Existing Cybernetics Foundations - B
SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND CYBERNETICS – Vol. III - Existing Cybernetics Foundations - B. M. Vladimirski EXISTING CYBERNETICS FOUNDATIONS B. M. Vladimirski Rostov State University, Russia Keywords: Cybernetics, system, control, black box, entropy, information theory, mathematical modeling, feedback, homeostasis, hierarchy. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Organization 2.1 Systems and Complexity 2.2 Organizability 2.3 Black Box 3. Modeling 4. Information 4.1 Notion of Information 4.2 Generalized Communication System 4.3 Information Theory 4.4 Principle of Necessary Variety 5. Control 5.1 Essence of Control 5.2 Structure and Functions of a Control System 5.3 Feedback and Homeostasis 6. Conclusions Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketch Summary Cybernetics is a science that studies systems of any nature that are capable of perceiving, storing, and processing information, as well as of using it for control and regulation. UNESCO – EOLSS The second title of the Norbert Wiener’s book “Cybernetics” reads “Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine”. However, it is not recognition of the external similaritySAMPLE between the functions of animalsCHAPTERS and machines that Norbert Wiener is credited with. That had been done well before and can be traced back to La Mettrie and Descartes. Nor is it his contribution that he introduced the notion of feedback; that has been known since the times of the creation of the first irrigation systems in ancient Babylon. His distinctive contribution lies in demonstrating that both animals and machines can be combined into a new, wider class of objects which is characterized by the presence of control systems; furthermore, living organisms, including humans and machines, can be talked about in the same language that is suitable for a description of any teleological (goal-directed) systems.
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