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

SYSTEM and Environment 1)

1. Any system appears as a discernable entity within its surroundings. This entity is endowed with a defined identity and a relative permanence.

2. To any system corresponds a significant environment, which is that part of the universe with which the system has occasional or frequent and characteristic exchanges.

3. The system possesses a membrane or boundary, permeable in a selective way, composed of elements that are able to interact with certain types of elements in the environment and also with some specific internal elements. This means that the boundary is an interface.

4. The system obtains from its environment whatever inputs it needs for its construction and maintenance.

5. The system devolves to its environment the specific products of its activity, transformed or degraded energy, re-elaborated information, but also wastes and noise.

6. The system and its environment, through their interactions, undergo reciprocal transformations.

7. When the system finally disappears, its elements recover their independence and scatter within the environment or become incorporated in other systems. However, quite frequently some trace or record of the system remains for a more or less long period. (See "Aura").

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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