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

VARIETY and ENTROPY 1)

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J.L.LE MOIGNE established the noteworthy following relation between variety and entropy: "The variety V of a system is in bi-univocal correspondence with its entropy E. As entropy grows more and more, variety decreases steadily".

One could state a quite similar idea by saying that entropization leads the system from (organized) heterogeneity to (inorganized) homogeneity.

It should however be observed that this is strictly true only for the systems that remain close to the steady state, or for the absolutely theoretic and abstract model of the isolated system.

On the contrary, systems faraway from the steady state, may emerge toward a higher degree of organization, if they undergo giant fluctuations. In this case dissipative structures may appear and lead to a growing entropy production.

However, the bi-univocal relation pointed out by LE MOIGNE reappears when the new system reaches at its own level a new steady state.

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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