to create fresh components and parts of itself. In this latter case, reward means ability to develop, ability to expand, and ability to become stable by becoming a larger system" (Quoted by P. CARIANI, 1993, p.25).

In any case, in the definition, "adequate" sounds somewhat tautological… and anthropomorphic. Moreover, many human systems seek "positive" rewards, and obtain them. But there is generally no guaranty that short term rewards would not exact some unknown back pay later on.

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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